Dr Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu
Celebrated for her brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, Dr Esther Mahlangu (b. 1935, South Africa) has been creating large-scale and site-specific works for over eight decades. She began painting at the age of ten, learning the matrilineal Ndebele techniques and visual language of covering houses in bold patterns from her mother and grandmother.
Mahlangu uses natural pigments mixed with clay, soil and cow dung to paint directly on the exteriors of structures in her village. Rather than using stencils and tape to achieve lines and shapes, she paints by hand with chicken feathers and an array of different brushes. The artist also works with acrylic paints on canvas, which allows her to explore different scales and a broader colour palette.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, presented in the garden at Serpentine North, is the artist’s first public mural in the UK. Painted over sixteen wooden panels, the work depicts Ndebele shapes and patterns outlined with a black borders. The title of the work translates directly from Ndebele as ‘I am because you are’, emphasising the importance of communities and unity among humans and other living species.
Mahlangu’s work was first shown internationally in Paris at the seminal exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre (Magicians of the World) in Grande Halle de la Villette in 1989. Since then, she has exhibited widely and created a large number of site-specific murals, in addition to ceramic pots, skateboards, trainers and other everyday objects. In 1991, she was the first woman invited to paint the BMW Art Car – a prestigious commission started in 1975 to create a one-of-a-kind car design using a variety of artistic techniques.
This mural is part of Serpentine’s Public Art programme, which this year features outdoor sculptures installed throughout Kensington Gardens: Gerhard Richter’s STRIP-TOWER, 2023 (until 20 October 2024) and Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin, 2024 (until 3 November 2024).
Dr Esther Mahlangu (b. 1935, South Africa) is a multi-award-winning visual artist and celebrated South African cultural ambassador. She is widely considered a visionary and disruptor, being the first person to reimagine traditional Ndebele design in contemporary mediums. Mahlangu’s works are in notable museum collections including The Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C.; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Brooklyn Museum, New York and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, among others. In 2018 She was presented with two honorary doctorates from University of Johannesburg and Durban University of Technology and has received two more since then in 2022 from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and from University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2024. In 2019 she received the Officer of Arts and Letters award – France’s highest decoration for contribution to the arts. In 2020 the Department of Arts and Culture published a book in her honour and she received an award from the United Nations in Johannesburg in 2019. Since her work was included in the seminal group show Les Magiciens de la Terre in Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris, France in 1989, Mahlangu’s art has been shown in group and solo exhibitions around the world. In 2024 Then I Knew I Knew I Was Good at Painting: Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective opened at the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town. Her work is included in Foreigners Everywhere, this year’s edition of La Biennale di Venezia, 60th International Art Exhibition. Mahlangu is represented by The Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Director of Programmes and Chief Curator
Natalia Grabowska, Curator at Large, Architecture and Site-Specific Projects
