Notes

Blessing Ngobeni’s Oppressed and Shall Rise is a powerful testimony to the ability of the human spirit to rise above political and social hardships, that which he experienced first-hand and that endured by the people of his country, South Africa. 

Ngobeni describes how he endeavours to chase away the darkness running through his work – and attributes his more recent use of bolder designs and brighter colours as a strong emerging life force that is doing battle with the darkness within and around him.

His works are fuelled by the social injustices of post-Apartheid South Africa, and his large-scale mixed media paintings serve as scathing condemnation of the country’s political elite and the structures of power. 

“Ngobeni’s work imprisons the viewer until the tipping point. From afar we assume one reality, but when confronted by the palimpsest of surfaces from cut-outs, pictures, texts or even found objects, other interesting realities unfold.”¹

Ngobeni’s personal story is one of triumph over adversity. He left Limpopo for Johannesburg aged ten years old, falling in with a bad crowd and was soon involved in crime. Five years later he was arrested for robbery and spent close to six years in prison. While incarcerated Ngobeni took stock of his life and took action to alter its trajectory. He started studying his matric and was exposed to the Tsoga (Wake Up) Arts Project. With the help of warders and two particular friends who brought him art materials, he began to pursue his art seriously.

In 2011 Ngobeni won the Reinhold Cassirer Award at the Bag Factory. This would mark a big change in his art making and reputation as an artist. In 2013, he received the Impact Award from the Arts and Culture Trust and in 2014 he attended a two-month residency at the Headlands Centre for Art in San Francisco. In 2015, he was chosen for the Cleveland Foundation’s Creative Fusion Program. He was one of several international artists to travel to Cleveland for this residency and was the only candidate from Africa. In early 2016 he was invited to a residency in New York and shortly afterwards visited France to attend a graffiti workshop called Grafikama. 

1. Athi Mongezeleli Joja. (2015) Art and politics: Blessing Ngobeni brings us back to the reality, [Online], Available: https://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-05-00-blessing-ngobenis-as-if-you-care
[11 January 2018].

2. Everard Read, Blessing Ngobeni, [Online] Available: https://www.everardlondon.com/artist/BLESSING_NGOBENI/biography/ [11 January 2018].