Umhlaba Namanzi

Artist Nandipha Jantjies is also know by the name Neferuda was born in Bloemfontein, and  later relocated to Welkom. She currently resides in  Johannesburg.  She graduated in Studio Art and Design at CUT, South Africa. Her works symbolically traverse space and time, and mediate culture and ancestry in the contemporary.  

Artist Statement:
'My work can also involve culture, spirituality, nature and the philosophy  of what a soul is. Challenging topics like "how one should carry  themselves in terms of society, or how one's culture/traditions are constantly appropriated" are one of the things I love putting out there,  but mostly I embrace the woman's body.
My signature style is inspired  from the complexity (overlapping lines) of this beautiful Earth, from the  traffic to marching ants to different faces you meet on a daily. All of those  are complexities, in all their shades of beauty.  
The horns I include in my paintings represent strength, a sense of  boldness, royalty and yet I create them in a way that the feeling you get  once glancing on them is serene. Horns are protective. I mostly use a  Nguni cow, a mountain goat or a buffalo. A bit of my culture is included  within the Nguni horns, which is isiXhosa. The baSotho tradition or  culture is one that I include too, I tend to play around with " Nkgo" an  African beer pot, nonetheless my love for animals is important in my  practice.  
My medium is, ink, acrylic paint, wool and beads on a canvas.  I've recently started playing around with wool and beads on my artworks'.