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'.