BIOGRAPHY
MMAKGABO HELEN SEBIDI
(b. 1943 Marapyane, South Africa)
Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi was born in 1943 in Marapyane (Skilpadfontein), in the Hammanskraal area of the Northern Transvaal. As her mother was working in the city for much of her childhood, she grew up with her grandmother, who taught her the values that would guide and sustain her life. This includes the channelling of spirit back into the world through hard work, the commitment of the self to the community, but most of all through acts of creativity – whether this be cooking, making mud walls, creating murals, making pots and calabashes, weaving, beading, dress-making, drawing or painting. For Mmakgabo Sebidi, the artist starts from a root of pain and conflict and works her way towards the redemption of both herself and those around her through the act of making. The creator becomes invisible during this process and is the channel through which the spirit world flows. The artwork can be seen as the trace of this redemptive journey.
Mmakgabo spent much of her young adult life as a domestic worker in Johannesburg. She spent her spare time making dresses and knitting. When a German employer starting painting, Mmakgabo expressed an interest in painting herself and was given her first set of oil paints. She then sought lessons and joined the art classes of John Koenakeefe Mohl before returning to Marapyane to look after her ailing grandmother. The following decade would see her developing and refining her art in the rural areas, returning to Johannesburg only to exhibit her work – first at Zoo Lake, then at the Art Foundation and finally the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg – and to buy more materials. Through the Art Foundation, Mmakgabo won a Fulbright Scholarship, which led to a tour of America, where she met up with the ‘stolen people’ (African Americans), ‘the people whose land was taken from them (Native Americans) and those who work the land (farmers and agriculturists). She concluded that we have far more in common than whatever separates us and that all the lessons she has needed in her life were available to her through the teachings of her grandmother and her community. That same year she also won the Standard Bank Young Artist Award.
Mmakgabo is without question an inspiration and pioneer to the younger generation of South African artists. Working predominantly in pastel, acrylic and oil paint, she has developed a distinct style that uses vibrant juxtaposed colour, distorted perspectives, human and animal figures, dream images – often in a pointillist, stippled style of pastel or paint application. More recently she has returned to sculpting in clay and this exhibition features the first of her sculptures ever to be cast in bronze.
Today Mmakgabo Sebidi is based in Johannesburg, where she continues to make work and spend much of her spare time helping to inspire and encourage the younger generation – especially of artists. She is represented by the Everard Read and CIRCA galleries in Johannesburg, Cape Town and London.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2020 Staring Straight to the Future, online exhibition, Everard Read, UK & South Africa
The Portrait Show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2019 Mellon Foundation Residency exhibition, Javett-UP, Pretoria, South Africa
2018 Batlhaping Ba Re!, solo, Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South AFrica
Crossing the Night, group exhibition, Mexico
Tears of Africa, solo, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 Johannesburg Art Fair, Solo Stand
A Painting Today, group exhibition, Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 The Quiet Violence of Dreams, group exhibition, Stevenson Gallery CT & JHB, South Africa
Solo Show, Everard Read Johannesburg
Group Show, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
2013 Centenary Exhibition, group show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2009 Great South African Nude Exhibition, group show, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2008 Joburg Art Fair with Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2005 Telkom exhibition, South Africa
2004 Visible Visions, group travelling exhibition, Hagen, Essen, Berlin, Osnabrück (Germany); Tilburg (Netherlands)
2003 The artificial shelter foundation, solo exhibition, Tilburg, Netherlands
2002 Art in the context of the World Earth Summit on sustainable development
World Women, Visible Visions from International Woman, group travelling exhibition, opened in Johannesburg, South Africa
International world summit exhibition, Tilburg, Netherlands
Judging of Sasol competition
Judging of competition at Wits University
2001 The Markers exhibition, Venice Biennale, Italy
Land, group exhibition, Unisa Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa
2000 Axis Gallery, New York, USA
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Krannert Art Museum & Kinkead Pavilion, USA
1999 Human Rights Institute Exhibition, National Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Changing Screens Exhibition, The Firs, Rosebank, South Africa
Judging of competition at Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa
1996 Thupelo Art workshop and exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa
Biennale in Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Finders Keepers, Sunday Times, Iziko SA National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
The Laager included in a group exhibition, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Santiago, Chile
Centre of the Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, USA
South Africa’s Finest Painters, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Common and Uncommon Ground, South African Art to Atlanta, City Gallery East, Atlanta,Georgia, USA
Solo Exhibition, London, UK
Solo Exhibition, Hamburg, Germany
1994 Six Women from Southern Africa, Exhibition in Lisbon, Portugal
Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1993 Venice Biennale, Italy
Graphics Exhibition, Jyväskylä, Finland; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Il Croce Del Sud, Rome, Italy
African Hei-ti-@e, Uranienborgveien, Norway
Women From Africa, Savannah Gallery of Modern Art, Bethnal Green, London, Uk
Standard Bank Young Artists Award Winners Exhibition, Zimbabwe National Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
1992 Future Realms, two person exhibition, The Afrika Futuristic Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Art from South Africa, Iziko SA National Gallery, Cape Town
Standard Bank Young Artists Award Winners exhibition, Zimbabwe National Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
Three person show with Lucky Sibiya and Noria Mabasa, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1991 A Grain of Wheat, group exhibition, Art Gallery of the Commonwealth Institute, London, UK
Standard Bank Young Artists Award winners Exhibition, Namibia
The Challenge to Colonization, group exhibition, 4th Havana Biennial, Cuba
1990 Art from South Africa Exhibition, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Mozambican National Gallery
Zabalaza Festival, group show as part of South African Festival, Institute of
Contemporary Arts, London, UK
1989 Ten Years of Collecting, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa
Cape Town Triennial, toured SA
1988 Detainees' Parents Support Committee - 100 artists protested against detention without trial
The Neglected Tradition, Johannesburg Art Gallery, South Africa
Art Images in Southern Africa, group show, Stockholm, Sweden
SA Potters Association
1987 Vita Art Now, Johannesburg Art Gallery.
Delfiri/FUBA Creative Quest Exhibition, FUBA
FUBA (Seven Woman Artists)
Thupelo Workshop exhibition, toured to Johannesburg Art Foundation and NSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Standard Bank National Drawing Competition, toured SA
1986 solo exhibition, FUBA, Johannesburg, South Africa
Art for Alexandra, Sotheby's, Johannesburg, South Africa
Thupelo Workshop Exhibition, Johannesburg Art Foundation, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa
1980-88 Brush and Chisel Club, Johannesburg, South Africa
1980-81 Washington, USA (organized by a private collector)
Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown, resulted in a touring solo show, visiting museums and galleries, ending in Namibia in 1991
1977 - 88 Artists under the Sun, Johannesburg, South Africa
COLLECTIONS
Africana Museum, Johannesburg
Art Workshop, London
Sasol Collection
Unisa, Pretoria
University of Bophuthatswana, Mafikeng
Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Centre for Africa Studies, University of Cape Town
South African National Gallery
1820 Settlers Foundation
Standard Bank Collection
Pretoria Art Museum
The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington
University of the Witwatersrand
Price Forbes
Federated Insurance Co.
Department of Education and Training
Galerie Adriana Schmidt
S.A. Perm
University of Wolverhampton
- Roque Investments
ABSA Bank
World Bank
South African Broadcasting Corporation
Gencor
First National Bank
S.A. Permanent Bank
Government of Australia
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, New York USA
Aboriginal Art Museum, Australia
AWARDS
2005 Nomination for ILKSSA: National Heritage Council, National Living Treasure Award
2004 Award of the order of Ikhamanga Silver Award given by the Presidency, the Republic of South Africa
2002 Nomination for the Human Sciences Research Council Living Treasure Award
1990 Vita Fine Art Award
1989 Fulbright Scholarship – World Exhibition New York
Standard Bank Young Artist Award
1988 Star Woman of the Year finalist
