Dr. Esther Mahlangu

Dr. Esther Mahlangu (b. 1935, South Africa) is a globally acclaimed artist and beloved cultural ambassador of the Ndebele Nation. She represents an unfettered celebration of African art in its contemporary form. Her bright and bold abstract paintings, encapsulate the richness of the Ndebele heritage along with her vivid, geometric patterns rooted in the nation’s traditional painting technique. Each work is a testament to the collective memory of her people and the lineage of this technique communicated and learned solely through generation to generation of women. She transports the new method to various surfaces, usually canvas, in the Ndebele custom of drawing freehand without a ruler or prior sketches using a chicken-feather brush- that prioritizes straight lines and balance. Originally this tradition was taught to her by her grandmother, Mahlangu honors women who used these traditional patterns as secret codes to share personal prayers, emotional journeys, and collective values. Mahlangu’s paintings, beadwork, tapestries, and found objects intermixes the traditional and the contemporary, resulting in modernism that offers a unique style unlike any others. Her work explores the spaces between the organic and the crafted - between the traditional and the modern through her use of natural pigment and materials. Mahlangu’s seven-decade practice highlights the resilience and creativity of Black female artists, and it shows how work can draw inspiration from tradition and modern.

 

 Mahlangu’s introduction into widespread acclaim began in 1989 during “Magiciens de la Terre” at the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou, in Paris France. Her impact on the art world has been seen through her exhibitions such as National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, V.A., Brooklyn Museum, N.Y., and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and others. Recently in 2024 she received  South African Creative Arts Lifetime Achievement Award and in 2023 won the Metro FM Lifetime Achievement Award of South Africa.  Mahlangu broke boundaries being the first woman and African woman in 1991 to participate in the BMW Art Car Collection where a unique “Art Car” was produced- BMW 525i. Artists who have contributed to this collection include David Hockney, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Frank Stella; Julie Mehretu was selected for 2024. This car has been exhibited at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, in 1994, and at the British Museum, London in 2017, further propelling Mahlangu’s name into the annals of art history.