Delightful Memories
The artworks by Andrew Ntshabele are characterised by diverse compositions of historical artefacts that form a distinct collage background that is juxtaposed by the motif of the Black child and the Black mother who are often marginalised. The historical artefacts that Ntshabele draw from include colonial maps, stamps, archival photographs, novel chapters, and newspaper articles, musical scores and poetry. Ntshabele reaches into the archive to gracefully make space for those who have been denied access, for those whose presence has been invisiblized in memory. His works are an authentically tender contemplation on the suffering inherent in colonialism, apartheid, slavery, and poverty. Ntshaebele subverts the racial oppression that has had a resoundingly detrimental impact on Black identity, and the collective identity of people of colour. Ntshabele’s creative endeavour is utilising the visual arts to rewrite, by way of figurative painting, Black Africans into Western history that predominantly pivoted on the erasure of racialised bodies. Ntshabele’s works embody a hopeful narration of a threefold temporality – evincing the past, touching the present and rising toward the future.