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Artist Statement

Vumelani Sibeko Born in  Emndeni Soweto, in the heart of Johannesburg, South Africa in 1975, in the midst of the apartheid struggle.  I grew up as Vumelani Buthelezi, a surname

my family adopted from the people whom my father boarded with after he escaped from his childhood life as a farm laborer and moved to the country’s capital in search of a better life.

At a young age my family moved around in the Soweto Township. As I was forced to adapt to the changing environments I did not make many friends and found myself many a time in the company of the elders or more than often, on my own. Perhaps this gave me the chance to explore my individuality and in time I began to realize my passion and talent for Art.

 When I started school, my uniform and school books became my creative mediums. My early canvasses. Needless to say, my mother was not impressed by the drawings on my school clothes. Little did we know that this childhood mischief would later develop into a career?

 Schooling life was a challenge, for I remember days when I would go to school bare-foot and hungry. My teachers and fellow pupils felt pity for me. Growing up and moving around these communities in Soweto made me realize that none of us are the same but we all on the same stage playing different roles and we have the choice of writing our own scripts. We have roles to play in our lives and we have choices to make which determines where we are next day. In this long and challenging journey I’ve learned to express myself and tell my stories through art. In my work it is evident that the same communities that helped shape me into an artist are still part of my creations and subjects of my art.

Creating Works of Art When ever I’m engaged in creating any work of art, it happens that in my mind I will already have the picture of the final product and all its formations, texture, lines and tones. The use of color to me is the mostly influential in creating the mood in that artwork.During this process of creating art works, I believe I have to first create a bond with the medium that I will be working on. It is this marriage that has thought me over the years that ones perception has a major role in interpreting the massage being conveyed.

It is in this regard that I find pleasure of being an artist, and I’m inspired by seeing the viewer being engaged in trying to figgerout the type of material used by going as far as trying to feeling the work of art by hand and seeing the viewer being blown away by the massage that comes across from the stories from my life and use of scrap materials

 Vumelani Sibeko

79 section A

Palm Springs

Evaton

1984

TEL: +27844765475