Helen (Mmakgabo Mapula) Sebidi (South African, B.1943) Where Do We Go From Here? (Triptych) 190 X 173 Cm. (74¾ X 68 In.), 204 X 82 Cm. (92 X 32¼ In.) (2)
Notes : Provenance:Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg.A private collection.Mmapula Mmakgoba Helen Sebidi was born in Marapyane, near Hammanskraal, in 1943. She developed a life-long love for the designs of traditional arts and crafts when as a young girl she accompanied her grandmother who was a traditional wall and floor painter.Coming from a humble family with limited means of obtaining formal education, circumstances forced Sebedi to seek domestic work in Johannesburg. In private and in her own time she pursued her nascent sense of creativity until her work was discovered by her employer, who, astonished by her talent, encouraged her to paint.Realising that she needed to receive formal lessons in the art of painting, Sebidi enrolled to study from 1970 to 1973 at the remarkable White Studio established by the pioneering black painter John Keonakeefe Mohl in Sophiatown.With a firm grounding in the fundamentals of painting technique and composition, Sebidi’s art made a qualitative leap. She broadened the scope of her medium and her work began to be noticed within the art world. Soon, she was asked to exhibit. The Johannesburg Artists under the Sun exhibitions in the early 1980s represented a commercial breakthrough for her, enabling her to make a decent living from her art for the first time.Having experienced the difficulty of pursuing art as a career, Sebidi was concerned with the development of art appreciation and art education. In 1985 she took up a teaching position at the Katlehong Art Centre near Germiston. Between 1986 and 1988 she worked for the Johannesburg Art Foundation while teaching at the Alexandra Art Centre. She also participated in numerous art projects with community organisations such as the Funda Art Centre, and the Thupelo Art Workshop.Sebidi draws inspiration from her work on the happenings and experiences of daily township life. The suffering and disruption inflicted by apartheid, especially on women, are common themes, often executed with complementary techniques. In the celebrated collage pieces Tear of Africa and Where is My Home? the artist renders her subject matter in broad jagged brush or crayon strokes playing with contrasting light and dark tones to emphasise the idea of rupture.Sebidi was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to travel to the USA and exhibit at the Worldwide Economic Contemporary Artists’ Fund Exhibition and in 1989 she was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award.
