PRESS RELEASE
PHILLEMON HLUNGWANI | AMUKELA LESWI U NGA NYIKIWA SWONA ! (Accept what you have been given!)
Sep 11 – Oct 5, 2026
PHILLEMON HLUNGWANI | AMUKELA LESWI U NGA NYIKIWA SWONA ! (Accept what you have been given!)
11 September - 5 October 2026
One of South Africa’s most accomplished contemporary artists, Phillemon Hlungwani is known for his large-scale, charcoal drawings depicting scenes from rural life which powerfully convey a sense of community.
Hlungwani’s work speaks to the artist’s deep love and respect for his people and, in particular, the women, who are the life-giving force in communities across South Africa. Using proverbs as titles in his mother tongue, xiTsonga, the works communicate an essential moral idea, conveying how members of a community are sustaining the values of its people.
With this new body of work, Hlungwani revisits the rural village of his childhood. Modest and indistinguishable from so many other villages across rural Limpopo Province, it is however the wellspring of Hlungwani’s creativity, and it serves both as his muse and as a refuge to which he returns for inspiration and renewal.
Hlungwani’s subject matter is familiar to us – rural children with bare feet, the village matriarchs swathed in blankets, and young mothers balancing precarious loads on their heads. In several works Hlungwani pays respect to his countrymen and women who come together to share each other’s troubles and joys and to problem solve as a community. As always with Hlungwani’s work, he seeks to remind us that even the poorest amongst us lead complex and rich inner lives.
Hlungwani’s protagonists have dreams, hopes and aspirations. Like us all, they have experienced joy, love, loss, and deep sadness. It is these universal themes in Hlungwani’s work that touch us deeply. With a clear and unsentimental eye, the artist reveals, through from the daily life of a rural village, our shared humanity and connectedness.
