Tebogo Drawing

In my portraits, I combine photorealistic drawing in charcoal with more abstract painting in acrylics and acrylic inks. "Tebogo" is one of the works from my recent project "Mzansi", which was exhibited in Austria. "Mzansi" is an informal name for South Africa in Xhosa language as the project is devoted to South African women of Xhosa and Zulu descent. The project started spontaneously after my Xhosa friend asked me to draw her. I draw women simply because I love women but the task of depicting African women is particularly challenging and satisfying at the same time. Since then I have been depicting her, her female friends and relatives. "Mzansi" is a tribute to the beauty of Xhosa and Zulu women. Yet it also attempts to create a narrative in every portrait as each of these young women carries her own story of overcoming family expectations and socio-cultural constraints on her way to self-sufficiency and independence. Tebogo's deep and piercing look conquered me when I first saw her. In this portrait, I played with an idea of face as a mask. However, I did not mean the mask as a means to hide something one's true self; but rather a means to increase the semioticity of the face.