Indlela ibomvu - An exhibition by Lusanda Ndita, the 13th recipient of the Tierney Fellowship at the Market Photo Workshop.
The title of the work Indlela ibomvu is borrowed from a Nguni idiom. The idiom speaks to the notion of a path or road ready to be travelled on. Indlela ibomvu is a meditation on the journeys that took my grandfather and many of my male elders disappearing into its horizons; namely to the cities for work. The springboard of my work is the now matured curiosity of being raised by a single mother.
My domestic archives in the form of photo albums, identity documents and oral history became the refuge for looking at the development of my own manhood in the “absence” of men in my family and life. I came across my grandfather’s apartheid issued dompass. This identity document is my only visual reference that exists of my grandfather. This experience triggered more research into imaging the absence and the voids created by these mysterious men related to me.
What meaning does a domestic archive carry? Indlela ibomvu challenges the notion of ‘absence’ of men in my life. It is a visual space where I am reminded of the present men I have encountered and who have contributed positively in my upbringing and my path – the uncles, the soccer coaches, neighbours and father’s friends who supported me and assisted in clearing obstacles on my journey of life.
Saturday, 30 April 2022
11am – 3pm
The Photo Workshop Gallery
Exhibition runs until June 21.
About Lusanda Ndita
Lusanda Ndita is a visual artist based in Johannesburg. He was part of a group exhibition at Bubblegum Club as a finalist for the Elle Style Report 2016. In 2017, Ndita completed the Advanced Programme in Photography at the Market Photo Workshop. His work was part of a student exhibition, Photo Workshop 17 later that year. Ndita’s work was exhibited at the Cartier Booth at the 2017 Joburg Art Fair. In 2018, he exhibited at Turbine Art Fair TAF18 as part of Talent Unlocked Artist Career Development Programme. He was part of a group show with Joburg Fringe 2019 at The Art Room. In 2020, Ndita participated in the group show Life in the time of corona at The Art Room. His work was amongst the work of the 2021n catalogue of the Art Bank of South Africa. Ndita was the 2021 Sasol New Signatures finalist and participated in the group exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum. Mary Sibande, a distinguished South African visual artist and practitioner, mentored Ndita.
About The Tierney Fellowship
The Tierney Fellowship was created in 2003 by The Tierney Family Foundation to support emerging artists in the field of photography. The primary goal of the Fellowship is to find tomorrow’s distinguished artists and leaders in the world of photography and assist them in overcoming the challenges that a photographer faces at the beginning of his or her career.
The Tierney Fellowship programme ran for the first time in South Africa in 2008 and partner institutions include the Market Photo Workshop, WITS School of Arts and The Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.
The aim of the fellowship is twofold: encouraging fellows to produce a new body of work and creating a global community of artists that functions as a crucial support network in an increasingly competitive field. The Fellowship supports the recipients both financially, by way of a grant, and technically and conceptually, with mentorship and guidance from experts in the field.
Fellows remain an important part of the programme after the conclusion of their structured mentorship. Seminars and critiques are held throughout the year to facilitate interaction between all current and past recipients, encouraging discussion about their photography, work experience and lives as artists.
