Ebuntwaneni, meaning “childhood,” is a deeply personal reflec3on on the fragile and complicated
experience of growing up in the rural landscape. The two works speak of a child whose world was
shaped by hardship, poverty, silence, and circumstances far beyond his understanding
At the centre of these pieces is a child who struggled to articulate himself to find the words to
explain what he felt, what he needed, and what he imagined his life could become. Because he was
a late bloomer, he was often overlooked, misunderstood, and measured against children who
seemed to develop before him. Raised by grandparents who themselves had very little, his
childhood was shaped by limitation. There were things he could not have, places he could not
reach, and opportunities that seemed to belong to other children.
Yet, within that difficult reality lived an imagination full of colour. The child imagined life as
something vibrant, beautiful, expansive, and full of possibility. The colours and intricate patterns
within the works represent this inner world the imagination of a child who could still find beauty
despite his circumstances. But as he grew older, that perception began to change. He discovered
that the world outside his imagination could be far darker than he had envisioned. Poverty, social
structures, inequality, and systems that determine who is seen, who is heard, and who is given an
opportunity became the bars of his captivity.