Pitika Ntuli
The exhibition speaks to indigenous knowledge systems and the importance of ‘Returning To The Source’. Whilst the exhibition was presented online, this museum show is the first time that audiences have had the opportunity to see this body of powerful works in person.
The exhibition was nominated for a Global Fine Art Award for best online exhibition in the world in 2020 and received the people's choice “You-2" award in Paris.Find Out More About Pitika and the Artworks:
Click here for Pitika’s Profile
Click here to listen to Minister Naledi Pandor’s opening speech (33:46 Minutes)
COLLABORATORS AND VIDEO CONTENT
Pitika Ntuli invited 33 thought and creative leaders to collaborate with him by creating content inspired by the sculptures and exhibition for inclusion on the online platform. Their engagements took the form of essays, poetry, film, song and an exciting talks programme.
Please use the links below to experience the engagements with the collaborators.
About Pitika Ntuli
Following in the tradition of the ‘Renaissance Man’, Pitika Ntuli is a true artistic, political and academic polymath. Activist, struggle stalwart, sculptor, political prisoner, poet, academic, spiritual healer and exile – all of these mantles can be laid on the shoulders of Pitika through his storied life. Interested in exploring the contradictory relationship between tradition and modernity, Ntuli’s witty and dark reflections on our society are captivating and visionary.
While a teacher, artist and critical thinker living under the threat of apartheid in the sixties and seventies, Ntuli was arrested and made a political prisoner until 1978, when international pressure forced his release. Thus began his prodigious career in exile, capped by MAs in both New York and London.
Primarily a sculptor, Pitika’s work expresses a sense of haunting loneliness – a distress at the pillaging of a continent and culture through the lens of post-colonialism. His stark skeletal structures are created in any physical medium he can find: metal, wood, stone, and bone and can range from small to monumental works in granite that weigh in excess of 19 tonnes.
While there is an element of darkness on display in his work, he is anything but a one-tone artist – there is a strong sense of wit and tongue-in-check irony present in each of his sculptures. Pitika is also a poet, often combining classical Eurocentric form and clichés when discussing the destruction and pillaging of the African culture and landscape.
He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in a myriad of group exhibitions. He has curated several exhibitions, and was an artist in residence in the 1980s and ‘90s at schools and colleges in London. He was born in 1942 in Springs and grew up in Witbank in Mpumalanga. His works grace numerous important public, private and corporate collections.