"To me, Isambulo is an awakening, a revelation of what has always existed within us
but may have been forgotten, hidden or misunderstood. It is an invitation to
reconnect with our spiritual roots, our ancestors and the knowledge they continue to
carry"
Ndabuko Ntuli bridges the spiritual and contemporary worlds in Isambulo
(Revelations), a new solo exhibition in Johannesburg
The multidisciplinary artist, musician and sangoma draws on ancestral knowledge,
memory and reclaimed materials in a deeply personal exhibition at The Melrose
Gallery this October.
The Melrose Gallery presents Isambulo (Revelations), a solo exhibition by multidisciplinary South African artist, musician and sangoma Ndabuko Ntuli. Working across sculpture, assemblage and traditional storytelling, Ntuli brings ancestral inheritance into conversation with contemporary African life, exploring identity, spiritual calling, cultural memory and the knowledge carried between generations.
For Ntuli, Isambulo, meaning "revelations", is both an awakening and an act of
remembering.
"To me, Isambulo is an awakening, a revelation of what has always existed within us
but may have been forgotten, hidden or misunderstood. It is an invitation to
reconnect with our spiritual roots, our ancestors and the knowledge they continue to
carry," says Ntuli.
Central to the exhibition is the idea that time, reflection and experience have the
power to transform what we understand. An experience that appears certain in the
moment may reveal an entirely different meaning when revisited with distance and
new knowledge. What was once ordinary can become significant, while what was
once unclear can begin to reveal itself.
Against a contemporary world shaped by economic uncertainty, technological
advancement, artificial intelligence and rapidly changing ideas about the future,
Isambulo asks audiences to pause and consider not only where society is going, but
what knowledge risks being left behind.
Ntuli sees his artistic and spiritual practices as inseparable.
"Being a multidisciplinary artist allows me to express my calling through different
mediums, materials, textures and forms. I do not see my spiritual calling and my
artistic practice as separate. They are deeply intertwined. My calling provides the
spiritual foundation of my work, while art gives me a language through which I can
explore, question and translate these experiences into something tangible."
Through materials including clay and reclaimed wood, Ntuli approaches each artwork
as a conversation between the visible and invisible, the personal and collective, and
the ancestral and present. In transforming humble and discarded materials, he
considers how objects, memories and traditions can carry meaning beyond their
immediate moment.