Dr Esther Mahlangu is a multi-award winning visual artist, and much loved South African cultural ambassador. She was born in 1935 and has been painting since she was 10 years old.

The bold Ndebele inspired artworks for which she is globally acclaimed grace many of the world’s most respected museums, private, public and corporate collections. Many experts believe that any important Pan African Contemporary collection cannot be considered complete without including one of her works.

Whilst firmly anchored in her traditional Ndebele culture, and choosing to live in rural Mpumalanga, Dr Mahlangu continues to spend considerable time in many of the world’s largest and most modern cities collaborating with museums, art fairs, curators, celebrities and respected global brands. 

She is considered a visionary and a disruptor, being the first person to reimagine traditional Ndebele design in contemporary mediums, and she has painted anything from canvas, walls, ceramic pots, sneakers and doors to cars, aeroplanes, bicycles, motorbikes and skateboard decks.

When we think of nature, we don’t tend to think of geometry – but we should. Nature is founded upon fundamental geometric structures. Crafted in conversation with the universe, Esther Mahlangu 85 is an exhibition that celebrates the contemplation of space and colour, both abundant and accented: Africa’s calligraphy. 

Esther NikwambiMahlangu hails from Middelburg, Mpumalanga – a place that means ‘where the sun rises’. This complements her artistic aesthetic: that of light, life, and colour. She is an artist whose international renown belies her home and her close-knit community. This community makes use of light that rises and shines, illuminating her generational history of signs and symbols. Her signs point you in the direction you must go. Her symbols reflect who you are. Her ability to work with both to craft universal understanding is utterly timeless. 

It was another artist – Shakespeare – who said “to thine own self be true.” These words ring eternally through time and can be applied to the work of Dr Mahlangu, Mam Esther, Esther Mahlangu, Gogo, Mother, Daughter of Africa. Applying a singular title to her feels false – she embodies each of those titles and more besides. Her work speaks to a deeper understanding of the self to which we must be true. In viewing her art, we ask ourselves how we relate to the art; we seek the truth of the newly formed relationship. Mam Esther invites us to reckon with ourselves by the defying and defining of her own cultural identity. African calligraphy speaks through her, as she creates art that will be renowned. Her self-reliance and ingenuity results in truly emancipated art – respectful of cultural influence yet original in its incarnation.