Mapantsula
Acrylic and oil on reclaimed steel
74,5 cm x 123 cm
Artist’s Statement
Mapantsula, a work on steel is a visual tribute to the spirit of township street culture — its energy, rhythm, and resistance. Inspired by the Mapantsula movement, I use painting as a way to engage with a culture I deeply admire but express differently: I can’t dance, but I can translate its essence into visual form.
This artwork is painted on a reclaimed steel sheet — a material chosen deliberately. Steel speaks to resilience, weight, and survival. It reflects the hardness of life in the township, but also the creative strength that grows from that environment. Mapantsula, much like the surface it’s painted on, is shaped by resistance, rebellion, and style in the face of adversity. The rust and weathered texture are not just aesthetic — they carry the histories and scars of the land and people.
The figures in the artwork are sourced from various archival and contemporary photographs. These references come from different places and moments, stitched together into one unified scene. They represent a collective identity — defiant, stylish, and proud. They pose in front of the Alexandra Health Committee building, a real site of social history, rooting the piece in a specific place while connecting to broader narratives.
This work is not about nostalgia, but presence. It celebrates how fashion, posture, and presence become tools of self-definition — how Mapantsula is more than a look; it is a language, a rhythm, and a claim to space.
Through this painting, I honour those who walk with pride, dress with purpose, and resist with style.