The light shines brighter (2024-2025)
Digital print on matt paper
Edition 1 of 5
54 cm x 74 cm
Artist’s Statement
This artwork, entitled The Light Shines Brighter, is a metaphysical exploration of Mahlaba’s faith. As a Christian who grew up a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, Mahlaba became interested in these church spaces and their history with racial segregation in South Africa, which he explored photographically. Mahlaba explored the architectural disparities in the Dutch Reformed Church, where the spaces for white congregants were more aesthetic than those meant for black and coloured congregants.
He now breaks up these photographs he sourced from both his personal and family archives to construct new ones, using digital collaging and illustration. This new, constructed space, which he created from imagination, is a way to re-imagine these politics and subvert them. It’s also a means of navigating and exploring his faith – its ebbs and flows, the sin and holiness.
Taking inspiration from Giorgio de Chirico, Mahlaba uses this artwork to create a sense of mystery, to explore the subconscious and to go beyond the limits of physical reality.
The Light Shines Brighter is a way to say, “How do I, as a Christian, overcome the darkness in the world?”