Lali van Zuydam
Lusanda Ndita’s artistic journey is as unexpected as it is inspiring.
The 2024 recipient of the prestigious Absa L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award, Ndita never imagined he would become an artist.
Since 2004, the Gerard Sekoto Award has been awarded annually by Absa, in partnership with the French Institute of South Africa, the French Embassy in South Africa, and the South African National Association for the Visual Arts. This year’s Absa L’Atelier Awards ceremony took place at Kromdraai Impact Hub in Krugersdorp on November 16.
Growing up, Ndita’s passion was football, a pursuit that occupied him from childhood through high school. However, his mother, a teacher, encouraged him to explore further education.
“I never thought I was going to be an artist. Even at school, I never took drama. So I think for me, the thing that most occupied my mind was becoming a professional footballer,” he said.
After school, inspired by the work of late Santu Mofokeng, he studied photography at the Market Photo Workshop.
Ndita’s art is deeply personal, exploring themes of family, identity, and history. “My work is interested in understanding my family’s lineage and rewriting my biography.
“My work is mostly influenced by the notion of growing up with a single parent, which was my mother,” he said.
A pivotal discovery was his grandfather’s apartheid-era dompass, an identity document used to control the movement of black South Africans under apartheid.
This sparked a journey of research and artistic expression. “I tend to the domestic archive as a way of looking at men, looking at the ‘absence of men’, looking at manhood in my family history.”
Ndita’s artistic practice incorporates Chinese paper-cutting techniques, using the silhouettes of figures to reflect absence and presence. “The silhouettes of figures become the fragmented windows that are flooded in red fabric. The red is a metaphor for the Xhosa process of becoming and transitioning from the state of boyhood to manhood.”
The Gerard Sekoto Award celebrates and supports emerging local artists between 25 to 35. Being named winner was surreal for Ndita. “When they called out my name, I couldn’t believe it. I still don’t believe it. When I called my mother, she was more excited than I was. I think maybe after a couple of weeks it will sink in.”
The award includes a three-month residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. “The first thing I want to do is visit the graveyard of the late, great master, Gerard Sekoto, just to give my gratitude.”
He is keen to see how the residency in Paris will shape his artistic practice. “I look forward to being informed or immersed in the cultural landscape in France and seeing how this experience influences my thinking process of making work or how my thinking will shift,” he said.
He also has his sights set on hosting his first solo exhibition upon returning to South Africa, but his ambitions extend beyond South Africa and France. “I want to represent my country in the Venice Biennale and share my ancestral story in the international or global dialogue,” he said.