Limited Edition – Nandipha Mntambo , ‘Hinterlands of Devotion II’

Nandipha Mntambo is tall, impossibly stylish and has more energy than most hurricanes. Mntambo completed her fine arts degree at Michaelis School of Fine Art (UCT) and was the Standard Bank Young Artists of the Year for 2011. She has exhibited extensively both locally and internationally.

Much of Mntambo’s work deals with cattle, whether shaping cowhide around a mould (originally made from her body), using cowhide as a tunic, stitching cow hair through paper, re-enacting bullfights (with a cowhide cape) or transforming herself into a bull. Mntambo references cattle through African, European and Asian beliefs and traditions, using her body as the anchoring point. These prints do and dont move away from cattle, she explains: ‘The cattle work is always caught up in my body. Body is central, with these prints there is a shift away from the material but the core still remains. We all have a body but each is perceived differently, although bodies are essentially the same thing. The whole point for me is that we are all the same. It is more about finding a core, a core of sameness. Regardless of distances, time and geography, we all have things that make us so similar’. The title of the series Hinterlands of Devotion provides a key to understanding the work. The forms in the prints are inspired by a close-up and intimate focus on body parts that then evolve into a sense of large-scale figures. The layering of the inks helped the idea of depth, the layers reflecting the physical structure of skin. Mntambo investigates three-dimensionality within a flat plane. The titles evoke a sense of geography, memory and forgotten underdeveloped space. The colonial concept of on the border of nowhere, intrigues Mntambo. ‘Ports were placed at the entrance to nowhere, for received goods from far away, unknown places. These correlate with the contours of the body, our borders of physical space. What lies below and beneath the skin? We are all part of our bodies and yet do not really know or understand them. And yet there is a level of devotion; to the craft, the process of doing, devotion to health, devotion to feeling. We all make choices and are committed to them’.

Nandipha Mntambo , ‘Hinterlands of Devotion II’, 2013, four colour hand printed lithograph, 76x57cm, Edition of 22.

WARNING. Keep out of direct sunlight. Handle with extreme care as works on paper are easily creased, bent or torn. Store in a dry, climate controlled facility.

This work is couriered rolled in a protective tube or flat on a protective backing board. Frame with non-acidic archival materials.