Hlobo Nicholas

Born in 1975 in Cape Town, Nicholas Hlobo graduated with a degree in painting from the Witwatersrand Technikon University in Johannesburg in 2002. His work is set against the specific backdrop of South Africa, a country that has recently been navigating a fragile and ever-changing democratic landscape whilst striving to eradicate discrimination based on gender, ethnicity and religion. Nicholas Hlobo’s personality, comprising multiple and, at first glance, contradictory identities, is shaped by his own experience as a black, gay man belonging to the Xhosa community. In his works, the artist draws upon the oral traditions, beliefs and rites of passage of his ethnic group, infusing them with the issues of race and gender inherent to his community. Inspired by the myths and songs of his childhood, the titles of these works act as guardians of the temple of his native language, which is being eroded by the ever-increasing presence of Anglicisms.