Interview with Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist, 2023Blessing Ngobeni is Standard Bank's Young Artist of 2023. We sat down in his studio to discuss his fascinating origins, his struggles, what his art is all about and the bright future laid out ahead of him.
by Gordon Glyn-Jones
26-10-2023 11:18
in Art and Artists
Interview with Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist, 2023. Image: Supplied
We caught up with Blessing Ngobeni ahead of his show at the Standard Bank Gallery for a chat.
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ALSO READ: Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist award winner
Q: Tell us a little about how you got into art.
B: For me I've been through something of a hard history. I was once incarcerated. Through being in that space, I started to look at what I could do to push my life forward. I used to draw other inmates; to design birthday cards to give to their families outside. I was asked to do a few portraits. I also started going to the library to read books. The first book that encouraged me so much was a book by Gerard Sekoto. When I looked at his work, I was like, imagine my work too in a book! I started to understand, to see if I could push harder and I started to sketch more. I think this was the beginning of a new life.
I used to do more realistic work than what you see today. I joined projects and then I took over, as a teacher who was facilitating this project. I started entering competitions and I was encouraged by the correctional service project, where they were encouraging inmates to do something.
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So, through that I was happy to find myself. I look back today and say: Wow, I travelled these milestones and today, the thorns that I used to walk through are now flat ground I can walk through with my bare feet'.
Q: How has your art evolved over time?
B: When I came out from prison, in 2006, I had a collection of some of my work consigned to a gallery here in the city. Then this gallery gave me a call and told me my work had been stolen. The result of this blow was that I made no work from then until 2009. I did not do anything. I did not paint, I did nothing.
In 2010, I resumed, that's when the birth of the teardrops in my work and the beginning of collage, which started as just one single piece of paper as I did not have material. I would collect material from the streets, scrap boards, scrap papers and started once more pushing myself, encouraging myself.
I would look at the drip going down slowly, and fall in love with them; little knowing that it was me crying inside, and now was the moment to release it out!
I then found out I was a winner of the Reynold Kassero Award. Before I knew that I was a winner, I had dreamed of being in Newtown, in a shower, a rain of gold. Everything I touched in that dream was gold. That was the beginning of a great change in my life. It lead to getting the residency, galleries, media and attention on many other platforms. It was very exciting.
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Q: What is your art about and why is it important?
B: I think art is the foundation of almost everything that we see. I think without art, we won't be human. There are so many discoveries made in the art world that are important to our society, our world and what is it that we need to change.
So, the main advantage of art is that the person that uses his skills, his creative process can question the status quo of the world, of country, of society.
That's how my art has evolved. If you look at my work from the beginning to now, I've moved in many different mediums. I've also done performances, because I'm expressing what I see, what I feel inside. And I don't want to say I do it just for people. I'd say I do it for my personal healing; I need to heal from the past.
Q: How has your life changed since becoming Standard Bank Young Artist?
B: I think through the Standard Bank Young Artist project, the partnership that we had so far has changed how I think, how I view the world, how I see things. I have begun to understand that there are people who really care out there.
Q: What's the next big thing for you?
B: I have large projects coming: Angola for a residence; I have a show in Berlin; a show at Miami Basel; I have a solo booth in Frieze, New York, next year February. I have a solo show in LA next year. And then of course the Standard Bank Exhibition is traveling to different parts of the country. Then I have two shows also with the gallery that I work with, Everard Read. And I have other projects through curators that went to my exhibition. I have so much I'm looking forward to.
I will continue to challenge myself and not be reluctant and not be part of dependent generation and say:
Oh, because I got these awards, I got that, then I'm done'.
No. I want this. It will assist me to grow and to build my own space in this world.
Q: What do you think is the best way to support young up-and-coming artists in South Africa?
B: It's through sharing for me; the spirit of sharing. That is what is lost right now in our current generation; older people, they used to share everything, but now we don't have that. So I think through sharing is supporting those that are in need of things, in need of growth. So I would say let's share whatever we have, let's stop being greedy.
Q: Any final message for the youth?
B: I think anything I want to add is to say to the young people out there: It's not the end of the world you know?' Through travel, you discover yourself, you discover opportunity. I encourage the youth to look at themselves. It's possible, we can do it. Let's team up and let's work together. Let's share ideas; the growth is out there. Let's encourage each other to travel and mingle, you know in Africa you need to mingle, in Europe they mingle, Africans we can'
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Interview with Blessing Ngobeni: Standard Bank Young Artist, 2023Blessing Ngobeni is Standard Bank's Young Artist of 2023. We sat down in his studio to discuss his fascinating origins, his struggles, what his art is all about and the bright future laid out ahead of him. 
