My name is Mlamuli Mkhwanazi a Johannesburg based artist from Empembeni in the homesteads of Kwa-Zulu Natal.

My body of work is a visual African library that shares ancient archives from both our reality and fantasy as human beings. It’s inspired by African cultures/spirituality and its contribution to the survival of humankind. As a visual shaman, these ancestral visual regurgitations are channelled through a trance like state which mirrors many dimensions and spheres of life. These dimensions and spheres of life are captured through faces and surreal compositions by using a wide range of mediums and techniques.

A spiritual decision was taken not to stick to one style, as life has a wide spectrum of energies and emotions that collectively give our lives meaning and balance. For us to truly start living our lives to the fullest, my art teaches humankind how to heal, cry, dream, laugh, believe, love, unite, forgive, and more importantly preserve our existence.

The characters that I paint are harvested from dreams or there are given to me by the universe through Gamma rays or musical vibrations. These faces are not filtered in their emotions, to serve as a reminder that in these modern times, most people’s faces, lives, and intentions are filtered. So, we must learn to protect our energies yet living to the fullest.

Each face has a story to tell…whose story are you telling?