Sandile Ashar Mhlongo: Lights in Darkness, Darkness in Light

Experience the contrasts of Cape Town through Sandile Ashar Mhlongo’s evocative acrylic paintings. Lights in Darkness, Darkness in Light is exhibited by House Union Block (HUB) at the Cape Heritage Hotel’s Sisonke Gallery until 27 October 2024.

HUB is a nonprofit organisation connecting South African artists to commercial opportunities under the umbrella of Spier Arts Trust. Operating out of the trust’s Union House building in Commercial Street, Cape Town, HUB consists of a gallery space and a multi-disciplinary team dedicated to curating local and international exhibitions to create career-boosting visibility and an opportunity to sell for South African fine artists, such as Mhlongo.

A second-generation artist born in Gugulethu and living in Mitchell’s Plain’s Lost City, Mhlongo’s art career began during his high school years in the late 1980s. Learning from his father – an artist working as a bricklayer – he is passionate about making his family’s lived experiences visible through his work. His visually striking depictions of everyday life have a strong sense of place infused with a touch of surreality.

Painting visual metaphors, Mhlongo’s latest collection embodies the principle of choosing to look at light, even in times of darkness. His work is personal and political, steeped in first-person experiences and informed by keen observations of the country’s changing landscape and the people who inhabit it.

Mhlongo was mentored as part of the Nando’s Creative Exchange, a programme developing the skills of emerging artists, in 2017. His work has formed part of group exhibitions curated by Truworths, the Community Arts Workshop and the Cape Gallery. He exhibited a solo collection at Cape Town’s AVA Gallery in 2012.

This exhibition at Sisonke is a close look at the interplay of hope and despair that characterises a Capetonian’s perspective of life in South Africa. There’s good and bad in the dark. Choose light. Shine, shine your light in the dark and you will find all you are looking for, says Mhlongo.

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