​Contemporary South African Art

Article credits to: http://www.art.co.za/colbertmashile/

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Colbert Mashile Is a young artist from Johannesburg Who's Work deals with tradition, customs and rituals as well as attitudes prevalent in society. As a young boy, Mashile had to undergo certain circumcision rites that left him with a lot of emotional trauma and psycological confusion.

I was born in 1972 in Bushbuckridge (Northern Province). I come from a place which is shrouded by powerful cultural norms and customs.

At the age of 10 I had to undergo initiation rituals with my peers of the same age. The ritual in the Bushbuckridge area is not based on issues of transforming boys into men as such, but to reinforce tradition. At that age it is impossible for boys to become men physically and emotionally. My immediate response to the horror and trauma of the experience was suppressed until a later stage when I realised that I had difficulty in looking at gaping wounds of injured people, especially the wounds that were inflicted for ceremonial purposes. I then realised how traumatised I was. I decided to heal myself by dealing with these experiences in my artworks whereby I try to use psycological images which I feel comfortable with in an attempt to replace horrific scenes, sights and sounds of the initiation ritual. I am not necessarily advocating the demise of the practice, but just to express my individual feeling which I believe would be shared by others who have endured the same. In most cases such psychological trauma is rarely spoken about because the general perception of the initiate is to have a sense of pride and belonging. This is a long process of healing which I believe will end when I finally accept that the pain and horror is gone forever.

The work depicts shadowy images deriving from the emotional experiences of initiation. Formally the work seems hard and unforgiving to beauty-seeking eyes. I try to be as truthful as possible such as the use of earthy colours and jagged edges. The numbers which can been seen on the artwork speak of the years and ages which highlight important vents in my life.

Like many individuals exposed to the ritual tradition of circumcision, he has struggled to comprehend the historical nature of the traumatic process that continues in a contemporary landscape. Through the restorative process of creating art, Mashile ahs found a medium to express his emotions and come to terms with his past. Being of the Sotho heritage, he was subjected to the ritual at a young age of 12, and ever since has sought a means to replace his horrific mental recall with images of comfort. Art has provided this modus.

Driven by the turmoil from within, Mashile’s technique is quick and loose in style, allowing the direction of his image to be the result of his intuitive response to the etching techniques. Having completed his BA (FA) from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2000, he had experience with printmaking, but a true comprehension of the process did not evolve until he was allowed to work and experiment at DKW. An ongoing collaboration began in 2003 and has allowed Mashile to work with printer Tim Foulds, Zhane Warren and visiting Master Printer Randy Hemminghaus of New York.

The newest limited edition to be released is Mokoko wa Mokgaka, which has been published in an edition of 13. The titles of Colbert’s work are in Sotho and are directly derived from descriptions of the imagery found in each print. Mokoko wa Mokgaka means cockerel. The cock is used as a sacrifice during the circumcision and is eaten after the completion of the ceremony. It is a rare bird that resembles a guinea fowl in colouring and is known for its stubbornness. The title identifies a character in the ritual as well as set up a narrative for the viewer. Each work bears witness to the plights of young boys. The associated imagery in Mashile’s work includes psychological associations to the circumcision ceremony as well as references to childhood memories and to his childhood home.

Monoprints and limited drypoint editions have been originated and printed at DKW and are available and sold through our gallery at 140 Jan Smuts, Parkwood.

In a bold new move away from his earlier themes and concerns, Colbert Mashile has created several large, bright monotypes and a series of delicate, monochromatic linocuts at David Krut Print Workshop.

Mashile has produced several bodies of work at DKW but these latest monotypes feel altogether different in tone to the earlier work that came out of his collaborations with printer Jill Ross. When asked about the source for the series of faces in the monotypes, Mashile refers to an elderly woman named Josephine whom he has known for many years. She lives in the village near Mashile’s home in Bushbuckridge and he has always been struck by her stoicism, determination, and sense of humour in the face of extraordinary hardship. The monotypes, a series of large faces and figures do not represent Josephine but seem to be aspects of her character, and of a kind of female spirit to him. Monotype is a medium often suited to artists used to working in paint and Mashile, who himself is a painter, has made full use of the freedom allowed by the process, applying generous, bright swathes of colour to produce images that seem at once to convey strength and humour.

In sharp counterpoint to the monotypes, the small linocuts offer a glimpse of Mashile’s delicacy of touch and his ability to make full use of the contrasts permitted by the application black ink to the lino. The characters in J.M.Coetzee’s novel Life and Times of Michael K inspire the figures in this series and they convey something of the alienation and sadness expressed in the work.