​Contemporary South African Art

Article contributes to : http://www.adf.org.za



Prince Mundeke defines himself as an artist originating from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Father of four children, he has been living in South Africa with his family for 15 years. He I left the D.R.C (then Zaire) in 1991, because of the collapse of the country politically and economically. He saw South Africa as a country where to gain more experience in the field of Art, and as a land of opportunities.
He always has been an artist as far as he remembers. He studied in the Fine Arts Academy in Kinshasa, and situates himselfbetween two heritages, the ‘African’ and the European’. He believes that Africa is the birth place of humanity and the mother of two civilizations or heritage, African and European- now having embarked on two different traditions and cultures. Jokingly he imagines that maybe one day he will try to conciliate both, by painting European ladies wearing African costumes.
His achievements make him proud, especially the portraits he drew of two African leaders, former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba and former South African President and international icon Nelson Mandela. The portrait of President Chiluba (who was the first to win multiparty elections in Zambia, and ruled from 1991 to 2001) was adopted as the official one in all governmental offices. Prince happened to be in Zambia at the time of Chiluba’s first election into power. He wanted to celebrate this historical election and by chance, made the right connection, was introduced to Chiluba’s Party (the Movement for Multiparty Democracy),whose leaders appreciated the painting and showed it to the President.Coming to South Africa in 1994, it was obvious for him that he wanted to paint Nelson Mandela, in order to honour him for what he has done for peace and reconciliation and for giving all Africans a hope for better life. He met Mr. Tokyo Sexwale, then Gauteng premier and a prominent member of the ANC, showed him two paintings he had made, one of which Sexwale took straight to Pretoria to President Mandela himself. Mandela liked it and kept it in his personal archives.

Later on, when the Johannesburg Arts Gallery organized the exhibition of Mr. Mandela paintings, they though about Prince and contacted him, so he brought the second of the paintings that was exposed, and kept in the ANC and JAG archives. Presently, Prince Mundeke is teaching visual art at Sheik Anta Diop College in Yeoville.
Currently he is training 5 children for free. He believes art is empowering and couldcontribute to build the youth of South Africa. He would dream of creating an art school but lacks funding – and stresses the absence of government subsidy as well as access to private credit. He also regrets the absence of an art gallery and artists center in Yeoville –that in his view could be more attractive than Sandton and Rosebank in the area of art and
culture, because it could showcase the African cultures and their diversity. He dreams himself as managing an art gallery and running an African art workshop in Yeoville. There are so many local artists in Yeoville from almost all African countries. However,they seldom work together and hardly know one another – as everyone is trying to survive and follows individual strategies. He believes mutual knowledge would help Yeoville African artists to organize themselves and work together to impact the community and the City. Public cultural events in Yeoville could help creating these
linkages.

Bienvenu Ingila, ADF member,

Chair of Congo Heart of Africa