Helen Sebidi

Helen Sebidi
Born	Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi (1943-03-05)March 5, 1943 Marapyane (Skilpadfontein) near Hamanskraal
Occupation	Artist
Years active	1960–present
Notable work	Tears of Africa (1988)
Awards	Standard Bank Young Artist Award (1989) The Order of Ikhamanga in Silver (2004) ACT Lifetime Achievement Award (2011) Mbokodo Women’s Award (2015)

Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi (5 March 1943) is a South African artist born in Marapyane (Skilpadfontein) near Hamanskraal, Pretoria who lives and works in Johannesburg. Sebidi's work has been represented in private and public collections, including at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington and New York the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, New York, and the World Bank. Her work has been recognized internationally and locally. In 1989 she won the Standard Bank Young Artist award, becoming the first black woman to win the award. In 2004, President Thabo Mbeki awarded her the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver – which is the highest honor given to those considered a "national treasure". In 2011, she was awarded the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Art, whilst in 2015 she received the Mbokodo Women's Award. In September 2018, Sebidi was honoured with one of the first solo presentations at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town – a retrospective entitled Batlhaping Ba Re.

Her work represents a mode of African modernist painting and sculpture, wherein she depicts her experience of having grown up and living in the South African countryside, and later her experiences as a black artist, living and working under an apartheid regime. Sebidi's portraits often depict abstracted African subjects in bright colours and a rich palette. She is often associated with the realist and quasi-expressionist schools, with her vivid paintings of life in both rural and urban South Africa and similarly striking clay sculptures.

Early life

Sebidi was born to a working class mother, who was a domestic worker in the city of Johannesburg. As was typical of children born to migrant labourers, Helen was raised in the country side by her grandmother who taught her mural painting and pyroengraving of calabashes. In 1959, after completing grade 8, Sebidi went to join her mother in Johannesburg where due to a lack of employment opportunities for you black women she was obliged to seek work as a domestic worker. At 16, Sebidi found work with a German family by the name of Perch and established an amicable relationship with the matriarch of the family, Heidi Perch.

Career

When Heidi began painting in Sebidi's presence, Sebidi showed interest in painting and was encouraged by Heidi to develop this passion. She then began to pursue her sense of creativity in her extra time. A desire to professionalise her practice led Sebidi to seek more formal training.

Sebidi explored a number of the limited art training options that were available to her at the time. In 1970 she enrolled at an art facility called White Studio in Sophiatown. It is here that Sebidi met John Koenakeefe Mohl, a fellow artist and director of the White Studio. Mohl served as Sebidi's mentor and is credited for having encouraged Sebidi to pursue a career as an artist, and urging her to develop an individual idiom, establish an independent style and practice as opposed to emulating that of her peers.In 1980, Sebidi furthered her training by spending eighteen months at the Katlehong Art Centre in the east of Johannesburg. She also spent time at the Johannesburg Art Foundation-a multi cultural centre for art education , under the tutelage of fine artist and director Bill Ainslie.n 1985, she took up a teaching position at the Katlehong Art Centre near Germiston. Between 1986 and 1988 she worked for the Johannesburg Art Foundation while teaching at the Alexandra Art Centre.

Mme Helen Sebidi cites her grandmother as her earliest influence. She taught Sebidi the philosophical underpinnings of communal labour and inculcated a sense of dignity and pride in her Tshwana cultural practices. Other influences include John Koenakeefe Mohl, Bill Ainslie, Lucky Sbiya, and David Koloane. Koloane inspired Sebidi's move from realism to abstraction, as he believed that an African artist had the right to pursue an abstraction that recognixed an individuated praxis reflective of their experiences as African artists.

Exhibitions

• 2017:

• Batlhaping Ba Re!, Norval Foundation, Cape Town
• They Are Greeting, Standard Bank Gallery, Albany Museum, National Arts Festival, Makhanda, South Africa

• 2016:

• Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil
• She is Greeting, Everard Read, Johannesburg

• 2013:

• Centennary Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg

• 2009:

• Great South African Nude Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg

• 2008:

• Joburg Art Fair 2008 with Everard Read

• 2004:

• Visible Visions (travelling exhibition): Germany: Hagen, Essen, Berlin and Osnabrueck; Holland: Tilburg

• 2003:

• The Artificial Shelter Foundation, Tilburg Netherlands

• 2002:

• Head North: Views from the South African National Gallery Permanent Collection, Iziko South African National Gallery, Sweden
• International world summit exhibition: Tilburg, Netherlands
• International travelling exhibition, 'World Women, Visible Visions from 'International Women', opened in Johannesburg
• Art in the context of the World Earth Summit on sustainable development

• 2001:

• The Markers' exhibition, Venice Biennale, Italy

• 2000:

• Axis Gallery, New York
• University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion

• 1999:

• Changing Screens Exhibition, The Firs, Rosebank, Johannesburg
• Human Rights Institute Exhibition, National Gallery, Durban

• 1994:

• Six women from Southern Africa, Civic Gallery, Johannesburg

• 1993:

• Venice Biennale, Italy
• Graphics Exhibition , Jyväskylä, Finland
• African Hei-ti-@e, Uranienborgveien, Norway
• Women From Africa, Savannah Gallery of Modern Art, Bethnal Green, London, Uk
• Standard Bank Young Artists Award Winners Exhibition, Zimbabwe National Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe

• 1992:

• Art from South Africa, Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town
• Future Realisms, The Afrika Futuristic Gallery, Johannesburg
• The Challenge to Colonisation, 4th Havana Biennial, Cuba
• Standard Bank Young Artists Award Winners Exhibition, Namibia

• 1991:

• A Grain of Whea , Common Wealth Institute, London, UK

• 1990:

• Zabalaza Arts Festival, Institute of Contemporary Arts,London, Uk
• Art From South Africa, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford UK

• 1989:

• 1989 Standard Bank National Festival of the Arts, Makhanda
• Cape Town Triennial, toured South Africa

• 1988:

• Art Images in Southern Africa, Stockholm, Sweden
• The Neglected Tradition
• Detainees Parents' Support Committee
• South African Potter's Association

• 1987:

• Standard Bank National Drawing Competition which toured South Africa
• Thupelo Workshop Exhibition, toured to the Johannesburg Art Centre and the National South African Gallery in Durban
• Delfiri/ FUBA Creative Quest Exhibition, Johannesburg
• Vita Art Now, Johannesburg

• 1986:

• Thupelo Workshop Exhibition, Johannesburg
• Art For Alexandra, Sotheby's, Johannesburg
• FUBA, Johannesburg

• 1980-88:

• Washington, D.C.

• 1980-88:

• Brush and Chisel Club

• 1977-88:

• Artists Under the Sun, Parkview, Johannesburg