Asemahle Ntlonti

Asemahle Ntlonti

BornNationalityBased In
1993South AfricanN/A
Biography

Asemahle Ntlonti’s approach to painting is expressed through the layering of paint, paper and thread stitching on canvas. Working on the floor to immerse her body in the process, she gradually builds up her works by intuitively applying and stripping away material. Ntlonti draws inspiration from the textures and hues that characterise the vernacular architecture of her ancestral homeland in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and recently the works have been informed by the artist’s encounters with the ruins of her mother’s homestead and its interior surfaces. Resembling topographical charts or maps, the walls of painted colour veined with mud-filled cracks conjure landscapes imbued with nostalgia and longing.Ntlonti’s process refers to the acts of digging / excavating and mending / repairing to speak about the scars of intergenerational traumas caused by the effects of economic subjugation and displacement of black people under colonialism and apartheid; with particular reference to the cultural alienation and loss of knowledges embedded within precolonial tradition and spirituality. Seeking to locate her identity in relation to the land and community from which she and her family have been estranged, Ntlonti’s practice is centred around her ongoing research of isiXhosa heritage and an inquiry into her ancestry. ...

Selected Artworks
Emaphandleni
Asemahle Ntlonti
Emaphandleni, 2022
178 x 200cm
uHambo Lwam
Asemahle Ntlonti
uHambo Lwam, 2023
144 x 134cm
Empumalanga
Asemahle Ntlonti
Empumalanga, 2023
135 x 142.5cm
Iingcinga zemihla ngemihla I
Asemahle Ntlonti
Iingcinga zemihla ngemihla I, 2023
52 x 42cm
Iingcinga zemihla ngemihla II
Asemahle Ntlonti
Iingcinga zemihla ngemihla II, 2023
52 x 47cm
Dotata
Isikhumbuzo selizwe
Asemahle Ntlonti
Isikhumbuzo selizwe, 2023
144 x 138 x 4.5cm
Ixhegwazana
Asemahle Ntlonti
Ixhegwazana, 2024
142 x 133 x 6cm
iSiqithi I
Asemahle Ntlonti
iSiqithi I, 2025
193 x 144.5 x 5cm
Eluhlangeni I
Asemahle Ntlonti
Eluhlangeni I, 2025
193 x 143.5 x 5cm
Mbotyi (II)
Asemahle Ntlonti
Mbotyi (II), 2025
54 x 49 x 5cm
Gallery Representation
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