Darkness After Light: The Visual Portrait of Lefifi Tladi Kolodi Doctor Senong A thesis submitted to the Wits School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg 2022 iii Abstract This creative studio research investigates the work of Lefifi Tladi (b. 1949). Its significance includes inserting Tladi into the historiography of South African visual art and intellectual life. My study is framed through the theories of Black Consciousness and Afrocentrism to engage portrait painting and biographical writing as a discursive mode into the visual arts discourse. My methodology foregrounds visual forms to interpret Tladi’s first name, Lefifi, which implies darkness after light. Portrait painting is key in my research, exploring its potential as both a creative procedure and intellectual activity fusing attributes of likeness, realism, fiction, and imagination. I engage theories of biography by Chabani Manganyi, Hlonipha Mokoena, and Ciraj Rasool to articulate the dynamic and complex portrait of Tladi, who is a visual artist, poet, musician and activist. At the end, I produced a body of portait paintings and a expansive written text to explore the portait of Lefifi Tladi. This research attempted to render visible a portrait of Tladi as a creative thinker whose work is peppered with the spirit of Black Consciousness and Afrocentricity, and contributed to decoloniality. Keywords: Afrocentric, apartheid, Black Consciousness, black experience, Lefifi Tladi, poetry, painting, portraiture iv Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is being submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination at any other University. Kolodi Senong 15th day of April in the year 2022 v Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Professor Thembinkosi Goniwe for the continuous support of my doctoral study and related research; for his patience, motivation and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better supervisor and mentor for my doctoral study. Zonke!!!! I thank Professor David Andrew’s immense, firm support and gentle spirit that made sure that I didn’t lose my mind during the research process. You helped me take ownership of my project and realise my agency as an artist. Thank you!!! I am grateful to Art Africa Research (ARA), Wits School of Arts (WSoA) and the National Arts Council (NAC) for providing me with the financial wings to help me fly. Also, I thank Ntlhagiso Kumayl Molantoa and Ignatius Malema, who provided me with constant, unpretentious anecdotes of the black experience and brotherhood to enlighten my journey. This project owes its life to the inimitable sage, Lefifi Tladi, whose images and words of African consciousness are a reminder about the presence of an alternative world, where blackness means the presence of all colours – re rile re re re a le botša lena la re le a tseba go re le dirang bjale ngwana o a lela. Mostly, I would like to thank my dearest wife, Mabontle and our beautiful children, Lindokuhle, Tlhalefo and Tsebo, for supporting me spiritually. You were there for me when I lost Pebetsi le Motlatsi and still are, ke a leboga. You tolerated my erratic mood swings and frustrations while constantly reminding me that ulele then igoli liyabanda as a result. vi Table Of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii Declaration ................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ......................................................................................................... vi List of Images of Various Artists’ Art Works .......................................................... viii List of Images Discussed Discussed in the Research ................................................. xii Chapter 1: Introducing the Art, Poetry and Philosophy of Lefifi Tladi ..................... 1 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Portraiture as a Mode of Representation ............................................................................ 2 1.2.1 Reclaiming the ‘lost sight’ of the New Africans ................................................................ 3 1.2.2 Rationale for the Portrait of Lefifi Tladi ............................................................................ 4 1.2.3 Literature Review and Theoretical Framework .................................................................. 9 1.2.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 14 1.2.5 Outline of Chapters ......................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2: A Biographical Tapestry of Lefifi Tladi .................................................. 19 2.1 Theoretical Framework and Methodology on Biography and its Application ................... 19 2.2 The Life Story of the Artist ............................................................................................. 19 2.3 Biographical Details of Lefifi Tladi ................................................................................. 21 2.3.1 Tladi's Intellect and Gramsci's Notion of the ‘organic intellectual’ .................................. 25 Chapter 3 “How Art Beholds the Elevated Senses” in Lefifi Tladi’s Eclectic Cultural Constructions .............................................................................................................. 39 3.1 Art and the Human Senses .............................................................................................. 39 3.2 Visualising the Senses as Mark-Making .......................................................................... 46 Chapter 4. The Visual Tapestry in Tladi’s ‘Ga Re Itshebeng’ and ‘Afrika’ ........... 55 4.1 Tladi in Poetry ................................................................................................................ 55 4.2 Tladi’s ‘Ga Re Itshebeng’ and ‘Afrika’ ........................................................................... 57 4.3 Alternative Afrocentric Worldviews ................................................................................ 64 vii Chapter 5 The Visual Portrait of Lefifi Tladi through the Creative Practice of Painting ....................................................................................................................... 73 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 73 5.2 Painting as Research ....................................................................................................... 74 5.2.1 Reflections on the Studio Processes................................................................................. 77 5.2.2 Images of My Studio Work ............................................................................................. 82 5.3 Conclusion: A Reflective Summary ................................................................................ 96 Reference List ........................................................................................................... 101 viii List of Images of Various Artists’ Art Works Figure 1. XHAKAZA, Dumisani, Themba Mkhize’s CD cover of Tales from the South. ........... xii Figure 2. SEYMOUR, Kirsten, Selaelo Selota’s CD cover of Painted Faces............................... xii Figure 3. NGOBENI, Blessing Blood Sucker: Julius Malema, 2012, mixed media. Private Collection (Source: https://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-26-probing-the-dual-nature-of-dystopia). ... xii Figure 4. BESTER, Willie, Homage to Steve Biko, 1992, mixed media. Private Collection (Source: https://si ngout.org/the-wind-will-blow-it-higher-biko/steve-biko-tribute-by-willie- bester-1992/). xiii Figure 5. BHENGU, Gerard, Ntombenhle, watercolour, 33.5 x 25cm. Private Collection (Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/gerard-bhengu/ntombenhle- lnnauGbihWTR1_aXMjt4Ww2). xiii Figure 6. PEMBA, George, Portrait of Mqhayi, a Xhosa Poet, 1939, sepia. University of Fort Hare De Beers Gallery (Source: https://www.doi:10.1080/00043389.2005.11877041). ...................... xiv Figure 7. PEMBA, George, Es’kia Mphahlele, Date Unknown, oil on canvas, Dimensions Unknown. Private Collection (Source: Manganyi & Attwell). .................................................... xiv Figure 8. SEKOTO, Gerard, Portrait of a Coloured School Teacher – Omar, 1943, oil on canvas. Private Collection (Source: the Gerard Sekoto Foundation). ....................................................... xv Figure 9. SEKOTO, Gerard, Woman Sewing, Mary Dikeledi, 1946, oil on board, 44 x 38.5 cm. Private Collection (Source: the Gerard Sekoto Foundation). ....................................................... xv Figure 10. SEKOTO, Gerard, Portrait of Miriam Makeba, 1960, ballpoint on paper, 15 x 10.5 cm. Private collection (Source: The Gerard Sekoto Collection). ....................................................... xvi Figure 11. ONALOBU, Aina, Chief Dr. Sapara, oil on canvas, Date Unknown, No Dimensions.National Gallery of Art Nigeria (Source: books.google.co.za/books/about/Guidelines_for_Ethical_Visual_Research_ M.html?id=o1qAoAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y). xvi ix Figure 12. WILEY, Kehinde Barack Hussein Obama, 2018, oil on canvas 234.3 × 167.2 cm. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Source: https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2018.16). .. xvii Figure 13. SHERALD, Amy, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018, oil on linen, 213.36x 152.4 cm. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Source: hyperallergic.com/432420/obama- portraits-history-african-american-portraiture/). ........................................................................ xvii Figure 13. TLADI, Lefifi, Hands of Motherhood, 1979, ink on paper. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xviii Figure 14. TLADI, Lefifi, Impundulu – Firebird, 1979, ink on paper, 41 x 60 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). xviii Figure 15. TLADI, Lefifi, Seated Figure ll, 1980, charcoal on paper, 152.5 x 74.7 cm, Private collection (Source: Otola Dimo). xix Figure 16. TLADI, Lefifi, Mother and Self, 1980, charcoal on paper, 77.5 x 143 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xix Figure 17. TLADI, Lefifi, Three Figures, 1980, charcoal on paper, 75 x 180 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xix Figure 18. TLADI, Lefifi, Mood, 1983, oil on paper, 14.5 x 96.5 (Source: Oto la Dimo)............ xx Figure 19. TLADI, Lefifi, Hallelujah, 1989, coloured sand on board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xx Figure 20, TLADI, Lefifi, Xoi Memories, 1989, sand on coloured board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xx Figure 21. TLADI, Lefifi, Makgwai, 1989, coloured sand on board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xxi Figure 22. TLADI, Lefifi, Metaphor Symbol, 1990, oil on paper, 14.5 x 96.5 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). xxi x Figure 23. TLADI, Lefifi, Alphabets of Fire – Series, 1994, ink on paper, 15.5 x 1.6 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). xxii Figure 24. A catalogue cover of Tladi’s 1995 exhibition, Xedzedze, at the UNISA Art Gallery. xxii Figure 25. DA VINCI, Leonardo, Last Supper, 1495-1498, applied the golden ratio in the Last Supper (Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/leonardo-da-vinci-golden-ratio-art/). ............. xxiii Figure 26. DA VINCI, Leonardo, Mona Lisa, 1503-1606, shows the artist's exploration of the Fibonacci sequence (Source: https://thefibonaccisequence.weebly.com/mona-lisa.html). ......... xxiii Figure 27. A decorated Ndebele house in South Africa (Source: https://elephant.art/reinventing- resistance-the-ndebele-tribes-geometric-wall-art/). .................................................................. xxiv Figure 28. Part of a mural with Ndebele designs (Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=ndebele+murals&tbm=isch&chips=q:ndebele+art,g_1:pattern: OfeXp6g1Q-E%3D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj24qWP1 j1AhUNCHcKHQevAzwQ4lYoAHoECAEQGw&biw=785&bih=451). ................................. xxiv Figure 29. BRAQUE, Georges, Glass on a Table, 1910, oil on canvas, 34.9 x 38.7 cm. Private collection (Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/analytical-cubism). ........................ xxiv Figure 30. GRIS, Juan, the Sunblind, 1914, papier collé, 92 x 72 cm. Private Collection (Source: ttps://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gris-the-sunblind-n05747). .................................. xxv xi List of Kolodi Senong’s Research Studio Images SENONG, Kolodi, Stages of Bondage, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 140 x 80 cm (70 x 80 cm each, diptych). ................................................................................................................ 82 SENONG, Kolodi, Fifi le Legolo, 2019, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm. ................................. 83 SENONG, Kolodi, Charmza, 2019, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm. ........................................ 84 SENONG, Kolodi, Untitled, 2017, mixed media on paper, 150 x 107 cm. ........................... 85 SENONG, Kolodi, Poetry in Motion (2019,) oil on canvas, 75 x 100 cm. ............................ 85 SENONG, Kolodi, African Imaginary, 2018, oil on canvas, 92 x 92 cm. ............................. 86 SENONG, Kolodi, Red Justice, 2017, mixed media on paper, 165 x 116 cm........................ 87 SENONG, Kolodi, Liberation What? (2020), oil on canvas, 77 x 67 cm. ............................. 88 SENONG, Kolodi, Tladi Reimagined in Pink (2019), mixed media on paper, 151 x 130 cm. ............................................................................................................................................ 89 SENONG, Kolodi, The Seeing Eye, 2018, oil on canvas, 151 x 130 cm. .............................. 90 SENONG, Kolodi, Pan African Imagination, 2017, mixed media on paper, 151 x 140 cm. .. 91 SENONG, Kolodi, Ke Lefifi as Well, 2021, oil on canvas, 100 x 75 cm. ............................. 92 SENONG, Kolodi, Ga Re Itshebeng, 2018, oil on canvas, 120 x 120 cm. ............................ 93 SENONG, Kolodi, Tladi Reimagined in Pink, 2018, oil on canvas 120 x 120 cm. ............... 94 SENONG, Kolodi, Maatla Monagano as Meditation, 2018, mixed media on paper, 155 x 135 cm. ...................................................................................................................................... 95 SENONG, SENONG, Kolodi,‘mangwane o ilePitoria, 2020, oil o on canvas, 77 x 67 cm. ... 95 SENONG, Kolodi, Yellow Justice, 2017, mixed media on paper, 152 x 108 cm. ................. 96 xii List of Images Discussed Discussed in the Research Figure 1. XHAKAZA, Dumisani, Themba Mkhize’s CD cover of Tales from the South. Figure 2. SEYMOUR, Kirsten, Selaelo Selota’s CD cover of Painted Faces. Figure 3. NGOBENI, Blessing Blood Sucker: Julius Malema, 2012, mixed media. Private Collection (Source: https://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-26-probing-the-dual-nature-of-dystopia). xiii Figure 4. BESTER, Willie, Homage to Steve Biko, 1992, mixed media. Private Collection (Source: https://si ngout.org/the-wind-will-blow-it-higher-biko/steve-biko-tribute-by-willie-bester-1992/). Figure 5. BHENGU, Gerard, Ntombenhle, watercolour, 33.5 x 25cm. Private Collection (Source: http://www.artnet.com/artists/gerard-bhengu/ntombenhle-lnnauGbihWTR1_aXMjt4Ww2). xiv Figure 6. PEMBA, George, Portrait of Mqhayi, a Xhosa Poet, 1939, sepia. University of Fort Hare De Beers Gallery (Source: https://www.doi:10.1080/00043389.2005.11877041). Figure 7. PEMBA, George, Es’kia Mphahlele, Date Unknown, oil on canvas, Dimensions Unknown. Private Collection (Source: Manganyi & Attwell). xv Figure 8. SEKOTO, Gerard, Portrait of a Coloured School Teacher – Omar, 1943, oil on canvas. Private Collection (Source: the Gerard Sekoto Foundation). Figure 9. SEKOTO, Gerard, Woman Sewing, Mary Dikeledi, 1946, oil on board, 44 x 38.5 cm. Private Collection (Source: the Gerard Sekoto Foundation). xvi Figure 10. SEKOTO, Gerard, Portrait of Miriam Makeba, 1960, ballpoint on paper, 15 x 10.5 cm. Private collection (Source: The Gerard Sekoto Collection). Figure 11. ONALOBU, Aina, Chief Dr. Sapara, oil on canvas, Date Unknown, No Dimensions.National Gallery of Art Nigeria (Source: books.google.co.za/books/about/Guidelines_for_Ethical_Visual_Research_ M.html?id=o1qAoAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y). xvii Figure 12. WILEY, Kehinde Barack Hussein Obama, 2018, oil on canvas 234.3 × 167.2 cm. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Source: https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2018.16). Figure 13. SHERALD, Amy, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, 2018, oil on linen, 213.36x 152.4 cm. Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery (Source: hyperallergic.com/432420/obama-portraits-history-african-american- portraiture/). xviii Figure 13. TLADI. Lefifi, Hands of Motherhood, 1979, ink on paper. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 14. TLADI, Lefifi, Impundulu – Firebird, 1979, ink on paper, 41 x 60 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). xix Figure 15. TLADI, Lefifi, Seated Figure ll, 1980, charcoal on paper, 152.5 x 74.7 cm, Private collection (Source: Otola Dimo). Figure 16. TLADI, Lefifi, Mother and Self, 1980, charcoal on paper, 77.5 x 143 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 17. TLADI, Lefifi, Three Figures, 1980, charcoal on paper, 75 x 180 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xx Figure 18. TLADI, Lefifi, Mood, 1983, oil on paper, 14.5 x 96.5 (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 19. TLADI, Lefifi, Hallelujah, 1989, coloured sand on board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 20. TLADI, Lefifi, Xoi Memories, 1989, sand on coloured board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). xxi Figure 21. TLADI, Lefifi, Makgwai, 1989, coloured sand on board, 61 x 61 cm. Private collection (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 22. TLADI, Lefifi, Metaphor Symbol, 1990, oil on paper, 14.5 x 96.5 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). xxii Figure 23. TLADI, Lefifi, Alphabets of Fire – Series, 1994, ink on paper, 15.5 x 1.6 cm (Source: Oto la Dimo). Figure 24. A catalogue cover of Tladi’s 1995 exhibition, Xedzedze, at the UNISA Art Gallery. xxiii Figure 25. DA VINCI, Leonardo, Last Supper, 1495-1498, applied the golden ratio in the Last Supper (Source: https://www.goldennumber.net/leonardo-da-vinci-golden-ratio-art/). Figure 26. DA VINCI, Leonardo, Mona Lisa, 1503-1606, shows the artist's exploration of the Fibonacci sequence (Source: https://thefibonaccisequence.weebly.com/mona-lisa.html). xxiv Figure 27. A decorated Ndebele house in South Africa (Source: https://elephant.art/reinventing-resistance-the-ndebele- tribes-geometric-wall-art/). Figure 28. Part of a mural with Ndebele designs (Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=ndebele+murals&tbm=isch&chips=q:ndebele+art,g_1:pattern:OfeXp6g1Q- E%3D&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj24qWP1 j1AhUNCHcKHQevAzwQ4lYoAHoECAEQGw&biw=785&bih=451). Figure 29. BRAQUE, Georges, Glass on a Table, 1910, oil on canvas, 34.9 x 38.7 cm. Private collection (Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/a/analytical-cubism). xxv Figure 30. GRIS, Juan, the Sunblind, 1914, papier collé, 92 x 72 cm. Private Collection (Source: ttps://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gris-the-sunblind-n05747). 1 Chapter 1: Introducing The Art, Poetry And Philosophy Of Lefifi Tladi 1.1 Introduction Portrait painting is the “admission that there is ‘someone’ out there worthy of identification and preservation” (Brilliant 1991: 14). My study pursues this “admission” by acknowledging that theorising through the embodied act of painting and writing allows for substantial and original contributions to several fields, including fine art and the history of art in South Africa. Thus, through the act of painting and writing, the thesis not only identifies and preserves but also investigates the unique intellectual and creative work of Lefifi Tladi (b. 1949), who made his mark in the South African cultural and political landscape since the 1970s. This period in the history of South Africa is characterised by the spirit of Black Consciousness as the core of the struggle for self-definition and self-determination. The study works with research perspectives of art history, visual culture and cultural studies that are implicated in post-colonial theory (D’Alleva 2005: 76-86). Nonetheless, it is approached through intersecting portrait painting and biographical writing as creative work, an approach that allows for an inquiry and knowledge production that broadens what in conventional and conservative scholarly research has been confined to only written accounts.1 The physical act of painting and the construction of images does not merely complement but complicate my study's socio-historical and cultural perspectives, whose undertaking enables imaginative means to investigate the ideas and life of the multifaceted Tladi, a visual artist, poet, musician and activist. Underscoring my study is visual and textual writing that inserts a black creative intellectual into white-dominated historiography of the South African visual arts and intellectual life. Between 1966 and the 1970s, Tladi was part of a collective of young people who formed a cultural group named De-Olympia, the band Dashiki and later a museum of contemporary black art to spread knowledge around communities estranged from themselves by colonial apartheid2 (Hattingh & Mphakati 1998; Motlhabane & Kaganof 2005). As part of its initiative to awaken the repressed consciousness, the ideology of Black Consciousness spread knowledge and information about African history and culture whilst formulating a visual language, which Tladi claims was prematurely squashed by the 1 Arguably, a creative practice approach to research and knowledge production is as important as an art historical approach – for example, see scholarly debates pursued in the collection of essays edited by Leora Farber (2010). 2 Although more vicious and violent, apartheid became an institutionalised system of racial oppression extending the colonial project, which started in 1652 and regarded black people as lesser human beings. 2 1994 dispensation (Motlhabane et al. 2005). My research is concerned with this visual language, which I investigate with reference to the work of Richard Brilliant (1991) and Jean Borgatti (1990), both of whom demonstrate the significance of portraiture not only through conventional writing (books and essays) but also works of creative arts such as painting and curated exhibitions. These authors show how cultural conventions influence artistic interpretations of portraiture even though its objective may be the same. Yet, contemporary scholarly research cannot be limited to conventional forms but should allow for novel approaches that substantiate, broaden and add value to academic research. Thus, an intersection of portrait painting and biographical writing enables an effective combination of innovative and intellectual approaches feasible for researching and narrating a complex and versatile figure like Tladi. Portraiture as a Mode of Representation This study works with the understanding that portraiture, with or without regard to physiognomic likeness, attempts to capture the memory and project a vision of the depicted individual. It offers a profound, penetrating and enduring visual and textual impression; in this way, it bestows significance to and conserves the life of the depicted individual through the painted artwork and the written monograph – two texts that become accessible to various viewers and readers. In order to achieve this objective, I work with what Patricia Leavy (2009: 255) identifies as art’s ability to arouse feelings through growing awareness and thinking, emotions with potency to spark debates and challenge stereotypes. Shearer West (2004: 14) argues that images are easily accessible to cross-cultural individuals in and outside the academy as an extension and expansion of textual narratives. Such understanding is in line with Nell Irvin Painter’s (2004: 105) argument that when read critically, images offer more information and new dimensions about people, their culture and identity. This means visual images can reveal contextual and unplanned dimensions in one frame whilst expressing the artist’s subjective viewpoint. Images are not simply an alternative source but another dimension and an indispensable option of making meaning and knowledge production, adding to complementing, challenging and expanding the often relied upon written words or textual narratives. In my study, meaning making and representation are carried out through a creative production of experimentation, exploration and investigation through the painting medium and manipulation of materials and visual properties such as composition, colour, scale and textures (Rose 2007: 13). Writing is not a reductive medium of explication but rather an indispensable component of meaning-making, representation, articulation, contextualisation and knowledge production. The outcome of my research, therefore, is a series of colourful portraits and a discursive text that, on the one hand, draw on the genre of portraiture in general and the tradition of South 3 African black portraiture in particular and, on the other hand, making use of intellectual writing on biography, Black Consciousness and Afrocentrism. 1.2.1 Reclaiming the ‘lost sight’ of the New Africans Modelled as an intersection of visual and textual explorations, the study is informed by the need to reclaim what Hlonipha Mokoena (2015: 169) calls the ‘lost sight’ of the 19th and 20th- century black individuals who were generally the products of mission education. Although the people were conscious of the intrusion of an influential foreign way of existence, Ntongela Masilela (2013: xiv) claims that the people chose to adapt and locate themselves within an imposed though reconfigured and evolving modernity in Africa. Thus, Masilela (2011: 43) refers to them as New Africans whose intellectual, cultural and aesthetic trajectories persevered despite being “unexpectedly and violently terminated” by the apartheid forces during the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. These are urban Africans, among whom there are intellectuals, entrepreneurs, doctors, teachers, lawyers, nurses, social workers, artists, writers, political and religious leaders referred to by Mokoena (2015: 170) as the ‘black interpreters’ of black lives in the context of colonial apartheid. Although the New Africans are said to have been cut in 1960, this study locates Tladi within their extended trajectories. I acknowledge that Tladi’s life course transcends that of the New Africans through time, scholastic and sociopolitical experiences, but still, his dynamic, Afrocentric cultural outlook equates to the theoretical tendencies of the Black Interpreters. Understood in this context of localised impressions of modernity surpassing periodisation and politics, the study contributes to the re-establishment of the New Africans’ lost vision through a monograph and portrait paintings whose various expressions, articulations and inflections are “mixed up with politics, personal allegiances and conflicting versions of history” (Lee 2005: 1). The portrait investigates visual elements such as text, colour and specific symbols to construct personalised narratives out of literal, abstract and imagined forms. Through visual and textual research, I engage Tladi as a historical and contemporary figure of importance, thus my experimental exploration of creative modes of portrait painting and biographical writing, reproduction, repetition and reconfiguration of motifs from his archive, especially paintings, poetry and photographs. Through these explorative portraits and noble textual research, the study contributes toward the reclamation of the lost, if not suppressed, the voice of New Africans in the historiography of South African visual art and intellectual life. 4 1.2.2 Rationale for the Portrait of Lefifi Tladi The underpinning concern of my study is the exclusion and marginalisation of artists associated with Black Consciousness and pan-Africanist leanings from the historiography of South African art and intellectual discourses. This erasure or suppression could be attributed to what Tladi views as the battle between the radical reformers and the tolerant lot, which started in Gaborone, Botswana, in the late 1970s (Mabandu 2008: 16). The newly formed and African National Congress (ANC) - aligned Medu Art & Ensemble, which included graphic arts, photography and theatre, among others frustrated individuals such as Tladi who wished to remain free from political affiliation. Equally, Judy Seidman (2009: 88, 93) claims that Tladi dedicated himself to the ideals of Black Consciousness and had to quit Medu following the inclusion of white members during this time. Seidman’s claim echoes Stanley Manong (2015: 107), a former uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) 3 operative who insists that Tladi was among the South African exiles who became hostile towards the ANC in Botswana due to its non-racial policies. In his explanation of this contentious claim, Tladi asserts that working with individuals and liberation movements around emancipatory cultural activities was not contingent on joining them as card-carrying members. However, the exile conditions tended to subject vulnerable individuals to such party affiliation (L. Tladi, personal communication, March 12, 2018). It seems that Tladi is consciously misinterpreted as an artist appreciative of the principles of Black Consciousness, in particular, sharing Steve Biko’s critical views toward white liberals in the 1970 essay, ‘Black Souls in White Skins’.4 It is therefore advisable to read Tladi’s stance within the (political) context that “black [people] do not need a go- between in this struggle for their own emancipation”, and nor should their radical critique of white liberals be mistakenly reduced to being a racialist firebrand (Biko 2004: 27). The power usurpation (by white liberal politics) within Medu is a stark reminder of what happened in 1955 after the adoption of the Freedom Charter when the seemingly multiracial Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto, declared, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white” (BlackPast 2009). Peter Joyce claims that such opposition to “ANC’s moderate stance, its commitment to peaceful change and its non-racial character” led to an opposing splinter group 3 Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) functioned as the forceful armed-wing of the ANC during the apartheid years but later found itself a partisan military veteran association often behind factional battles of the mother-body in the 21st century during the Jacob Zuma presidency of South Africa. 4 Biko (2004: 20-28) berates liberals for dictating the pace and attitude of the oppressed in their struggle for emancipation from racism. 5 (Joyce 2000: 134). Robert Sobukwe and similar minds formed part of this fragmented unit, the pan- Africanist Congress of Azania, a pro-black-African political organisation that would inform and shape Black Consciousness’ political principles and values on the question of black-only membership. This argument is important as it underpins Tladi’s political views and stance on the question of non-racialism and inclusion of whites in the Medu Art & Ensemble in Botswana. Tladi further talks about how the white media validated certain artists whose art generally portrayed black people as poor, helpless and an illiterate lot by parading them as the avant-garde of the black arts (Hattingh et al. 1998: 45). On the other hand, those artists who produced alternative, assertive and empowering imagery were ignored, if not marginalised and thus excluded. Since its origin in the country, the Black Consciousness philosophy encouraged self-affirmation, self-determination, and self-love, which deliberately objected to and subverted the influence of the white liberal South African world. The priority of the movement was for black people to attain self-consciousness, whose objective was self-definition, self-assertiveness and self-determination, which was key in the struggle for freedom against apartheid conquest and manipulation by white liberals. Tladi’s ideas, work and life embody and espouse these objectives of the Black Consciousness Movement 5 articulated in the poem ‘Ga Re Itshebeng’, where he calls for intimate introspective interactions with his compatriots. Following the above arguments, it is possible to surmise that the black radicals were those thinkers, creatives and activists; they adhered to the ideals of Black Consciousness and pan-Africanism, while the tolerant, liberal lot shared the ANC’s politics of multi/none-racialism. Tladi was born and socialised in the cultural melting pot of Lady Selborne, northwest of Pretoria. Like many in various parts of South Africa, this black community was subjected to apartheid’s forced removals. His cultural consciousness and activism owe much to his early life growing up in Lady Selborne. However, he was also shaped by his movements and contacts with similar-minded black creatives and thinkers in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Botswana and Sweden. Tladi has been a poet, performer and painter in the South African cultural scene since the late 1960s. He was one of the black youths implicated in the 1976 uprisings, and thus in its aftermath, he skipped bail for exile in Botswana. Before leaving South Africa, Tladi often exhibited, performed and hosted poetry and 5 Ian M. MacQueen (2018: 4) calls Black Consciousness Movement a variable occurrence of its time which “drew from diverse trajectories of ideas constituted in distinct spaces, ideas moulded to fit a purpose – to resuscitate black pride and to generate a renewed project of political empowerment”. In order to advance the quest for black freedom, artists such as Tladi, Fikile Magadlela (1952-2003) and Thami Mnyele (1948-1985) hosted workshops while exhibiting their work around the country’s black townships and schools. 6 art workshops. He continued with these self-driven initiatives and practices abroad and when he returned to South Africa after 1997, having spent over three years in Botswana before settling in Sweden as a student in the early 1980s. It is disparaging that he is hardly mentioned in South Africa’s history of art, especially covering the period from the 1970s to date. Also, he is absent from the country’s school curriculum, academic journal entries, edited volumes, monographs and various (seminal) publications such as Steven Sack’s The Neglected Traditions: Towards a New History of South African Art (1930-1988) (1988), Gavin Younge’s Art of the South African Townships (1988), Sue Williamson’s Resistance Art in South Africa (1989), Edward James de Jager’s Images of Man: Contemporary South African Art and Artists (1992), Esmé Bernam’s Painting in South Africa (1993), Sue Williamson and Ashraf Jamal’s Art in South Africa: The Future Present (1996), Judy Seidman’s Red on Black: the Story of the South African Poster Movement (2007), John Peffer’s Art and the End of Apartheid (2009), Sue Williamson’s South African Art Now (2009) and Mario Pissarra’s (editor in chief of four volumes) Visual Century: South African Art in Context (2011). The only publication featuring Tladi and his work during apartheid is Echoes of African Art: A Century of Art in South Africa (1987), where Matsemela Manaka (1987: 16) wrote that Tladi is among artists inspired by the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) to challenge the hegemony of European sensibilities on local aesthetics in the 1970s. In democratic South Africa, Tladi is discussed in Frieda Hattingh and Geoff Mphakati’s (1998) catalogue for his and Motlhabane Mashiangwako’s exhibition, Oto la Dimo, as well as in footnote number 6 of the Thami Mnyele + Medu Art Ensemble Retrospective catalogue, edited by Clive Kellner and Sergio-Albio Gonzalez (2009: 93), which was a companion to an exhibition of the same name at the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 2008. This footnote ironically speaks to why black individuals like him opted to quit Medu Art & Ensemble in 1979 as part of the Black Consciousness’ self-inspiring and affirming strategy for liberation. With the fore-noted reference, it is, therefore, possible to establish the argument that Tladi’s stance against the inclusion of white people in the Medu Art & Ensemble led to his invisibility within South Africa’s post-1994 visual, textual and cultural space. Including him in a footnote cannot be accidental but a conscious act of burying him beneath the surface of visuality to erase him from the mainstreamed narrative of South African visual art and its creative activists. In publications in which he is meaningfully featured, Tladi rather enjoys a limited acknowledgement notable with a few mentions instead of substantiated arguments in literature such as the Black Consciousness Reader (Ndaba, Owen, et al. 2017: 237-238), Gwen Ansell’s Soweto 7 Blues: Jazz, Popular Music & Politics in South Africa (2004: 285) and Shannen Hill’s Biko’s Ghost: The Iconography of Black Consciousness (2015: 21-23, 170, 183-184, 190). The above argument demonstrates that Tladi’s contribution to the South African visual arts history and cultural scene is unknown. Thus, he is relegated to the margins of insignificance, buried in an off-sight footnote – the consequence of which is aptly captured by Ralph Ellison’s critical thoughts in Invisible Man (1965). My study undertakes to retrieve Tladi’s contribution from the obscure sites in which his art, poetry and performance are hidden and disengaged; I am interested in rendering him visible and significant as a creative thinker and in so doing, make an intervention into the historiography of South African visual arts and cultural production. One of the approaches I work with in pursuit of a corrective practice of visually and textually inscribing Tladi is to engage Charlotte Mullins’ (2008: 7) claim that the act of painting allows artists to freely move between ‘fact and fiction’. This spontaneous interchange, framed by Tladi’s biography, poetry and art that are my data, probes how portrait painting provides answers to questions about what it means to think through the medium while expressing ideas as gestures and movements that manipulate the masses of colour (Elkins 2000: 1-5). My process draws from the tradition of black portraiture6 to investigate how portrait painting can represent and make visible forms of knowledge that writing alone cannot. Shantay Robinson (2022) writes that a contextualised narrative of contemporary black portraiture should help viewers gain the understanding and appreciation which acknowledge the humanity of the people. This can be seen in the images of portraits of local musicians such as the composer and pianist Themba Mkhize and the guitarist Selaelo Selota which appear as compact disc sleeves [Figures 1 & 2]. In the early 2000s, David Koloane (1938–2019) painted a portrait series that pays tribute to South Africa’s musical greats such as Jonas Gwangwa, Abdullah Ibrahim, Sophie Mgcina, Hugh Masekela, Mackay Davashe and Allen Kwela, among others. Also, some paintings depict politicians, such as Julius Malema by Blessing Ngobeni (b. 1985) [Figure 3] and Steve Biko by Willie Bester (b. 1956) [Figure 4].7 6 Black portraiture refers to portraits in genres such as art, film and fashion where black creative individuals experiment with idealised representations; they are considered the markers of beauty throughout various parts of the world (Finley 2016: 6-7). 7 Also, there are several monographs about the lives of South African black visual artists such as Moses Tladi (Angela Read Lloyd, 2009), Gerard Sekoto (Chabani Manganyi, 1996), Ernest Mancoba (Elza Miles, 1994), George Pemba (Sarah Hudleston, 2003), Ephraim Ngatane (Rory Bester, 2009), Dan Rakgoathe (Donve Langhan, 2001), Noria Mabasa (Karen Press, 2003), Pat Mautloa (Andries Oliphant, 2003), Sandile Zulu (Colin Richards, 8 Furthermore, in a study combining biographical, historical and literary approaches, Mokoena (2011) pens a textual portrait of Magema Fuze to advance, retrieve and construct the ‘lost voices of the New Africans’.8 Working with a psychological approach to fusing biography, history and socio- politics, Chabani Manganyi authored textual portraits of three black South African luminaries: Es’kia Mphahlele (1919-2008), Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993) and Dumile Feni (1942- 1991). Masilela’s (2014) series of literary essays also brings the subject of New Africans to the fore, outlining intellectual portraits of figures such as Mazisi Kunene, Ernest Mancoba (1904-2002), Es’kia Mphahlele and Njabulo Ndebele. I should register that these preceding portraits are textual in the conventional form of written text; thus, my study, although building on textual portrait form, it also invests in visual portraits in the form of paintings. Merriam-Webster (n.d.) defines a visual portrait as “a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face”. This type of representation strives to render the likeness of the represented face. Since I work with both written and visual forms in the research, I consider a portrait to be the combination of a series of paintings and literary texts dealing with phenomena of identity, biography and history of ideas. I combine visual and textual forms of portraits in a creative mode that writes Tladi as a relevant subject in the historical trajectory of New African intellectuals and Black Interpreters. However, I consider the extent to which Tladi is distinctively a Black Consciousness-orientated creative thinker and cultural activist. My study of Tladi’s portrait, it should be noted, is articulated in ways not limited to reproducing the exact image or characteristic of Tladi’s life and work. Accurate reproduction or mimetic rendition of his portrait is intently negated in favour of a visual and textual character combining likeness, realism, fiction and imagination. In this instance, the term mimesis refers to its Greek philosophical origins, which evokes uncritical images of imitation and illustration hence my combination of various elements of portraiture. This creative synthesis of the compositional aspects of portrait painting and textual narratives goes beyond exactitude, albeit investigating and inspired by Tladi’s intellectual and creative work, political insights and activism within a specific context and time. This creative synthesis of Tladi’s visual portrait attempts to articulate, signify and represent the creative thinker as a complex, multi-layered and dynamic phenomenon expressive of a different experience of being in the world. 2005), Gladys Mgudlandlu (Elza Miles, 2002), David Koloane (Veronique Tadjo, 2002) and Helen Sebidi (Juliette Leeb-du Toit and Bronwyn Law-Viljoen, 2009). 8 Fuze is thought to be one of the first black converts to write a book in isiZulu, called Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakhona (1922). 9 1.2.3 Literature Review and Theoretical Framework As an arrangement of a textual and visual portrait, my study builds on the conversation with a historical trajectory of black South African painters. Thus a short literature review of this historical discourse of portraiture is important. For example, among the early black South African painters exploring portraiture in their compositions is Gerard Bhengu (1910–1990). Bhengu was born at a Roman Catholic mission at Centecow (originally named Częstochowa), a place navigating the southern KwaZulu-Natal countryside of uMzimkhulu below the Drakensburg mountains (Kotze 2013: 88). He began sketching while a learner at the mission’s First Church after its original building was transformed into a school following the erection of a new structure, the New Church (Church of the Sacred Heart) in 1913 (Kotze 2013: 90). Some of his early watercolours and ink drawings date back to his teens in the mid-1920s and carry such awkward titles as Young Zulu Woman, Portrait of a Smiling Inyanga and Portrait of a Young Man with Moustache and Side Burns, Wearing Circular Cross. Although most of these detailed portraits show distinct qualities that set each one apart as representing unique individuals with personal names, the titles contrast markedly with their execution. As a result, the moralistic titles raise provocative and problematic questions regarding Bhengu’s times, place and agency as a black creative thinker. Some of these questions might be compounded by the monochromatic watercolour profile depicting the head and shoulders portrait of a female with flowing singles braids titled Ntombenhle [Figure 5]. She is depicted maintaining communicative and friendly eye contact with the viewer. In contrast to the didactic titles, the subject of the portrait might be the female subject’s real name or perhaps an endearment to her beautiful looks by those who know her. Characterised by a knowing, subtle smile concealing her teeth, this vertical composition portrays the woman adorned with a beaded white necklace and a leather apron hanging from the left shoulder. In line with the colonial project throughout the African continent and elsewhere, however, Bhengu’s white mentors discouraged him from studying art formally as it was prejudicially thought to be detrimental to his natural talent (Oguibe 2004; Savory 1965). Another pioneer is George Pemba (1912-2001), who was also denied access to formal art education because of the colour of his skin (Feinberg 2000: 21). Pemba was born in Hill’s Kraal in Korsten, a village in the Eastern Cape. He went to school at Van der Kemp Mission Primary and then Paterson Secondary before qualifying as a teacher at Lovedale Teacher Training College. He briefly worked as a teacher before resigning to work as a full-time artist. Similar to Bhengu, Pemba’s early 10 works date back to his pre-teens in the early 1920s, precisely “at the age of eight” (Couzens 1985: 250). His growing talent benefited from contact with the likes of Reverent Robert Shepherd at Lovedale College, Ethel Smyth at Fort Hare and Professor Austin Winter Moore at Rhodes University (Hudleston 2021: 12). Generally, Pemba’s social realist compositions are inspired by the daily black experiences of life under the yoke of racial segregation in both rural and urban settings, portrayed in watercolour and oil. It is noteworthy that most of these compositions are characterised by a sensitive articulation of the artist’s subject matter through a meticulous paint application process. This is evidenced in his artistic career spanning over 50 years, painting many portraits of black thinkers and New African intellectuals such as Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, Herbert Ernest Dhlomo, Sol Thekisho Plaatje, John Knox Bokwe and Davidson Don Tengo Jabavu (1885-1959). Tim Couzens (1985) notes that during the mid-1940s, whilst visiting Doornfontein in Johannesburg, Pemba met and painted the portrait of the artist John Koenakeefe Mohlankana (1903- 1985), commonly known as John Mohl.9 One of Pemba’s outstanding portraits is that of Mqhayi (1939) [Figure 6], the novelist, poet and dramatist, painted in oil on canvas. Although the painting shows Mqhayi dressed in African traditional clothing and two spears in his left hand, it represents him as part of the New African intellectuals and a modern man of letters whose eyes confidently look straight at the viewer. His expression is indicative of reciprocity between the painted subject and onlooker. The dignified sensibility and visual elegance with which Pemba painted Mqhayi is also evident in his notable portrait of the scholar, activist and humanist Professor Es’kia Mphahlele [Figure 7], a cosmopolitan who spent years teaching in various universities in Africa, Europe and the United States.10 In 1939, Pemba painted the portrait of Herbert Dhlomo, a playwright, poet and journalist with an eye for stories that privileged the advancement of black arts and culture as well as the equality for all races.11 A contemporary of Pemba is Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993), “a studio artist who made different uses of the outdoors and the indoors” while painting only a few portraits of the famous and influential black thinkers in his lifetime (Manganyi 2016: 94). Sekoto was born on a German Lutheran mission station of Botshabelo in the present-day Mpumalanga where he started basic schooling, exploring 9 Mohlankana went to Tiger Kloof Training School near Vryburg. He painted the portrait of Botswana’s Kgosi Tshekedi in the mid-1930s (Couzens 1985: 252). 10 Chabani Manganyi used the portrait for the cover of Bury Me at the Market Place: Es’kia Mphahlele and Company Letters 1943-2006 (2010). 11 This portrait forms part of the cover of Tim Couzens’ biography of Herbert Dhlomo titled The New African: A Study of the Life and Works of H. I. E. Dhlomo (1985). 11 drawing and modelling in clay (Lindop 1988: 5, 6). He later trained as a teacher at Diocesan Training College's Anglican institution. Like Pemba, Sekoto briefly worked as a teacher before resigning to pursue art full-time. His figurative compositions in oil, watercolour and gouache express the mood of his subjects in Sophiatown, District 6, Eastwood, Senegal and Paris. Between 1942 and 1944, he spent more than two years in Cape Town’s District Six, living in a house opposite the Roeland Street Jail, which inspired most of his Cape Town compositions (Peffer 2009; Lindop 1988). Among his paintings of the period is Portrait of a Cape Coloured School Teacher – Omar (1943) [Figure 8], treated in Sekoto’s signature tones of blue, yellow and red ochre. Although Sekoto could not recall the man’s surname during one of his correspondences with Barbara Lindop, the portrait was painted in District Six before the area was forcefully demolished. Sekoto portrays Omar as a self-assured individual whose non-threatening eye contact exudes human dignity through skilful modelling of light and dark tonal gradations. Omar looks like an ordinary professional who conducts himself with the seriousness required of a person in his class. Sekoto’s depiction of the portrait gives it an element of weight and dynamism evocative of a living person, a trait captured in his eyes. In 1946, Sekoto was living with his family in Eastwood outside Pretoria, where he painted a full-length portrait of his sister-in-law, who was about to get married to his brother, titled Woman Sewing, Mary Dikeledi (1946) [Figure 9]. His use of natural reds and yellows on the portrait, ground and tree leaves gives the composition a sense of unity. Woman Sewing, Mary Dikeledi depicts a female figure sitting on a chair facing the viewer while sewing an off-white tablecloth with red, yellow and green lineal flower decorations. Reminiscent of photography, Sekoto’s composition divides the picture plane into two equal horizontal halves, showing a black woman engaged in a particular past time expressive of her station in life. Mary Dikeledi is portrayed as involved in what was generally considered a woman’s pastime and an obligatory part of her womanhood. Again, sewing formed part of ordinary working-class people’s existence as buying clothes was generally a rare luxury afforded by few. Unlike most of the portraits he created from live models, in 1960 and over a decade already staying in Paris, Sekoto made a ballpoint sketch of Miriam Makeba [Figure 10]. He deftly depicted the portrait with the help of a photographic reference, which appeared in Time magazine in February 1960 (Lindop 1988; Berrada 2013).12 The drawing on paper captures the essence of the Grammy Award Winner’s individual qualities, such as her characteristic smile with bleached, large teeth, 12 Known as Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba left South Africa in 1959. She dedicated herself to anti-colonial activism through music and fundraising for liberation struggles in third-world countries after the apartheid government barred her from returning to her native country. 12 short hair and huge earrings. Subsequent to the ballpoint portrait, Sekoto painted Woman’s Head in 1963, which depicts the head of an idealised black woman with an elongated neck in a headscarf through white, brown and blue tonal variations of oil paint. Her chiselled collarbone balances this vertical composition, characterised by uncompromising eyes that reflectively look outside the picture frame. This portrait seems like Sekoto’s nostalgic interpretation of an “African maid … with her large this-is-me eyes” in a foreign European city and uprooted from the country of his birth in Africa (Mphahlele 1984: 60-61). These visual properties might signify Sekoto’s embrace of black beauty while suggesting his understanding of a typical woman and a cosmopolitan human being. Later in 1978, he used newspaper references to paint a huge canvas titled Homage to Steve Biko, the Black Consciousness exponent murdered by the apartheid police the previous year. Evocative of the stained-glass window characterised by cubes of different tones of primary colours, the composition depicts a seemingly mourning portrait of a female figure. She is painted facing the viewer, but her eyes avoid contact as she looks down on the ground, flanked by the representation of the dead martyr on the one side and a silhouette of a couple on the other. A monochromatic head of a seeming apartheid general swings above the couple. Sekoto rarely commented explicitly about illegal political activities and people in his art; yet, one can hypothetically construe that the death of Biko in detention rallied him into painting this giant canvas as a tribute to the fallen hero. It is appropriate here to also factor other black African artists from outside South Africa, such as the Nigerian Aina Onabolu (1882-1963), who is said to have pioneered easel and portrait painting in West Africa at the dawn of the 1900s. Onabolu was born in the Ogun state but went to Caxton House School in Lagos for his primary schooling (Emeni 2015: 25). He later obtained a certificate in oil painting from St. John’s Wood Art School in Britain and endeavoured to introduce formal visual arts education in Lagos (Emeni 2015: 26). Other than his stern appeal to the colonial government to help introduce mimetic painting to schools in Lagos, Onabolu favoured the adoption of this European realist tradition as a way of introducing Africa to the 19th-century project of modernity (Okeke-Agulu 2014: 57). Onabolu painted realistic portraits of the Lagos upper class with precision. Also, his mastery of profile figures in watercolour and oil paint put him at the forefront of modern Nigerian painting. Olu Oguibe (2004), in what he terms ‘reverse appropriation’, claims that Onabolu’s realistic portraits of prominent Lagos individuals and colonial representatives were a continuation of the Ife Court art tradition instead of a thoughtless aping of the European methods of mimesis. Other writers, such as Onyema Emeni (2015) and Ifedioramma Dike (2012), claim that Onabolu’s art is rooted in rigid Western academic formalism, as seen in the Portrait of Lady Spencer Savage (1906). Although looking static and rigid, the portrait represents an elegantly 13 dressed woman in a modern outfit. Also, the oil on canvas portrait of Chief Dr Sapara (1920) [Figure 11] in an expensive-looking robe, with a medallion on his chest while clutching a mammal's tail with a decorative handlebar in his right hand, looks convincing. Similarly, the tradition of positive black self-representation is continued in the 2018 portraits of the former American President, Barack Obama (b. 1961) [Figure12] and his wife the First Lady, Michelle Obama (b. 1964) [Figure13] by the African American Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977) and Amy Sherald (b. 1973). Wiley was born to a Nigerian father and an African American mother in Los Angeles, California. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute and Masters in Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Art. Wiley painted an impeccably dressed Barack Obama in a black suit and seated towards the edge of an expensive-looking wooden chair with crossed arms resting on his thighs. On the other hand, Sherald, from Columbus, Georgia, studied at Clark-Atlanta University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in painting. Sharply dressed,13 Michelle Obama is painted wearing a flowing, long white dress with colourful and decorative shapes. Steven Nelson (2018) asserts that the two portraits move beyond likeness to idealise what blackness in America can be.14 These paintings are imbued with subtle and nuanced historical, cultural and political sensibilities, noting the visual depiction of ‘self-assured’ and ‘calm’ black subjects existing in contexts in which black lives are constantly under stress, devalued and unappreciated. They are paintings that form part of an established tradition of black portraiture in the United States, but a tradition of visual portraits that have existed in twentieth-century South Africa15 and West Africa,16 as I have discussed above. The qualities of ‘self-assured’ and ‘calm’ black subjects of the portrait paintings are indicative of what I also argue about Black 13 Powell (2008: 4) writes that someone whose dress sense is sharp “evinces a keen sense of style”. 14 Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) and Duke Ellington (1899-1974) are represented as self-assured, calm and fully dressed individuals when black people were generally photographed half-dressed and represented as indentured property to their owners (Painter 2004). Also, despite the long histories of racial domination and embarrassment, black people have always represented themselves dressed smartly to “claim their place among life’s movers and shakers” (Powell 2008: xvi). 15 Currently, in South Africa, this tradition of portraiture is apparent in the Sanlam Portrait Award, the works of individual artists such as Marlene Dumas (b. 1953-), Zwelethu Mthethwa (b. 1960-), Richard Strydom (b. 1971), Zanele Muholi (b. 1972), Wim Botha (b. 1974), Mustafa Maluka (b. 1976), Thenjiwe Nkosi (b. 1980), Nelson Makamo (b. 1982), Anthea Pokroy (b. 1986) and Khehla Chepape Makgato (b. 1988), among others. 16 West African portraiture is generally characterised by “the conventions of posture, dress and expression” seen in the sculptures, photographs and paintings by the likes of Phillip Kwame Apagya (b. 1958), Ayabola Kekere- Ekun (b. 1993), Cheri Samba (b. 1956), Rafiy Okefolahan (b. 1979) and Richard Atugonza (b. 1994), among others (Borgatti 2013: 326). 14 Consciousness’ politics and culture of self-definition, self-assertion and self-determination in the struggle for freedom during apartheid in South Africa. My study follows the political and aesthetic sensibilities of contemporary black portraiture discussed above. I explore various portrait and biographic characteristics by creatively combining abstract, fictional and realistic forms. I do so through the framework of literary biography and fine art portraiture to re-imagine the traditional ways of doing research in higher education. Such a re- imagination reflects post-colonial creative modes through which I have sought to engage the subject of my study in foregrounding a theoretical and political appreciation of individual world cultures (Ghandi 1998: ix-x). These post-colonial thoughts align with Richard Powell’s (2008) assertion that the history of black people throughout the world and how they present themselves as subjects of portraiture often disturb the dominant paradigm of representation. My visual and textual research serves as an intervention that further challenges the dominant paradigm alluded to by Powell. Of note is also an understanding of portraiture as part of the human experience to represent the social status of important individuals, men and women of strength, who are considered role models in their communities (Borgatti 1990; West 2004). This understanding and the creative method I explore work with the idea that portrait artists undertake to uncover the uniqueness of each person they portray. One of the premises of portrait painting is to capture the unique personality, if not interiority, of the depicted individual and articulate such an interiority in relation to social roles and practices determined by socio-cultural and aesthetic conventions (Brilliant 1991; Borgatti & Briliant 1990). At the heart of this premise is also a creative and intellectual interpretation of historical figures and moments. My study of Tladi explores such a premise through an innovative mode of meaning-making and knowledge production. 1.2.4 Methodology Working with these preceding ideas, my explorative research approach combines a build-up of colour washes, signs and images, often in the form of painting, collage and graffiti, together with imaginative, expansive text. The process is influenced by the exploration and interpretation of Tladi’s first name, Lefifi, which means the darkness that comes after the sunset (Mphakati et al. 2005); thus, the implied meaning in the first part of the title of this study. My painting and textual processes include experimenting with a narrative of dark and light tones through appropriating the 15 elements of biography and portraiture to portray expressive textual surfaces in oil, pastel, acrylic and collage. The following text, compositions, paint application and surface treatment form part of my final submission, whose character of creative work comprises two interdependent or inextricable components in the form of a series of visual portraits (an exhibition) and discursive writings (textual document) that articulates, frames, contextualise and explicate the study. The ensuing investigation works with an appropriation of specific elements found in literary biography and visual portraiture that expediently frame my practice. Employing an arts-based research methodology as a particular extension of my qualitative study working with visual culture and cultural studies, the enquiry explores the art and textual making as an investigative vehicle, which not only appropriates but also constructs concepts that can be observable as both texts and images. My leaning is, however, towards images that are inherent with both creative and intellectual properties (Savin-Baden & Wimpenny 2014: 48; McNiff 2008: 29; Dallow 2003: 51). Factors such as history, culture and poetry influence my research. I explore them in the dissertation and paintings, which evolve through note-making and sketches that eventually manifest as coherent texts and compositions. This procedure was operative in my experimentation and refinements of the written text and painted images since the beginning of this study. My painting and writing processes investigate Tladi’s biography, approaching it through a vivid palette and compositions that are shaped into a discursive text and a series of reflective portraits that should be read as a site of not only representation or signification but meaning-making and knowledge production (Rose 2007: 13). The research fashions a monograph intersecting written text and painterly form to probe the South African history of art by expanding, shifting and disrupting both the understanding and ways of conducting traditional research in higher education (Leavy 2009: 9; Sullivan 2008b: 80). This methodological orientation is appropriate for exploring Tladi’s ideas and work that is rooted in the Black Consciousness' notion of emancipation from colonial apartheid thinking while foregrounding confidence, as “an ingredient required of anyone interested in revolutions or struggles for a better human experience” (Mabandu 2008: 16).17 According to Biko (2004: 53), “Black Consciousness is, in essence, the realisation by the black [people] of the need to rally together with [their] brothers around the cause of their operation – the blackness of their skin – and to operate as a group to rid themselves of the shackles that bind them to perpetual servitude”. Biko asserts that Black Consciousness is the awareness by black people of the harmful implications borne 17 Similarly, in the United States, the Black Arts Movement experimented with certain African aesthetic elements such as design, composition and colour to address the aspirations of the oppressed (Douglas 1994: 160). 16 by their skin tone and how, as a group, they have the power to rid themselves of the negativity equated with it. Also, the philosophy provided the oppressed with an alternative pedagogy and consciousness to help them understand and decline the apartheid schemes of mind control through Bantu education, propaganda and police brutality (Pityana 2020: 402). Thanks to the philosophy of Black Consciousness, “reason, resistance and revolution” bestowed freedom to those South Africans across the colour spectrum who understood its tenets against white liberalism in the country (Turner 2008: 25). A visual portrait of Tladi, as the by-line of this study’s title designates, involves a creative process that explores, analyses, appropriates, mobilises and juxtaposes black portraiture, mainly selected portraits by two New African painters, Sekoto and Pemba. These painters are studied with reference to theoretical insights of contemporary South African scholars such as Chabani Manganyi, Hlonipha Mokoena and Ciraj Rassool. In keeping with the spirit of the New African intellectuals, Sekoto and Pemba engaged subjects, forms and contexts that embraced African aesthetics through an appropriation of European agents, specifically modernist expressions (Masilela 2006: 348, 352). Fusing attributes of likeness, realism, fiction and imagination, the painters populated their canvases with portraits whose representational modes immortalised the people who reflectively interpreted and immensely contributed to the project of modernity in the colony, particularly in the course of modernisation of South Africa. These portraits speak to Hermione Lee’s (2005: 5) understanding that the tools of literary biography include “relics, legends and fragments” that writers use to stitch their stories together. In conversation with the portraits is my writing, which mirrors Manganyi’s scholarship, particularly his work on letters, interviews and stories that are told by both the person written about and those associated with them, to structure biographies which the author (1983: 4, 5; 2012: 2) prefers to call “life stories”. Both my painting and writing methods undertake to explore Mokoena’s (2015: 169, 183) claim that the realisation of Africa’s rebirth rests on the historical knowledge of the Black Interpreters. The preceding informs my creative and critical practice, which investigates appropriation, instruments of biography and portraiture as text, symbols and signs accountable for a subjective, interpretive monograph and a painterly language. Graeme Sullivan (2008b: 82) claims that such qualitative methods, which I use to explore the suppressed histories that form part of the country’s memory bank, often lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding. Through telephone interviews, I attempted to capture Tladi’s thought processes so that his voice forms part of my visual and textual narration. In addition, his documentary film Giant Steps (Mphakati et al. 2005), 17 including poetry, still and moving images, are factored. This material or data is sourced directly from Tladi and the libraries of Stellenbosch University, the University of Pretoria and the University of South Africa, including the Internet, YouTube, newspaper cuttings, magazines and exhibition catalogues. This assorted material is considered for the contents and modes of my study and its research processes. My undertaking follows how Pemba and a few contemporary literary scholars celebrate some significant black South African intellectuals in their work. I also built on the strategy used by Sekoto in the 1960 ballpoint Portrait of Miriam Makeba that influenced his decade-long series of female head portraits in oil and gouache. This creative undertaking is consciously explained as I reflect on the studio moments in a journal kept at 9 Wolmarans Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The fragments of this iterative documentation activity are inscribed in the thesis as part of annotating experimental pursuits and novel discoveries that should indicate the process and procedure in cultivating new knowledge and insights emanating from and extending the tradition of black South African portrait painting. My repetitive documentation references G. James Daichendt (2012: 85), who states that arts-based research and creativity are accompanied by the writing of a reflective journal that helps to interrogate decisions made during the process. 1.2.5 Outline of Chapters Chapter 1 (introduction) articulates my research project's background information and rationale. It provides an overview of creative work, an inquiry and a knowledge production exercise. Besides documenting and reflecting on the studio process, the section discusses the literature and theoretical perspectives shaping particular South African trajectories of biography, visual biography and portrait painting. Chapter 2 explores how the interrelatedness of Tladi’s biography, intellectualism, creativity and (political) activism, particularly Afrocentricism, pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness, shape his worldview. Chapter 3 engages Tladi’s art of painting and drawing by identifying themes and subject matter that are examined in relation to the multitalented artist’s creative, intellectual and activist inclinations. My inquiry is a critical understanding and interpretation of his work within a specific socio-political context. 18 Chapter 4 reflects on his poetry, particularly the two poems, ‘Ga Re Itshebeng’ and ‘Afrika’. This chapter discusses the two poems as an illustration of his Afrocentric paradigm seeking to explore an alternative black South African view against racial bigotry. Chapter 5 explicates my studio processes read through Tladi’s art, poetry and worldview as the site of knowledge. The conclusion evaluates and summarises the research by probing areas for further investigation. It should be noted that these chapters making up the discursive writing component, emerge from the painting process. In return, they have informed me that the series of portrait paintings, the dissertation and the studio work is interdependently conversant. The research about the political and cultural significance of Tladi is depicted through painting and textual narratives, which attempted to both intervene and contribute innovative ideas to fields such as fine art and the history of art in South Africa. My research follows an interdependent, experimental process of continuing Tladi’s life to perpetuity while producing new knowledge informed by his life and work. My approach is driven by the need to continue the reclamation of memories of notable though neglected South African figures such as Tladi, whose outlook transcends party political affiliations whilst active in the cultural and political wrestling with colonial modernity in South Africa. The research is influenced by the international tradition of black portraiture of artists such as Anabolu, Pemba and Wiley, a tradition I explore through the lens of literary scholars such as Mokoena and Manganyi. These literary scholars foreground the next chapter, ‘A Biographical Tapestry of Lefifi Tladi’, which discusses Tladi’s biography. 19 Chapter 2: A Biographical Tapestry of Lefifi Tladi 2.1 Theoretical Framework and Methodology on Biography and its Application It is an extraordinary experience to live as though life were punishment for being black. Ernest Cole (1967: 20) You are either alive and proud or you are dead, and when you are dead, you can’t care anyway. Steven Biko (2004: 173) This chapter explores the relatedness of Tladi’s biography, intellectualism, creativity and (political) activism, particularly pan-Africanism, Afrocentrism and Black Consciousness, in shaping his worldview. My analysis of Tladi’s life and ideas is pursued through synthesising the biographical strategies that Manganyi, Rassool and Mokoena employ to weave and reclaim memories of remarkable black individuals from the margins. Manganyi’s clinical psychologist practice informed his methods in which he spends time listening to individuals who are the subjects of his biographies talk about their lives. His data is a combination of history gleaned from personal letters, interviews and stories about the biography subject as told by others. Rassool’s (2004: 5) approach explores the theoretical and methodological aspects of biography, considering the portrait and biography as necessary subject matter for contributing to historical writing and producing new knowledge. As for Mokoena, it is rummaging through the archive to write about the people whose development intertwines with the advent of colonialism at the southern slope of Africa. These scholars approach biography from different angles, dependent on the individual needs and aims of the biographer. Working with the theoretical perspectives of these scholars, in this chapter, I study Tladi as a thinker who navigates the political and socio-cultural landscape using a complicated African consciousness philosophy. 2.2 The Life Story of the Artist Manganyi's career as a clinical psychologist influences his approach to biography, which he prefers to call life writing. The life stories of creative thinkers such as Dumile Feni show Manganyi's investigative process and method (Dumile Feni: The Beauty of the Line, 2012), Gerard Sekoto (A Black Man Called Sekoto, 1996) and Es’kia Mphahlele (Bury Me at the Market Place, 1984 and 20 Exiles and Homecomings, 1983). His interview methods approach these biographies as a direct influence from his clinical psychology sessions, where he spends time listening to the biography subject and talking about his life. The writing fuses biography and history, and socio-politics, all informed by personal letters, interviews and stories told by the person written about and those associated with him (Manganyi 1983: 4-5; 2012: 2). Manganyi’s text draws from the historical context considering both the private and public lives of his subjects (Manganyi 1983: 3-4). Unlike his other biographies, in writing Dumile Feni: The Beauty of the Line, Manganyi worked with various writers who contributed comments, statements, reflections and essays he edited in order to construct a coherent narrative. But Sean O’Toole (2008: 70071) claims the Duminel Feni biography is “a really poor document that lapses into hagiography”. In his defence, Manganyi (2016: 96) insists he “felt less prepared academically” to start working on the biography of Feni fifteen years after his death in 1990. In contrast, his earlier biographies included direct interaction with both his subjects, Mphahlele and Sekoto. As a result, in Dumile Feni: The Beauty of the Line, he asked various authors to remember the deceased subject, Dumile Feni (1942–1990); in this way, he solicited a variety of narratives and perspectives that resulted in wide-ranging essays, which interpreted Feni’s personhood. In contrast to the psycho-life-histories of Manganyi, Rassool’s doctoral thesis attempts to go beyond a reliance on empirical data as its primary source. Rassool (2004: 5) approaches the biography of Isaac Bangani Tabata as the production of history and simultaneously a new form of knowledge. This biographical approach emphasises the importance of investigating the theoretical and methodological demands that form part of thinking, researching and writing the biography with reference to influences of cultural and historical factors. One of Rasool's important analytic approaches to biography is the consideration of image-making as a crucial creative strategy, which can be used to transcend the dependence on the archive and the biography subject as the primary focus (Rassool 2004: 14).18 Mokoena (2015: 169) writes about reclaiming what she calls the ‘lost sight’ of the 19th and 20th- century black individuals who were generally the products of mission education. Her book, Magema Fuze: The Making of a Kholwa Intellectual, studies Fuze’s ground-breaking book, Abantu 18 Rasool (1999: 10) points to Bogumil Jewsiewicki’s exhibition, A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art at the Museum of African Art in New York City to demonstrate art’s ability to link the past to the present through image production. Jewsiewicki curated a group exhibition of 55 paintings, which explored the various stages of Patrice Lumumba’s life. 21 Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona (1922), 19 including his letters, petitions and articles in newspapers such as Ilanga Lase Natal, the now-defunct Inkanyiso Yase Natal and Ipepa lo Hlanga published from the second half of the 1800s (Mokoena 2015: 169). My research situates Tladi within the discourse of life writing in a similar vein explored by Manganyi in his biographical work. This approach allows Tladi, as the biography subject, to recount his experiences first-hand. Also, the process focuses on his development through the people, events and places to which he connected along his life journey (Williams 2012: 398). These encounters form the context of Tladi’s consciousness, which I analyse against personal and professional motivations and choices. Such a probe “enters the realm of psychology” as it allows me to penetrate his inside view or interiority (Rollyson 2008: 252). By analysing Tladi’s development in interacting with various people, events and places, I insert him into the country’s socio-cultural history. For William McKinley Runyan (1982: 57, 201), such a psychological approach in the study of biography is psychobiography, which is informed by its actors' social and historical context. Alan C. Elms (1994: 4) shares this understanding of psychobiography in considering “a biography that makes substantial use of psychological theory and knowledge”. These theories of biographic approaches underscore my research, especially employed to balance the memories of Tladi against what other people say about him and the archive. This way of gathering data combines Rassool’s approach to biography, particularly the investigation of its form and theory, alongside Mokoena’s method of mining the archive. Following these authors, my ideal strategy in studying the ‘Biographical Tapestry of Lefifi Tladi’ in this chapter blends psychobiography, the archive and analysis of biography as a subject matter. Manganyi’s (1973: 40) assertion about a way of “being-black-in-the-world”, seen in how people interact with their environment, other people and the self, inspires my framework. I articulate Tladi’s biography within this distinctive way of being-black-in-the-world and framed by South Africa’s socio-political and historical context. 2.3 Biographical Details of Lefifi Tladi Ernest Levi Tsoloane Kole’s (1940-1990) epigraph at the opening of this chapter, which expresses the aberration of being black, fits snugly with the life of Tladi. Tladi is the firstborn in a family of 19 The book delineates the epic and historical origins of the Zulu nation (Masilela 2013: 191). 22 five siblings, including Antoinette, Felix (deceased), Audrey and Colin. Tladi was born on 4 January 1949, less than a year after the National Party seized political power as a government that instituted the vicious apartheid system in South Africa. His place of birth at the corner of Thuli and Le Fleur Streets in the cultural melting pot of Lady Selbourne, was made of a community located West of Pretoria in Gauteng, South Africa. Before its inhumane forced removal, this multicultural township, 10 kilometres to the northwest of the Pretoria city centre, occupied the site of the present- day suburb of Suideberg (Kgari-Masondo 2008: 70). Tladi was born in a double-storied house at Ga-Motlhe where his parents rented two rooms from the family of the late composer, bassist and actor, Ernest Mogotsi Motlhe (1941-2011) (L. Tladi, personal communication, 20 May, 2020).20 As narrated by Tladi, his family later moved to rent a house at the corner of Hector and Bambatha Streets in the same township as Lady Selborne (L. Tladi, personal communication, 20 May, 2020). His mother, Nomazizi Tladi, was a nurse and his father, Hosea Tladi, a senior traffic officer21 under “the exclusively all-white” City Council of Pretoria (CCP) before he established himself as a successful entrepreneur in Lady Selbourne (Mojapelo 2009: 215, 217). Tladi was seven years old in 1956 when he started primary school at Khuzwayo-Nkomo in Lady Selbourne. Marking this period is the National Party government’s overhaul and dilution of the education of black people (Manganyi 2016: 14) through the imposed Bantu Education Act in 1953. For better high school education, in 1964, Tladi’s parents sent him to a Roman Catholic boarding school known as Pax High School outside Pietersburg (now Polokwane). Initiated in 1928 by the world-renowned religious organisation Brothers for Charity, this school for boys in Ga-Mashashane obeyed strict Roman Catholic doctrine such as morning and evening prayers, baptism, holy communion and confirmation, among others. At the time Tladi was schooling at Pax, in Lady Selbourne, black people experienced the government's normalised processes of spatial segregation and forced removals that “uprooted, reshuffled and resettled” the community according to ethnic groups (Tabata 1959: 17). Owing to such inhumane draconian policies legislating forced removals, 20 The jazzman, Ernest Mogotsi Motlhe, is also known for performing alongside the likes of Lefifi's uncle, Gabriel Tladi, Busi Mhlongo and Thandi Klaasen before he went to exile in the United Kingdom in 1972. In London, he began writing film and television music scores while performing with greats such as Courtney Pine, Julian Bahula, and Chris McGregor as well as appearing in movies and documentaries. Motlhe returned to South Africa in 1991, continued performing and teaching music at institutions such as the Tshwane University of Technology and Mmabana Cultural Centre before succumbing to diabetes in 2011 (Kotlolo 2011). 21 During apartheid, nursing counted among the few well-paying and respectable professions open to black people (Horwitz 2009: 16). Generally, the communities around Gauteng townships held the black police and traffic officers in high regard for keeping local gangs at bay (as reported by the World newspaper from 1947) until they (police) started killing the young people in Soweto during the 1976 uprisings (Kynoch 2003). 23 black people’s disorientation, including the young Tladi’s family continued through involuntary movements out of and away from the suburbs and cities to townships such as Ga-Rankuwa, Atteridgeville, Umlazi, Mamelodi, Soweto, Nyanga, Kwa-Thema, Langa and KwaMashu. Tladi was an opinionated young person who was never shy about expressing his thoughts and feelings. Thus, his outspokenness led to his expulsion during his second year at Pax High School. The dismissal followed what he says is the foolishness of boyhood that could be read as early signs and qualities of his will to speak out his thoughts and feelings. Also, it shows a will that later would be shaped by his association with Geoff Mphakati, Dashiki and the Black Consciousness Movement. After expulsion in 1965, he returned home and continued his studies at Ga-Rankuwa’s Top Secondary School. Unlike the mission-inspired Pax High School, Top Secondary School fell directly under the armpit of the Bantu Education, whose purpose was training the so-called non- white people to become subservient and thus servants to whites in South Africa (Cole 1967: 96). The conditions in these schools were generally characterised by overcrowding in classrooms, shortages of teachers who were often incompetent and poorly paid, expensive school fees, books and uniforms for a people whose economic activities suffered from suppression (Mzamane 1981: 7- 8). Despite the poisonous Bantu Education, Tladi’s political consciousness was cultivated and on the rise. He recalls how, during this time, he gained confidence as a competent public speaker through “showing off of one’s abilities with the English language,” a competence aided by studying the book Student’s Companion (L. Tladi, personal communication, 12 June, 2019). At Top Secondary, he constantly used “grand, eloquent words” during their debating sessions (L. Tladi, personal communication, 12 June, 2019). Tladi developed an interest in reading and memorising the work of the old British poets such as William Shakespeare (1564-1616), William Wordsworth (1770-1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), who formed part of the school curriculum. Owing to challenging circumstances that made black life a living nightmare, in 1966, Tladi dropped out of Top Secondary School just a few months into completing Form 3 (currently referred to as Grade 10). Around this time, his family was among the last black communities to be forcefully moved from Lady Selbourne to start a new life in Mamelodi. Before settling down and orientating themselves, they were moved again to Ga-Rankuwa Zone 3 (Mojapelo 2009: 217). It is on record that in October 1968, the City Council of Pretoria forcefully removed the last 39 families from Lady Selborne (Mojapelo 2009: 222). This erratic forced movement of black families and communities from one place to another have had disorientating, disintegrating and destabilising effects on social, cultural and educational practices in South Africa. Referring to the disorientation, Kopano Ratele 24 (2019: 45) writes that this way of experiencing being-black-in-the world severely “affects the voice, thinking, emotion, knowledge and experience itself”. This black suffering was intentional, designed and engineered by the apartheid regime and its white voters, who benefitted from the oppression, exploitation and degeneration of black life in South Africa (Manganyi 1973: 99-103). Tladi’s conduct, which led to his expulsion from Pax High School and dropping out of Top Secondary School, should be viewed in this socially engineered black torment by the apartheid regime; equally so are his political, cultural and artistic consciousness and activism. The latter argument is regarding the making of black revolutionary figures who resisted, fought and transgressed oppressive and exploitative practices of the “hegemonic” apartheid regime (Farred 2003: 10). Thus, amid brutal apartheid, there emerged in black townships radical spaces and activism. These spaces prepared individuals espousing political and cultural consciousness that would benefit the likes of Tladi. One of them was “a huge black detribalised apparition” (Addison 1974) named Geoff Matlharene Mphakati, a man who, in addition to his job as a messenger for the Brocken Hagen and Louw Quantity Surveyors, assumed the role of coordinating black artists, musicians and writers around the Pretoria region (L. Tladi, personal interview, 13 January, 2019). Mphakati was a friend of Tladi’s uncle, Gabriel Tladi and this friendship facilitated Lefifi’s interaction with Mphakati. Another friend brought to Gabriel Tladi’s attention that his nephew showed disinterest in formal schooling and Mphakati took Lefifi’s predicament seriously (L. Tladi, personal interview, 13 January, 2019). Mphakati’s role is important to underscore here, as it alerts to the critical and attentive black minds who embraced the mission wage war against the dehumanising of black lives by the apartheid regime. Such black minds are politically, socially, culturally and educationally awake regarding the wellness and advancement or disempowerment of young and old black men and women in the township. Mphakati became one of these vernacular intellectuals who pursued “new possibilities for subaltern articulation” by making it his life mission to help artists (Farred 2003: 13). Thus, the impossibility of many black people to survive, succeed and rise above the entrapment of the township life should not be reductively viewed as their weak ability and by extension their failure. Biko (2004: 61) reminded the Conference of Black Ministers of Religion at the Ecumenical Lay Training Centre, south of Pietermaritzburg in 1972 that: Stern-faced ministers stand on pulpits every Sunday to heap loads of blame on black people in townships for their thieving, house-breaking, stabbing, murdering, adultery, etc. No one ever attempts to relate all these vices to poverty, unemployment, over-crowding, lack of schooling and migratory labour. 25 It is an engineered and disabling impossibility; hence, I read Tladi’s dismissal and the subsequent dropping out of school within the framework of apartheid in disorienting the lived experiences of young black South Africans. As a socially engineered experience, this mode of experiencing the world built not only a negative self-image of the black body but also the inferiority of the black psyche through propaganda, violence and the promulgation of unjust laws over the years (Manganyi 1973: 51-52).22 Tladi’s coming into the world coincided with the formalisation of such a vile setup, the racial polarisation of South Africa through government policies. Thus, I maintain that Tladi’s self-image as part of the oppressed became confused and disorientated. His experience of life under the yoke of enforced racial oppression and its attendant difficulties proved very alienating.23 In Being-Black-in-the-World, Manganyi (1973: 18) recommends Black Consciousness as a positive knowledge for the pounded black body and psyche within a formalised white supremacist atmosphere. Manganyi’s (2004: 53) recommendation rhymes with Biko’s argument that “we cannot be conscious of ourselves and yet remain in bondage”. Black Consciousness encouraged self- knowledge, awareness and acknowledgement of the oppressed as a progressive reaction towards experiencing the world while black (Ratele 2019: 11). It counters the mental slavery and feelings of social death24 experienced by the oppressed as a result of more than 300 years of the violent and conscious onslaught. 2.3.1 Tladi's Intellect and Gramsci's Notion of the ‘organic intellectual’25 In 1966, Mphakati and his wife, Maokaneng Mphakati, welcomed the impulsive teenager into their home in Mamelodi West, ZB3 Section. Tladi praises and regards Mphakati as a guru who mentored and challenged him intellectually (L. Tladi, personal communication, 12 March, 2018). Mphakati introduced the young Tladi to poetry, music and literature of African artists from the continent and 22 Among others, the Population Registry Act demanded every South African to register their race; the Natives Act compelled every black person to carry passes; the Bantu Education Act decreed that black people receive a primary education enabling them to work as unskilled labourers (Atuahene 2014: 48). 23 Similarly, over a decade earlier, Ernest Kole (1967: 192) wanted to be a medical doctor when he started school but the introduction of Bantu Education in 1954 led to him dropping out of basic school at age 15. 24 Social death may refer to a lack of identity outside that given by the master. This sense of sub-humanity, invisibility (Patterson 1982: 38-9; Atuahene 2014: 30; Ellison 1952: 7) and “a subordinated, inferior status” was reserved for black people, who were regarded as animals (Carmichael & Hamilton 1967: 23). 25 Organic intellectuals create knowledge and culture within their social groups as a way of introducing new ways of doing things (Hoare & Nowell Smith 1971: 1-23). 26 the diaspora.26 Tladi was exposed to a feat which revolutionised his worldview that year and for many more years to come in his life. Mphakati’s library consisted of South Africa’s mostly banned literature and music, educating about the ideas and philosophies of pan-Africanism,27 particularly blackness. It included encyclopaedias about jazz, poetry, painting and biographies of musicians, artists and poets. Reaping the fruits of the intensive labour of reading Mphakati’s books, Tladi’s critical and poetic consciousness developed markedly and speedily. Similar to how he handled British poetry at school, Tladi made it his duty to start memorising and reciting the poems. He insists that learning and performing the work of the older, mature and established poets such as Don Mattera, Keorapetse Kgositsile and Mazisi Kunene helped him to understand his own poetry (L. Tladi, personal communication, 12 January, 2019). In addition to intensifying his consciousness about the role of the arts in society’s development, Tladi’s time at the Mphakatis cultivated his hunger for reflective writing, which envisioned the world beyond the confines of apartheid. In 1966, Tladi co-founded the arty youth club, De Olympia, which ran impromptu cultural activities, such as indigenous games, music, dance and poetry performances at local primary schools. Members of the club included Anthony Molongoana Mokou (b. 1955), Morris Matsobane Legoabe (b. 1949) and Matsemela Isaac Nkoana (b. 1948). As a photographer, Legoabe became instrumental in documenting black artists and musicians, including their artworks and performances, with the idea of compiling a photographic book. De Olympia’s activities led to Mamsy Motsepe, a local social worker offering the young men the use of a four-roomed house in Ga-Rankuwa Zone 5 in 1969 (L. Tladi, personal communication, 23 March, 2019). Tladi and friends later demolished the inside walls of the house, turning it into a clubhouse and cultural centre that became a space in which they lived communally and pursued pan-African oriented socialistic practices, principles and values. His father, Hosea, bought him an assortment of musical instruments, such as the African drums, a guitar and the piccolo he shared with his friends at the clubhouse. Consequently, a band 26 Tladi became exposed to names such as James Matthews, Don Mattera, Oswald Mtshali, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Miles Davies, Amiri Baraka, Langstone Hughes, David Diop, Amilca Cabral, Okot P’ Bitek, James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Eldridge Cleaver. 27 Although a set definition seems vague (King 1973: xiv; Esedebe 1994: 3;), Okechukwu Mezu (1965: 16) writes that pan-Africanism is a philosophy, which transcends economics, politics, and culture by advantaging unity of purpose at the expense of individual wishes of the people of African descent. On the other hand, Olisanwuche Esedebe (1994: 5) writes that it is a cultural and political experience of the people of African ancestry. The primary emphasis of this idea lies in its quest for unity, self-reliance and solidarity among Africans from around the world. Pan-Africanism foregrounds knowledge and pride in African history, heritage and culture to bestow dignity while countering oppression, inferiority complex and racial segregation among black people. 27 called The Malombo Jazz Messengers was formed in 1969 and renamed Dashiki in 1971, “a Black music group whose creativity” is described by Mafika Gwala (1973: 108) as a cultural act that “draws from the rich beauty of African music.”28 Its compositions combined music and poetry. With the powerful effect of African drums, the sounds of Dashiki reflected the ceremonial, consciousness-inducing music of malopo, an indigenous sound inflected with modern sonic qualities usually attributed to ritual practices of traditional healing and spirituality.