Images taken by Andy Mkhosi
Qhamanande Maswana is a professional visual artist, born in Mdantsane, East London and grew up in Rhayi, a small village in King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape now lives in Johannesburg where he works as a figurative painter who uses acrylics on canvas to create his artwork.
From a tender age, Qhamanande always enjoyed drawing and creating things, ever since then everything he was involved in had to do with art. His passion for this career began when he was a learner at Forbes Grant High School where he completed his higher certificate in 2008. His love for art did not end there, he pursued it by participating in various art competitions that were being held around the province of Eastern Cape. Qhamanande then went to study at the University of Fort Hare where he completed his National Diploma in Fine Arts in 2015.
He draws inspiration for his work from his surroundings and the people that he interacts with “I focus on articulating the beauty and the strength they possess. The people depicted in my work are often people that I interact with; my friends, my family and strangers that I usually approach on the streets and ask them to be part of my paintings”.
Qhama often paints people’s skin with purple hues because purple is often associated with royalty, luxury and power. He says that purple also represents meanings of wealth, creativity, wisdom, dignity and magic, “ I see it as my duty as an artist to recreate the image of these bodies in a new light, one that portrays the royalty I see inside of them”.
“I love the freedom that comes with it, creating art is what makes me happy, the idea of creating something that will outlast a person and continue to make people happy after you are gone and knowing that your art is yours and it only needs to please you”.
Qhama has an upcoming exhibition (group exhibition) on the 26th of November 2020 at the AVA Gallery in Cape Town, pull up if you are in the city and you can follow him on his socials to stay update on his projects:
Twitter: @qhamamaswana
Instagram: @qhamanandemaswana
Facebook: Qhamanande Maswana
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