Visual artist and interdisciplinary, Luyanda Zindela was born and bred in Durban, now living, and working in Cape Town. He has been making art for the past 10 years, completed his BTech in Fine Arts at the Durban University of Technology in 2012 and obtained a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2019.
Luyanda started practicing art full time in 2013. He developed his interest in arts from a tender age, he used to struggle with paying attention in class and his English teacher encouraged him to draw as a mechanism. Like many black kids, he had to convince his mother to pursue a career in arts, subsequently enrolling at DUT after matric.
He has entered quite a number of competitions and has curated many exhibitions, his first exhibition was in 2013 at the Durban University of Technology, in 2014 he was part of the Absa L’Atelier competition where he received a merit award and was a fellow of the Ampersand Foundation in New York, USA in 2015.
A lot of his art reflects everyday life experiences – his recent solo exhibition at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town; Abangani bami – izithombe zami, was a series of detailed portraits which were a representation of his friendships and experiences, navigating the delicacies and intimacy of friendships as well as celebrating the bonds.
Luyanda uses different mediums to create his artwork including pens, charcoal and photography - usually dictated by the idea he has. His central skill is drawing, and ink is his favourite medium because there is no room for mistakes when using ink, motivating him to commit to what he is doing.
Luyanda is currently working on his next projects. Follow him on Instagram @lzindela for updates on exhibitions.
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