Image: courtesy of Ande Magoso
Please tell us a bit about yourself?
I am Ande Magoso, a South African fine artist. I was born in Koskstad, moved to Umzimkhulu then later moved to Kwa-Ngcolosi which is a Zulu predominated valley in the outer west of Durban and is still ruled by a chief. I come from an intercultural background, my father is Zulu and my mother is Xhosa. Growing up in a Zulu concentrated community, I learnt to speak both IsiXhosa and IsiZulu but I also ended up mixing the two languages when I speak and this would result in confusion and misunderstanding when I spoke to Zulu people who did not understand IsiXhosa. Being misunderstood became one of the reasons why I make art.
Take us back to when your journey into art started
The earliest memory I have of myself falling in love with art was when our grade 1 teacher gave us a class activity to draw ourselves. When I was done with the activity I just wanted to keep drawing. My brother, Bongumusa, is the first person I could say stimulated my interest in drawing, I was around six or seven at the time. As a hobby he would make realistic pencil drawings of different objects and people. I would often get jealous but at the same time, I was inspired by his incredible artistic skills. His influence led me to drawing more often, so whenever I wasn’t busy with schoolwork or chores, I would be sketching something and sometimes even during school hours too. I drew as a hobby until I finished high school then afterwards I attended a fine art skills training program by the African Art Center at the Durban University of Technology. Later on, I enrolled in The BAT Center’s visual arts program where I met like-minded individuals who have become friends and mentors in my journey as an artist.
What inspires you and what is the process behind creating your artworks?
I draw inspiration from anything really, it could be a scene from a great horror movie, a song by Enya, the sound that a southern ground hornbill makes or just a conversation with a friend. However, the body of work I’m currently working on focuses on the idea of duality and the relationships formed when two correlated subjects are positioned in a certain way. My focus on this notion is influenced by how much of it is present within my identity and my personal experiences in general. Some of these pair of elements include my paternal and maternal cultural backgrounds, speaking two languages, growing up in a religious family which also still performs cultural traditions and also from being a twin.
I express this concept by fusing human figures with goat and sheep features and this is because in my experience, goats are typically used in Zulu cultural rituals whereas sheep are often used in Xhosa cultural rituals. I use my work to reflect on the relationships between these opposing components within my identity and mostly other contrasting subjects and ideas in society in general.
With regards to my creative process, l do not have a specific method when it comes to creating, many artists believe that you shouldn't wait for inspiration to start working, I feel that doing what works for you is what is most important. For me to produce an artwork of good quality and depth, I personally need to be inspired first. I need to have a good idea of what I want to create. Once that is done, I then make sure that I'm fully aware of the kind of mood that inspiration gets me in. This helps to attempt giving the artwork not only a concept but also a mood. I do this intentionally because I believe that when a work of art has a deliberate mood attached to it, the audience easily becomes immersed/drawn into the work.
How has your practice developed over the years?
Over the years, particularly in the past three years, I have figured out what works for me and what doesn't, what I need to put my focus on and what I shouldn't worry about as much. I have observed how people perceive my work and also I now know the best way to approach my practice. So I would say I'm very much satisfied with how my art practice has progressed, but it would be sinful of me to not give credit to my mentor, Clive Sithole who has been mentoring me for the past couple of years, and even though he's a ceramicist but he has been able to understand the kind of work I'm trying to make and guide me accordingly.
What is your best artwork up to date?
Choosing the “best piece” is not easy because each and every artwork that I make has multiple conceptual points of view - so apart from the explanation I give to be the meaning behind each piece, there is often one or more alternative meanings and layers that I choose to not disclose. I’m more interested in creating a room big enough for people to interpret my work from their own perspectives rather than trying to make sure that they view it only from the perspective I explain the work from.
An artwork titled “Revelation - From the Other Side” which I made in 2023 is the one I consider to be my best work so far. I believe it’s my best so far because apart from other elements, it’s not one dimensional - it carries multiple themes so well and it really just depends on how you perceive it.
Any fun projects that you are currently working on?
At the moment I’m in an artist residency at Phansi Museum and there’s a chance that the work that I am creating here will be exhibited somewhere, but nothing is confirmed yet.
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