They Came And Left Footprints

These words refer to his forebears who have passed into the ancestral realm, a reminder that those who were once present here left footprints long since erased, a poignant reminder of the transience of our lives, what we leave behind and how we are remembered. The traces that Lucas Sithole and Cyprian Shilakoe left behind, deserve to be re-looked at. The work of these two important South African artists of the 1960s and ’70s are stark reminders of the time and the context that both of them grew up and worked in. 

Their outputs speak of the harshness of experience ‘normalised’ under Apartheid and particularly, the effect on the fabric of families caused by the migratory labour system. Each artist in his own way reflects the fractured nature of their communities at that time, evoking the profound displacement, sadness and longing in lives strung out between their rural and urban environments; striving to make sense of oneself and one’s experiences.

Surrounded here by two bodies of work, brought significantly side by side, viewers have a rare opportunity to see a certain synergy in the remarkable records of their respective lives, skilled translations of their experience and insights into tangible form.

We encounter a world of loneliness and isolation in the tall, etiolated figures in both their works, sensing the social turmoil as we follow the underlying narratives in both men’s work.

Lucas Sithole was born in Springs in 1931, grew up in Kwa Thema and was discouraged by his parents from becoming an artist. After school, Sithole went to Vlakfontein Technical College. Finding employment was challenging - but he eventually found work in a soap factory where, in his spare time, he fashioned small carvings from blocks of soap, rekindling his love for sculpture. His Swazi maternal grandmother, had always seen his creative potential, and it was she who encouraged him throughout his life. In 1955, Sithole seized the opportunity to study part-time at the Polly Street Art Centre in downtown Johannesburg.

Following this commercial success, Sithole was included on many major local exhibitions as well as ones abroad. Sithole eventually left Johannesburg to be closer to his mother’s family in Pongola, close to the Swaziland (Eswatini) border. Living in relative isolation, Sithole continued to carve works that were promoted by Gallery 21 and the Haenggi Foundation until his death in 1994.

Cyprian Shilakoe, five years younger than Sithole, was born in 1946 in Limpopo on a remote Lutheran mission station near Barberton. Like so many young children, he was raised by his grandmother because both his parents had had to find work in Johannesburg and lived in Soweto. The fragmentation of such families left – and still leaves – indelible marks on individuals as well as on the lives of a nation. 

From 1968 – 1970, the young Shilakoe enrolled to study at Rorke’s Drift Art & Craft Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, one of the few art facilities where young Black artists were able to study. He specialised in print-making under Azaria Mbatha, who is known for his striking black and white linocuts of biblical themes. Shilakoe chose to specialise in intaglio and aquatint techniques, later embracing the stark graphic qualities associated with woodcuts. He also extended his investigation into the field of sculpture. At this Lutheran Mission, biblical themes dominated much of the graphic work and tapestry design.

Rather than replicating these themes, Shilakoe focused on experiences related to his personal hardships and those that he saw feelingly in the community around him. His work also engaged with contemplation of ancestral connections, with those beyond the temporal world, ideas that ran counter the missionising ethos at the centre. 

The soft qualities of aquatint allowed him to develop a nuanced set of techniques appropriate to the fugitive, emotionally brooding and other-worldly imagery that dominates his late prints. Dealing with separation, loneliness, loss, longing and death, these works bridge the divide – not simply between the rural world and the urban – but between the living and those who have crossed the great divide. Shilakoe became increasingly mystical towards the end of his life, which was cut short by a car accident in Krugersdorp, close to Johannesburg, in 1972. He was 26. His work was exhibited mainly in Johannesburg, at the Goodman Gallery, Hyde Park, but was also included in exhibitions in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and the USA. 

Shilakoe was posthumously honoured as a Standard Bank Guest Artist award in 1990 with a major exhibition at the Grahamstown Arts Festival.
 
Both Shilakoe and Sithole were included in the 1988 exhibition, The Neglected Tradition, but have received very little attention since then.