PHILLEMON HLUNGWANI

THURSDAY 10 DECEMBER 2009 - JANUARY 2010

Phillemon Hlungwani was born in Thomo Village, Giyani in Limpopo Province. He attended Thomo primary school and Hanyani Thomo High School where he was under the guidance of his art teacher, motivator and friend Muxe Moses Mthombeni. Phillemon obtained first class in Art in Matric .Mthombeni was one of art teachers who encouraged Phillemon in basics foundation in art at high school level, then after completing High school he went to the Johannesburg Art Foundation to study Fine Art course. He went to Artist Proof Studio to study printmaking under the mentorship of Kim Berman and the late Nhlahla Xaba and Osiah Masukameng, where he is still based today as coordinator for community outreach/ special projects for Artist in school programmes i.e. NOAH’S Arks, Man as Partners xenophobia mural. In addition to pursuing his career as a successful professional artist, Phillemon is an art advisor mentoring young up coming artist.

He then went to the WITS School of Art to study a teachers training course in art. Phillemon was involved in facilitating professional classes at the Artist Proof Studio and Unit manages for papermaking. He has been involved in numerous courses with EDL, CIDA Campus for computer skills and VACA. Phillemon Hlungwani revealed his passionate ability in working with charcoal on paper to explore new ideas around his culture and the journeys of every day life. On his extensive study tour of printmaking studios in the United States sponsored by the prestigious Ampersand Foundation Fellowship. Early this year the TopBilling magazine as well as a Top Billing TV Programme profiled him to demonstrates the power of prayer as an artform and he is representing the spiritual side of life, his charcoal drawings and dry-point etchings images are often filled with majestic trees. Phillemon attributes the start of his career to the support given to him by his mother:

‘When I was about five or six I did a drawing on the ground ,My mother went and covered the drawing with a dish to protect it from the rain and other elements, so later I could go back and finish my drawing.’ His art may well have progressed from the humble doodles scratches in the earth but his motive remains the same. His work is predominantly self-expressive in light of his background and his Christian beliefs. Trees are a place for prayer/ healing process and worshipping and Phillemon feels a strong spiritual connection towards them. For this reason we see trees continuously represented in his prints.

His landscape images refer to self, family and history, functioning as a type of documentation of his background. Phillemons preferred printmaking technique is intaglio dry-point etching, linocut, charcoal on paper to explore new ideas around his culture and the journeys of every day life. He finds this practice more expressive than other techniques; allowing him to work freely and texturally with line. In addition to being a print make.