RICKY DYALOYI - Abahambi Balomhlaba (Those That Roam The Earth)

It’s easy to gloss over the enormity of what Cape Town artist Ricky Dyaloyi means when he says that “every person we encounter today is a walking miracle, a testament to our ancestors' resilience, strength, and sacrifices.”

From the woman, baby on her back, lugging heavy shopping bags, to the motley pack of schoolboys heading off to a day of learning, they (and we) are all the result of centuries of good fortune, tenacity, and ancestral lines that have made it this far, despite every kind of impediment. Consider the immensity of that for a second.

Abahambi Balomhlaba is an acknowledgement of this and an acceptance of the power we all carry inside because of the legacies built by those who came before us. We are, as the popular saying goes, “our ancestors’ wildest dreams.”

Dyaloyi is a highly skilled painter, and he manifests this idea in a fine and mesmerizing fashion across metres of canvas. Oil paint (and occasionally sand) is mixed with turpentine to create layer upon layer of thin, vibrant strokes on a dark, monochromatic base. From this, an image starts to form. A dab of colour here, and a juxtaposition of another vivid hue alongside it, and suddenly you are looking at the frenetic crowd spilling over the canvas edges in his triptych The Journey for Survival (2024). Who are these people? Where are they going? And what are their individual stories? We can sense their energy – the freneticism, the stress, the hustle.

If you mentally remove the figures missioning across Silent Struggles (2024), there is still an undeniable sense of purpose. The brushstrokes that surround these people – heads down, striding with determination – are loaded with movement and vitality. Likewise, the cityscape around the shoppers in Vuka Siya Phanda (2024), crackles with life.

Dyaloyi says he does not always start with an end in mind when he paints. He goes on instinct, waiting for the subject to emerge from the marks. This is evident in these busily populated works, often influenced by his own community and the comings and goings of their daily lives.

That said, not every painting is intuitive – sometimes he has a very particular idea and structure in mind. Often, these works comment on the systemic inequalities of South Africa. Case in point, Umdlalo (2024) is a commentary on the ‘ordinary people’ who are at the mercy of the games and manoeuvring played by the powerful. As the adage goes, Dyaloyi notes, “when the bulls fight, the grass suffers.”

The enormous Hamba Nathi Nkosi 1 & 2 (2024) is another such example. Hands raised, the central figure, protruding above a worshipping crowd into a magnificent, cloud-filled sky, is, as Dyaloyi puts it, “offering a plea to the almighty not to forsake us.” The work is about overcoming struggles and tribulations and speaks to the broader idea that we are not alone. Dyaloyi sums it, and the exhibition, up, when he says, “It’s a monumental prayer to the ancestors and future generations, acknowledging the ongoing passage of time.”

For enquiries please contact Nkuli@everard.co.za