The artwork of one Clarendon High School for Girls (CGHS) pupil, inspired by her brother, was selected as the cover art for this year’s anthology of the national schools’ poetry anthology, English Alive.
Grade 11 pupil Lokonde Mwanza and her art teacher, Natalie van Wyk are ecstatic that her piece was selected despite fierce competition from around the country.
Mwanza said that given this steep competition, her selection feels even more special.
She said: “The achievement means a lot to me as it validates my abilities as an artist, and it gives me confidence in my creative future.
“This opportunity is incredibly meaningful as it allows my work to reach a national audience.
“I’m deeply grateful for this chance to share my art on such a large scale,” she said.
“I’m excited to see where this milestone will lead me as an artist and I am so proud of what I created.
“My brother served as my muse for this piece, inspiring the central theme of celebrating the diversity of wildlife and nature worldwide.
“The zebra in the painting holds a special significance for me as it represents my family’s traditional totem,” Mwanza said.
She said that although she was not always the best artist in primary school, she did not allow this to deter her from finding enjoyment in art regardless and since then has approached her work from a place of gratitude in that she always feels to be able to create.
She said: “I started taking art seriously in high school and spent many afternoons honing my skills and that’s when my passion really deepened.
Mwanza expressed her desire to integrate her artistic skills into an architecture career, recognizing that architecture provides the perfect balance of creativity and critical thinking.
Van Wyk said Mwanza’s piece had been beautifully executed with a high level of technical skill.
“The boy in the painting frames the view with his and this seemed to me analogous with the idea of poetry expressing a particular point of view.
“We all see through different ’lenses’ and we express these perceptions in art and in poetry,” Van Wyk said.
She said the map inside the negative space of the boy also created interesting ideas around the land and colonialism.
Van Wyk said the wonderful thing about art and poetry was that it coul have so many layers of meaning and possible interpretations which Mwanza’s work captured beautifully.
