Lwando Dlamini, a visual artist, born in the Eastern Cape and raised in the Western Cape has always created work based on his lived experiences. Dlamini, who currently lives in Cape Town, works with oil paint and mixed media, brings attention to the injustices of police brutality in the townships all over South Africa, the human body, and the violent bodily harm he has faced through an illness and near-death experiences. In his work, physically stitching together these subject matters, in essence, stirs a conversation around his awareness about the broken body and particularly focusing on memory loss.
In 2017, Dlamini graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art from the Ruth Prowse School of Art. Later that year he was the photographer and chaperone for Italian artist in residency, Valentina Colella at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in association with Everard Read and the Centro di Luigi Sarro. In 2018, Dlamini participated in group shows at the FNB Joburg Art Fair, and was awarded the 2018 David Koloane award from the Bag Factory Artist Studios, and attended the Artist Career Boot-Camp in association with the National Arts Council. In the same year, Dlamini was a finalist at the prestigious Absa L'Atelier Art competition and in 2019, was amongst the young emerging visual artists who were selected to be part of the RMB talent unlocked program at the 2019 Turbine Art Fair. Dlamini participated in a group show titled ‘tete-a-tete’ at the Absa Gallery in Johannesburg later that year. Dlamini has participated in the Thuphelo group exhibition at the University of Stellenbosch Gallery, Western Cape, and the drawing workshop at the Greatmore Artist Studio, Woodstock, Cape Town.
The ongoing theme of personal violence is something that he has experienced directly since early childhood. At the age of ten, he was paralyzed and survived a prolonged coma. Ten years later, he was brutally attacked by corrupt police, resulting in a severely damaged cornea. These aspects of fragility become apparent at the tragic occurrence and remind us that we are all going to die at some undetermined point. Dlamini is thus interested in the meaning and/or the unpredictability of our existence. The works have clarity and precision that evokes compassion and understanding in the viewer while questioning what lies beyond the surface.
