MINI Contra.Joburg

Join us for this intimate gathering where you will receive a private tour of 4 artists studio spaces in Ellis House. This MINI Contra.Joburg event provides you with an opportunity to get to know the artists and to spend time engaging with their work. The artists you will meet are:

Phumzile Buthelezi

Phumzile invokes women and feminine energy as her muse; the sense of being associated and connected with nature and simultaneously being a critical site in cultural production. She is particularly interested in the change of practicing agency through the driving force of social, political and cultural aspects. The body of her work is a physical extension of philosophy and cultural changes that have made the modern woman a multifaceted being, a bringing together of many different qualities and textures, which she demonstrates through the use of different mediums and technical skills. Her style is easily distinguishable, with organic forms and shapes and a colorful palette. Phumzile, a national of South Africa, has always had an affinity for art, starting from an age as young as 13 years. Throughout her developing stages as an artist her craft has included embroidery, crocheting, knitting, bead-work, and fabric painting.

Lindo Mahamba

Lindo Mahamba is an artist who explores human emotions and consciousness through her work. Her art reflects a deep curiosity about what it means to be human, using a variety of materials to tell stories that balance opposites like emotion and logic, power and vulnerability, or creation and destruction. By embracing these opposites, she aims to create harmony in her art. Inspired by literature and personal experiences, Lindo creates art with layers of meaning, encouraging viewers to look deeper. She experiments with different media, from traditional painting to digital techniques, to express her ideas in unique ways. For Lindo, art is a way to connect beyond words and culture. She hopes her work resonates with people emotionally, encouraging reflection and sparking conversations about humanity and our connection to the universe.

Njabulo Hlophe

Njabulo Hlophe is a visual storyteller born and raised in Johannesburg currently studying at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography. Having been raised in Soweto and the Johannesburg inner city Njabulo was exposed to a lot of scenes that are familiar with the South African black experience: images of pollution, poverty, sickness and violence as a result of living in a country that still has a very bad shortage of basic facilities in these communities. But with that, he was also exposed to the resilience that is characteristic of black people especially the people in the areas I grew up in. Absorbing the visual language of the inner city and learning how the city and its inhabitants are still, in the midst of intense lack, able to breakthrough and live their lives with joy and a sense of community that has been cultivated by years of shared trauma, in this community Njabulo was exposed to the power of being able to look beyond your circumstances and writing your own story when given very little choice.

Siyabonga Mlambi

Siyabonga Mlambi was born in the small town of Bizana located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. This area is famous for sharing the birthplace of Winnie Madikizela Mandela and anti-apartheid politician Oliver Tambo. Built with mixture of warm hospitality, cultural sites, and breath-taking landscapes mixed with the click language of Xhosa tribal traditions make this location like no other in the world.