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Noria Mabasa, Nato a 1938
Mabasa, Noria (South African, 1938)
Legend of Hlopeka
Wood, provenance Gallery 181 Johannesburg
height 176cm; width 173cm; depth 145cm
Noria Mabasa was the first, and at this stage still the only, female Venda sculptor to become nationally
and internationally recognised. Her primary subject matter captures the daily life around her and in
many instances reflects the experience of apartheid through her own particular context and perspective,
importantly giving voice to a woman's point of view. This artwork, which is also titled The Legend of the
Death of Hlopeka is an impressively large sculpture that swarms with figures, animals and combinations
of the two. Each form of the sculpture is attached at some point and the middle section of the sculpture
is hollow, creating a kind of vortex composition that is high in energy. The figures are mostly nude and
their jaggedly carved forms and contorted gestures mirror the drama of the composition. Hlopeka is a
Tsonga name, which means to be poor and/or to be suffering (Mabasa's ex-husband was Tsonga, hence
her Tsonga surname). In the context of apartheid South Africa this sculpture elucidates and embodies
the struggle for freedom from suffering, which is why it formed a focal point of the Constitutional Court
Art Collection for over three years.
