Astral Mngonyama pays moving tribute to grandmother

SOUTH African artist Astral Mngonyama was recognised as the national winner of the 2021 BIC Art Master Africa competition for his artwork titled Ubuntu.

Hailing from uMlazi township, KwaZulu-Natal, the 22-year-old security guard said he is “deeply honoured” and “overwhelmed” to have received the prestigious accolade.

Mngonyama said, interpreting the brief, to draw his piece from the ‘enchant everyday life,’ wasn’t too difficult because he is inspired by his surroundings and personal life experiences.

Mngonyama said his award-winning portrait was inspired by his 91-year-old grandmother, who taught him to “value every aspect of life and to have compassion for every living being as well as nature”.

“Creativity is important to me because it allows me to open my mind to new thoughts on life in general and also brings new ideas,” he said.

He added: “The art is a drawing of my grandmother who is blind, and it is a visual illustration of the saying ‘happiness comes through ubuntu (humanity) and compassion in life’ - in that saying it encourages one to cherish every little beautiful thing life has to offer, and a butterfly in our culture is a symbol of harmony, peace, freedom, and hope.

“I wanted to try out something different, and the BIC ball pen was the best because it was smooth and easy to use, and also what motivated me was also to showcase my talent, because there are few platforms for artists and young artists can submit their work.

“The message behind this portrait is that you shouldn’t worry about what you don’t have but value every beautiful thing life has to offer, even if they are small things, but they also matter.

“It also says to young artists that you should be inspired by the people around you because our heroes are the people who inspire you to do good, and they should find joy in the process of their craft.”

The youngster said he owes his success to his mother and grandmother, who always encouraged him to pursue his dream of becoming an artist.

“I discovered the passion when I was young. I used to draw whatever came to mind.

“In primary school, I used to draw on the classroom board, and the teachers also knew that I was good at drawing, and I used to draw school posters for them. And I sometimes got into trouble for drawing on the back of school books,” Mngonyama recalled.

His artwork reflects South Africa’s rich heritage, its diverse cultures.

Mngonyama dreams of one day opening an art centre in his community of uMlazi, where he currently resides with his family.

“I am doing my second year (Bachelors in Education), so I can find a job and support my family because my mother is unemployed, so we survive by using my grandmother’s grant and also the salary I get from working as a security guard. My wish is to find a job so I can build a space to allow young artists to create and showcase their work,” he said.

The Art Master Africa competition is an annual competition that invites artists to creatively develop art pieces using the iconic BIC ball pen.

The BIC Art Master competition was incepted in 2017 in South Africa. Following its success, the competition expanded to include the Africa region in 2019.

This year, the competition expanded even further to include the Middle East, reaching more than 3 700 artists from 52 countries across the Middle East and Africa.

The winners included one continent-wide winner as well as 11 winners from countries within the Africa region.

Ugandan artist Gayi Eric was named the 2021 BIC Art Master of Africa for his portrait titled Circle of Life.

Coming in second place was Kamgaing from Cameroon, who developed the art piece titled In My Room, while Odaro Franklin Osaivbie from Nigeria took third place with his art piece Entranced.

This year’s top ten Art Masters of Africa winners included Mzansi’s rising stars Thuso Modikela (Flowers of the universe) and Brandon Ponen (Roll the Dice), and Omphile Sefako from Botswana (Liminal Confinement).