Qhamanande Maswana

About the artist

Qhamanande Maswana is a visual artist currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Maswana grew up in King William’s Town, a city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Creative from an early age, Maswana was inspired to pursue a career in the arts whilst he was a student at Forbes Grant High School in South Africa. After finishing school in 2008, he competed in various art competitions held in the Eastern Cape, then went on to study Fine Arts at Lovedale College in 2010 and graduated with a National Diploma in Fine Arts from the University of Fort Hare, South Africa, in 2015.

Maswana has developed a unique style of portraiture which speaks to both the beauty and challenges of everyday life in South Africa. Effortlessly blending reality with imagination in each portrait, he often depicts the people he encounters in his day-to-day life in surreal purple hues as a way of portraying ‘the strength of [his] people and their descendancy from royalty.’

Maswana’s work has been exhibited in international art fairs and exhibitions around the world including in England, Spain, Germany and South Africa.


Sources of inspiration
 

Maswana’s inspiration for his recent bodies of work largely comes from everyday life and the people he encounters on the streets in South Africa. Maswana describes how he often approaches people in the streets, starts a conversation with them and then asks them to be part of his paintings. “Driven by a desire to document their individualities and narrate their stories through painting, I sometimes go out into the streets and observe people. I am inspired by their clothes, their hairstyles, how they carry themselves and I end up making stories about their lives in my head. Each portrait is an adventure, exploring the unique character and personal strengths of my subjects. It’s not about how they look, it’s about who they are as people.”

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Artist intentions

‘The people depicted in my work often come from economically depressed communities, so I paint their skin with purple hues, because purple is often associated with royalty, luxury, and power - it also represents wealth, creativity, wisdom, dignity, and magic. I see it as my duty as an artist who grew up in those spaces to recreate images of these persons in a new light, one that portrays the royalty I see within each of them.’ – Qhamanande Maswana

Maswana views his work as a way of touching souls visually. He hopes that his work creates a need for his viewers to pause – to connect with their own soul for a moment and ‘to see the beauty of the people I paint as I see it.’


Going forward

‘My long-term goals involve growing in the field of art, continuing to learn, take on additional responsibilities and add as much value as I can. I plan to enhance my skills and continue my development so that I can give back to the art community that supported me and help up-and-coming artists on how to run a successful art career.’ – Qhamanande Maswana