Online Viewing Room

Ahead of the artist’s solo exhibition at The Norval Foundation later this year, Unit present a survey of Sthenjwa Luthuli’s intricately carved, sculptural artworks.

The polychromatic world of Luthuli’s art creates a space of liberation in which figures dance, leap and fly, untethered and unafraid.

The headless figures that recur throughout his practice represent the missing names and identities of the artist’s ancestors, lost both to time and the devastation of colonisation. They also symbolise Luthuli’s belief in the ancient African birth rites through which elders recognise the reincarnation of past generations in new-born babies, reflecting the cycle of life.

Influenced by these traditions, Luthuli details the essence of a person before they become flesh and blood, capturing the process of spirits passing from one generation to the next.