Visual artist Lungiswa Gqunta has been making waves in the arts industry with installations addressing inequality, land ownership, labour and the ongoing legacies of racism.
The 31-year-old from Gqeberha in Eastern Cape had studied visual arts at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan university after realising she was talented since her primary school days.
She said she inherited her creative talents from her musician grandfather, Mike Ngxokolo.
“My journey in visual arts has been blessed. I would say that despite all the challenges faced along the road because even though obstacles would come I am always granted the strength to continue pushing through and finally bring what is in my mind to reality through my works.
“I do not aim to deliver a specific message to the audience. I just have ideas and feelings that I am sharing with them, but I really just want them to interpret what they see in their own way, we all see things from a different perspective but that does not mean anyone is wrong,” said Gqunta.
Her projects are dependent on everyday objects which have the potential to become weapons and a means to defend – these include barbwire, matchsticks, bottles and fabric.
She had showcased Sleeping Pools installation at Whatiftheworld art gallery in Cape Town. This was in reference to shack fires that destroy livelihoods in informal settlements.
The metal bed frame was surrounded with LED lights and paraffin, highlighting that it was not safe to rest in an informal settlement and that such should not exist.
“The fires which are started by open cooking flames and paraffin stoves have resulted in thousands of fatalities with people being consumed by flames whilst they sleep in their beds. Here the proximity of the bead to the flammable petrol speaks of the unavoidable combination of the deadly and the domestic in township life and South Africa at large.”
Her various installations have been showcased in Italy, Germany, Berlin and she now plans to bring it back to the mother city. “My paternal grandfather’s gifts to me have been really working. I am grateful that he passed his creative talents to me. I wouldn’t ask otherwise and I aim to preserve this with everything in me. It just matters so much to me,” said Gqunta.
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