Cotton, wool, beads, and fabric on canvas.

2022

105 x 67 cm

Bongani Luthuli uses cotton as his medium of expression because cotton is a material that has a long history with African people. It is, he explains, embedded in his DNA as his use of it continues the traditions of the ancestors. As far back as 1516, Odiado Barbosa reported that he saw South African inhabitants growing and wearing cotton. In 1690 commercial growing of cotton began in the now Western Cape. By 1840 it had reached KwaZulu Natal where Dr. Adam began cultivating cotton on the south coast in the eManzimtoti area.

 For Luthuli, there is also personal significance in his thread work as his grandfather favoured using cotton as a drawing medium. The fibre is also symbolic of the land issue, displacement and slavery.