Visual artist Nandipha Mntambo has never shied away from controversial topics that get people talking.
Mntambo, 39, continues to deal with the issue of metamorphoses, traditional gender roles, identity, memory, life and death in her exhibition Agoodjie. It opened last month at Everard Read Gallery in Rosebank, Johannesburg, and closes tomorrow.
Born and raised in Swaziland, Mntambo has gone deep in terms of her subject. The exhibition presents a mix of works, including her figurative cowhide sculptures, paintings, video installation and bronze sculptors.
Using different techniques, Mntambo looks at the boundaries between human and animal, femininity and masculinity, attraction and repulsion, life and death. In her exhibition, Mntambo looks closely to the people who lived in Dahomey Amazon, which is now known as Benin, western Africa. Agoodjie refers to the last defence of the king in Fon language spoken in Dahomey.
Mntambo seems to be fascinated by story of the 1700s of a queen called Hangbe, who broke all traditional rules and stereotypes. She took over the role of a king after her brother died upon realising that her niece was too young to take on the kingship. She dressed like a man and decided to use female bodyguards for herself, rather than relying on men.
Mntambo explains her concept: “On the border of myth and reality – the story of the Agoodjie is the same. This army of women was both feared and celebrated, and how their story has been simultaneously deleted and mythologised, form the building blocks for this exhibition. This army of women was the core personal protection of the kings of Dahomey.
"They were known as ‘the last defence before the king’. The multiple stories of the Agoodjie acknowledge them as strong army of warriors with regiments and ranks, fighting on the forefront and simultaneously pretending to be helpless women and catching or killing their enemies unexpectedly.
“Through the act of recreating the attire worn by the Agoodjie, travelling to Benin Republic, and more specifically to the Royal Palaces of Abomey, engaging with both modern-day historians and custodians of this history, my intention was to excavate a portion of the past.
"By occupying their spaces and embodying these women, I created a fiction based on a complex history. Like the zebra that has its own distinct patterning but can merge and camouflage into the rest of the herd to conceal and disguise itself, I transform and reincarnate over and over – becoming a symbol of living many lives.”
When she was young, Mntambo wanted to study forensic pathology. However, she found herself in visual arts where she enjoys expressing herself in different forms.
She has a Master’s degree in fine art from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. She has been exhibiting both locally and internationally since 2005 as a solo artist and participating in group exhibitions.
Her work has been displayed at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, South African Pavilion (56th Venice Biennale), FNB Joburg Art Fair, 17th Biennale of Sydney, Australia, and the 3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, among other places.
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