Nene Mahlangu
Nene Mahlangu
The figures in Nene Mahlangu’s figurative drawings and paintings are a storytelling medium expressing her urge to create emotionally safe environments in her mind and through her work, that serve as a positive escape to remind herself of the beauty, the divine, the blessing that is to be a woman.
Nene Mahlangu (b.1992) is a visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She uses her oeuvre as an affirmative escape and a reminder of the beauty, divinity, and blessing of being a woman. In celebration of 25 years of democracy, Mahlangu made history by being the youngest woman to design two coins for South Africa, championing education and children’s rights.
The figures in Nene Mahlangu’s figurative drawings and paintings are a storytelling medium expressing her urge to create emotionally safe environments in her mind and through her work, that serve as a positive escape to remind herself of the beauty, the divine, the blessing that is to be a woman. The figures depict vulnerability, healing, confidence, wholeness, and a transcendent sense of power. Her works in this series are evocative and thought-provoking, reasserting the rhetoric of authority of the female voice in the everyday world.
Mahlangu’s work has featured in group exhibitions such as ECLIPSE in Paris, ART the Hague Art Fair, Den Haag, Netherlands (2021), WomenInArts, French Residence, Pretoria, South Africa (2021) Venice International Art Fair, Italy (2020).