KUA LE KUA

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Growing up in the rural areas around Bushbuckridge (South Africa), Mashile spent his childhood deeply embedded in folk tales and mythology, interacting with animals and the full range of humanity. Several animals – like goats and baboons – recur throughout his work, and each of these animals has acquired a particular character and symbolic resonance. There are animals that are eaten (goats being the most common) and animals that are never eaten (reptiles). There are animals that are closer to the human world (baboons) and animals that are closer to the spirit world (hyenas). Often Mashille will insert props that have a personal autobiographical significance for him (a box of matches) or his original community (the miner’s hat, for him, represents the challenges of manhood).

Although his artistic vision is highly individual, Mashile’s art is full of commentary on social and political issues – between the rural and urban, Western and African, physical and spiritual, beautiful and ‘ugly’. He has already established himself as one of South Africa’s most unique and exciting contemporary artists.