Nicholas Hlobo

Nicholas Hlobo, Balindile I, 2012. Installation view at Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

Nicholas Hlobo, Balindile I, 2012. Installation view at Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

Nicholas Hlobo, Balindile I, 2012. Installation view at Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

Nicholas Hlobo, Balindile I, 2012. Installation view at Tate Liverpool, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby

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Nicholas Hlobo (b. 1975, Cape Town, South Africa) lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa. Hlobo began his career around the end of apartheid in 1994. Using materials such as ribbon, leather, wood and rubber detritus that he melds and weaves together, Hlobo creates seductively tactile sculptures and drawings. His works are richly layered – anchored in references to Xhosa culture and the experience of life in post-Apartheid South Africa – and reflect upon themes of language and communication, gender and sexuality, and race and ethnicity. Recent exhibitions include SCAD Museum of Art, USA (2019); Performa 17, USA (2017); Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, South Africa (2017); and Tate Modern, UK (2009).

Project Description

Nicholas Hlobo’s sculpture is another work that reflects on the politics of gender. Balindile I (2012) was created by assembling pieces of rubber gathered from repair garages around Johannesburg. Due to its association with cars, rubber has become a symbol of masculinity in South Africa. However, Hlobo combines it with materials such as ribbons, using techniques such as stitching and weaving that are traditionally perceived as female activities. As such, he challenges gender-based assumptions about the division of labour. ‘Balindile’ can be translated as ‘those in waiting’ from Hlobo’s native language Xhosa, a Nguni language widely spoken in South Africa. The sculptures suggest bodily references rising from the ground, but also feel unsupported, as if the soft material may wilt or dissolve.

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