My name is Madide Jakie Ntavhanyeni, a self-taught mixed-media artist from Tshiungani (Niani), Limpopo, where the stark contrasts between rural tranquillity and socioeconomic struggle first imprinted upon my creative consciousness. A place of both breath-taking landscapes and systemic neglect, I employ mixed media as a language of resistance. Charcoal becomes soot from burned dreams; ballpoint pen strokes mimic the bureaucratic fine print that binds the marginalized; acrylic washes echo the synthetic glow of screens that numb us to injustice.
My work exists at the intersection of landscape, realism, and abstraction. I am fascinated by the creation of spaces that feel both familiar and ambiguous—environments that evoke the world we know yet remain open to interpretation. Through layered compositions, I seek to merge the visual plane with our daily reality, allowing them to intersect, overlap, and ultimately generate a sense of depth and distance that resonates with the viewer.
As the 2021 New Breed Art Competition Public Choice Award winner and a participant in the *In Stranger Times Walkabout* (Art Bank South Africa 2021 New Acquisitions Exhibition), and (Reckoning) springs art gallery 2022,I continue to push the boundaries of my practice, blending technical precision with emotional abstraction. My art is an invitation to pause, reflect, and engage with the subtle tensions between recognition and mystery—where the ordinary transforms into something quietly extraordinary.
Through my work, I aspire to challenge perceptions, provoke thought, and create a dialogue between the tangible and the imagined. Art, for me, is not just a visual language but a means of exploring the complexities of human experience and the spaces we inhabit—both physically and metaphoric.
