Shikongeni’s new coastal solo calls for stillness

For veteran artist Ndasuunye Papa Shikongeni, silence is the beginning of everything. It is where we encounter ourselves. It is a wellspring of creativity, and it also inspired ‘Stillness….Gundjila’ – his latest exhibition at Swakopmund’s Woermannhaus Art Gallery opening on 9 November.

A call to remove what Shikongeni calls our ‘ego masks’ – as well as an invitation to explore the creativity inherent in being human – the exhibition features around 27 complex and brightly coloured cardboard prints created after the artist’s eight-year visual art hiatus.

“Gundjila is a word from Oshiwambo. It is when you put your heart at peace, when you put your thoughts at peace,” says Shikongeni.

“It is when you realise that your life is more fulfilling when you become one with yourself and connected to nature. That is very important for us as human beings because we’ve lost that gravity to be connected to the earth and for the earth to connect to us.”

Presented on smaller canvases than Shikongeni has employed in the past, the exhibition’s vivid and compositional scenes repeat images of African tribal masks to signify a certain disconnection to our true selves, talents and purpose.

‘Stillness’ also advocates for a profound knowledge of self and celebrates the will and the presence of Mother Nature, the Creator and of our ancestors.

“I have let the spirits lead when it comes to colour, let the mind be still and then let the spirit create and connect to what the spirit wants to showcase to the people,” says Shikongeni.

“The exhibition is inspired within myself, looking at myself all these 30 years. It is craft that inspired me. Inspiration itself is stillness,” he says.

“When you are still, you get inspired by your inside voice, your instincts and your intuition. When you listen to your intuition, you find inspiration, but you must be alone. Many people are afraid of being alone. Being alone is to create. You craft the world, you craft your life.”

‘Stillness….Gundjila’ is Shikongeni’s third solo offering at Swakopmund, and the artist looks forward to his creative return to the coast.

“I’m taking back the soul and the spirit and the connections of my art to the people of Swakopmund. Art is not only art. Art is spirit, and spirit is healing, and healing is the well-being of the people,” he says.

“I encourage everyone to come to my exhibition. Not only to buy the artworks – if money comes out of my artworks, it’s a blissful moment, but, it’s for people to come and heal themselves within the artwork,” Shikongeni says.

“It’s an opportunity to sit, be silent and connect to the artwork that you feel, not the one that you see.”

‘Stillness….Gundjila’ will be on display until 1 December.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com