SCULPTORS Jess Bothma and Earnest Bhekazi Ngcobo have been invited for residency in Germany, and they take off next week to attend a cultural exchange programme named Bremen-Durban eV.
During the cultural exchange programme, they will collaborate with German artists and present their craft. This will provide a special highlight for their work and will also be Ngcobo’s first international trip.
Botha is a Fine Arts graduate and currently pursuing her master’s. She also lectures at Durban University of Technology. On the other hand, Ngcobo had no formal training, and all that he has learned and mastered in arts was acquired through an apprenticeship at Andries’ studio many years ago. He was working as a runner until Andries noticed him playing around with the welding tools. That ignited his career.
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“Andries noticed that I was not only gifted but that I was committed and eager to learn. I was forever present to receive gems of his wisdom,” he said.
“We influence each other in a very special artistic way – from ideas, drawings, designs and material. We use all kinds of medium from rocks, steel, tyre strips, wire, bolts, wood, cowhide, resin and any other found objects which we later repurpose,” added Bothma.
Bothma and Ngcobo have crisscrossed the country, servicing their clients. “Our clients vary from the private sector to individuals, be it in office buildings, homes or bushes.”
Regarding a gigantic sculpture they did in Magaliesburg last month, they said, “The making of this sculpture was inspired by the incredible landscape of the Magaliesburg, fusing the beauty of the elements here, the earth itself as rock and form; the wind moving, shaping and whispering; the water carrying, curving and restoring, and the fire defining. These elements come together to personify the identity and character of this land, like an ancient umbilical cord telling a story that we can all identify with.” It was named ‘Spiritus Mogale’.
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About the current state of the arts industry, they admit that it is problematic. “There is no institutional support while art is an essential part of life. Artists invest time, space and their gifts, however, that is often not met with the same spirit. There is so much generosity of art but nowhere to go,” they concurred.
When the duo are not in the workshop, covered in all sorts of mess, they enjoy hiking, pickleball, cycling and visiting galleries and other artists’ exhibitions.
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