Mo Laudi: Morithi wa Ubuntu (The shadow of Humanity)

Mo Laudi, Polelo (A New Language), 2019, Mixed media Acrylic and archival material on canvas 80 x 60 cm

Mo Laudi, while known for his prolific career as a musician, is also multimedia artist. In Polelo (A New Language), we see a light pink and sherbet orange assemblage. Amongst the newspaper clippings and archival material is a photograph of Ernest Mancoba, the late South African avant-garde artist who was raised under the apartheid system. Mancoba’s work represents a ‘synthesis of modern European art and African spirit,’ ‘his goal was to bring to European art his deep understanding of African culture’ (Aicon Gallery). Laudi’s title, Polelo (A New Language), invokes Mancoba’s earlier ideas: through synthesizing spirits a new consciousness is formed. Laudi channels Mancoba and continues the task of deepening and uncovering an understanding of African culture, in-doing so bringing to the fore more radical possibilities for the future of humanity.