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Pitika Ntuli an artist with soul

PITIKA NTULI; Pitika Ntuli is a writer, poet, sculptor and academic. He spent 32 years in exile in England, where he helped establish one of Europe'sleading poetry circuits, Apples & Snakes. He has published extensively on issues of culture,participation, indigenous knowledge systems and the African Renaissance. Previously dean of students and professor of fine arts at theUniversity of Durban-Westville, he was deputy vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Durban-Westville in 1996-97 and executive director oforganisat ional culture and Africanscholarship at the University ofKwaZulu- Natal. © Unknown.
PITIKA NTULI; Pitika Ntuli is a writer, poet, sculptor and academic. He spent 32 years in exile in England, where he helped establish one of Europe'sleading poetry circuits, Apples & Snakes. He has published extensively on issues of culture,participation, indigenous knowledge systems and the African Renaissance. Previously dean of students and professor of fine arts at theUniversity of Durban-Westville, he was deputy vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Durban-Westville in 1996-97 and executive director oforganisat ional culture and Africanscholarship at the University ofKwaZulu- Natal. © Unknown.

THOSE who would like to get into the mind of one of South Africa's most celebrated authors and cultural gurus, Pitika Ntuli, need to visit his exhibition in Newtown in May.

THOSE who would like to get into the mind of one of South Africa's most celebrated authors and cultural gurus, Pitika Ntuli, need to visit his exhibition in Newtown in May.

Academic Ntuli, who achieved international acclaim while in exile in Europe and the US, will exhibit in South Africa for the first time. His exhibition, Scent of Invisible Footprints - In Moments of Complexity, is coming to Museum Africa in Newtown from May 20 to August 31.

Ntuli is a sculptor, painter, poet, writer and academic who has taken part in many international exhibitions.

The Museum Africa exhibition will comprise between 140 to 180 sculptures in a variety of materials including metal, wood, bone, stone, plastic and bronze.

The beauty, diversity and complexity of this show are a major contribution to Ntuli's artistic language and achievement.

His combination of visual and literary images places him in that rare group of artists that defy categorisation. While in London, Ntuli became the radical cultural face of the South African exile community in the UK.

He was instrumental in the development of Jenako Arts, a multidisciplinary centre promoting the arts and culture of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. He has held workshops in France, Germany, Nigeria, Senegal, Switzerland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, UK and USA. ITV featured him in Echoes of My Land, the Art of Pitika Ntuli.

Swiss TV documented his life in An Artist in Exile. Recognised as one of the country's most significant intellectuals, Ntuli was invited to join the Fine Arts Department of Wits University on his return from exile.

He holds a Masters in Fine Art from the Pratt Institute in New York and a Masters in Comparative Industrial Relations and Industrial Sociology. Ntuli is an expert in African indigenous knowledge systems, a frequent guest on radio and TV and a regular political and cultural commentator on SABC2's Morning Live.

Ntuli spent a year in solitary isolation in Swaziland.

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