Willemina Gwambe's art inspired by pain of losing mom

Willemina Gwambe channelled her pain of losing both her mother and sister into a form of art using mud to paint portraits of people reflecting her emotions.

"After my mother passed on, I realised I only had very few pictures of her. I was motivated to keep her memory alive through drawing her portraits," she said.

The 25-year-old from Tshimamba village in Thohoyandou in Limpopo said it was during a visit to her grandmother's home that she witnessed the diverse use of mud. She had been looking for an affordable way to paint her emotions.

"We had not had rain for a long time, so the day the rain finally came, I was wearing a white dress and it got stained by mud. I noticed that mud had qualities like paint," she said.

Gwambe said the use of mud for art has been in African cultures for centuries.

"There is a mud house at my grandmother's home which was my mother's room when she was a teenager," she said.

"Using mud meant I didn't halt my art process and it allowed me to stand out as a self-taught artist," she said.

"Once I started exploring, I could reach the level of realism that I wanted," Gwambe said.

Gwambe said she studied social work at the University of Pretoria and is passionate about using art as a medium for healing, particularly for children and people living with disabilities.

This passion stems from being a caregiver to her younger sister Tinyiko, who was featured in Sowetan in April for her academic success despite being born with no arms and legs.

"I find courage that my sister is disabled and has the passion to work," she said.

This inspired Gwambe to start a nonprofit organisation called Willeminartist Sanctuary where children and people with disabilities can find healing through her expertise as a social worker and as an artist.

"Art and social work has the capacity to address the problems children might be facing. It can make you forget all your troubles," she said.