The Tsonga people are known for their colorful traditional clothes and for their energetic rhythm music and dance style. The dressed in Shangaan series is inclusive of the interpretation of music, rhythm, energy, and an abstract interpretation of traditional dress into a sophisticated colorful canvas that continually engages the eye.

“My work is a dialogue between the image-making process, the visual representation itself, and the transformation and expression of that into vibrations and sound shared with others. It explores the continuity of the creative process. These new works continue to explore and give a voice to that which is dark, hidden, unseen, that which I call ‘the shadows’.

Music plays an essential part in the inspiration and creation of a piece of art; it begins by me listening to music and using the process of musical improvisation that is free-spirited and without boundaries that allows the possibility to both play and express myself. I can then share this process and new ideas with fellow musicians, artists, and the viewers/audience. Early on I found the process to be healing and since then it is done, I want to share. The most important thing is that it shaped me to be the person I am today. The use of different materials helps the whole thing become a therapeutic process for myself and others, and I take a lot of pleasure in this process, this is what I pictured 20 years ago, and it has inspired me to be an artist ever since. “ Daniel Stompie Selibe