Azaria Mbatha – Retrospective Exhibition

Description

“Azaria Mbatha was born in 1941. Azaria was educated at a mission school for eight years. In 1961 he left Ceza Secondary School and began working as a clerk in Vryheid. In 1962 Mbatha met Peder Gowenius and ‘asked if he could attend’ the Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELC) Art and Craft Centre, which at that time was attended mainly by female students. Gowenius agreed and so, first at Umpumulo (later known as Mapumulo) and then at the Centre’s permanent home at Rorke’s Drift, Mbatha was introduced to art and supplied with materials. Mbatha became interested in drawing although it was not considered a ‘useful’ technique and therefore was not encouraged at the Centre. Mbatha was awarded a scholarship and studied art at Konst Fack Art School in Stockholm between 1965 and 1967. It was here that he began working with the etching technique.

He also worked on murals and designed tapestries using lino- and woodcut techniques. In 1968, he returned to South Africa and introduced screen print textile printing at Rorke’s Drift during a brief teaching spell there. In 1970 Mbatha returned with his family to Sweden, where he still lives. Beginning in 1973 he studied for the Student Examination (matric equivalent) which he passed in 1976. Mbatha studied Fine Arts at the University of Lund from 1977 to 1979. On completion of this degree he continued studying social sciences at the same university.”