Lefifi Tladi’s cosmological influences came from the Pedi, Tswana and Xhosa folklore, stories, songs and dances that he heard growing up in Lady Selborne and Ga-Rankuwa. In the late 1960s, Lefifi transformed these influences into anti-colonial, Black Consciousness (BC) and Pan Africanist thought.
Born in 1949 in the township of Lady Selborne in Pretoria, South Africa. He is an award-winning South African painter, poet, author, sculptor and musician. He is one of South Africa’s foremost abstract expressionists with his vision to elevate human perception. Therefore, several of his bodies of work engage themes of the senses including: Mpopole – the sense of touch, sound consciousness, through music; Matlontebe – optic sense; and Motogomotolo – the scent of line, which also ignites taste. His mediums of art span: oil, charcoal, ink, pastels, sand-painting, mixed-media, collage, etchings, wood, sand and ceramic sculpture.
The “Apartheid” system of the time placed the black artist of that country in a special dilemma. The oppression of the black masses, censorship, lack of serious galleries and museums, schools, materials and lack of encouragement made the plight of the black South African artists most difficult.
Lefifi and a handful of kindred spirits, aspiring young artists set about to study with great enthusiasm all they could of the arts, specially black artists’ work. The work of Afro-American artists (music, poetry, prose, painting being most accessible), served as an inspiration along with their own varied traditions. Their circle spread in widening circles. They arranged exhibitions (as best as they could) gave poetry readings and concerts, conducted creative workshops.
During the Soweto calamity, in which Lefifi was an activist, he was arrested and held in solitary confinement for more than two months. Lefifi was forced into exile in 1976 as a result of his involvement with the Black Consciousness Movement and the Soweto uprising. He made his way to Botswana where he was welcomed by the community of artists working there and contributed his talents in the organizing of support for black South African artists and the liberation of South-Africa from the “Nazi” regime. He moved to Sweden to study Fine Art at Gerlesborgsskolan in Stockholm. He remained in Stockholm for the duration of his exile. In 1997 he returned to South Africa for the first time, and today is living in Stockholm.
His work has been described as: “Lefifi’s aesthetic is a search for ethic norms, the revitalization of ancient forms, not as a mere source for commercial speculation, propaganda or aesthetic decoration, but as a serious process of healing and restoring those links in the chain of tradition that have been broken, buried and mangled by centuries of colonialism with its aftermath of doubt and self- mistrust. The forging of strong contemporary links from a worthy past no longer exploited, no longer anonymous, taking their proper place in history. New bright sturdy links where future artists may add their own for the joy and benefit of all mankind. The task is here and Lefifi Tladi is equal to it, with energy and sense of purpose. Standing on the verge of a new phase of African art.”