Norval Foundation is honoured to present Umkhangu/Birthmark, the first institutional solo exhibition by South African artist Sthenjwa Luthuli, opening on 11 September 2025 in Gallery 9.
“Norval Foundation is incredibly pleased to showcase Luthuli’s work at our institution, bringing a taste of Kwazulu Natal to Cape Town. I have no doubt visitors will be enthralled by Luthuli’s masterful and intricate wood carvings as well as his expressive use of colour.” Caroline Greyling, Norval Foundation Museum Director.
Born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1991, Luthuli is a self-taught printmaker whose practice has earned recognition for its meticulous craftsmanship and spiritual depth. Through intricately carved wood reliefs and richly textured prints, Luthuli explores themes of memory, cultural identity, and African spiritualism – bridging the personal and ancestral in ways that are both poetic and profoundly moving.
The title of the exhibition, Umkhangu – translated from isiZulu as “birthmark” – evokes both physical and metaphysical meanings. Within African cosmologies, a birthmark may signal ancestral presence, a spiritual guide, or a unique destiny. Luthuli reclaims this symbolism as a powerful metaphor for belonging, legacy, and inner transformation.
Featuring fourteen works created between 2010 and 2025, the exhibition brings together key pieces alongside a new body of work. Through rhythmic pattern, symbolism, and intimate mark-making, Luthuli renders the body as a vessel of inherited knowledge; resisting erasure and reconnecting with suppressed histories and sacred traditions.
“Luthuli’s work stands as an astonishing testament to individual resilience and the emancipatory power of art. His personal journey — rising to become an artist of this calibre despite systemic obstacles — is profoundly inspirational. Blending exceptional technical skill with deep philosophical reflection,
Luthuli creates compositions that pulse with vitality. His work offers a framework through which to engage with the rich traditions and intricate pattern languages of Zulu culture, historically expressed in beadwork, weaving, ceramics, and woodcarving.
He draws from a deep well of indigenous artistic and ancestral influences. As a contemporary artist Luthuli weaves these traditions into an expansive cosmology that invites viewers to reflect on spirituality and inner worlds.” Ashleigh McLean, WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery Director.
About the Artist
Sthenjwa Luthuli (b. 1991, Botha’s Hill, KwaZulu-Natal) is renowned for his meticulously hand-carved and painted wood reliefs – each taking months to complete. His artworks depict “unknown spaces” – dreamlike thresholds where ancestors and descendants commune. Inspired by the visual traditions of the Rorke’s Drift school and contemporaries such as Wangechi Mutu and Yinka Shonibare, Luthuli’s work feels both timeless and strikingly contemporary.
He has exhibited across South Africa and internationally, with works held in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Norval Foundation, and the Dean Collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, among others.
WHAT: Sthenjwa Luthuli – Umkhangu/Birthmark Norval Foundation
WHERE: Norval Foundation – Gallery 9,
WHEN: Opening 11 September 2025 | Wed – Sat10:00 to 17:00 Sun & Public Hols 10:00 to 16:00
INFO: T 087 654 5900 | E info@norvalfoundation.org | VISIT | Instagram @norvalfoundation | Facebook NorvalFoundation | LinkedIn NorvalFoundation
LEAD PHOTO: Sthenjwa Luthuli, Amathonga. 2024. Hand-carved super wood block, mixed media, paint.138 x 275 cm. Courtesy of the Homestead Collectionm
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