Sibonelo Chiliza

Sibonelo Chiliza working

Sibonelo Chiliza completed matric in 1998 and in 2000 enrolled at the Durban University of Technology to study Textile Design and Technology; he was unable to study Fine Art, as the high school he attended did not offer art as a subject. He completed his three-year diploma in 2002. It was during his second year of study that he was noticed by an ex-lecturer, artist and mentor Jean Powell, when his class was looking for textile design inspiration in the Durban Botanical Garden. It was the first time that Chiliza drew plants in colour and Powell saw the potential in his work. In 2004 he did a three-month internship at the botanical garden in Durban, which led to him meeting the well-known botanical artist Gillian Condy In 2005 Sibonelo Chiliza did a six-month internship at the National Herbarium under Condy. This was converted into a one-year contract with the African Plants Initiative where he managed the scanning and data basing of the SANBI Pretoria art collection.

"I do botanical art because I can draw. I have been lucky; one door has opened another for me. At an exhibition at DUT I saw that I could sell work and make money from my art". He adds that he is one of only a few men who do botanical art in South Africa (on the 2010 Botanical Biennale held at Kistensbosch he was one of four men out of a total of fifty one artists exhibiting) "possibly this is because men do not have the patience required!"

When asked what it is about plants that he enjoys Sibonelo Chiliza explains, "it has to do with the freshness and colour. When you are sitting out there and you are working you don't feel like you are working, in a botanical garden you hardly get people disturbing you". In his drawings he uses Lyra pencils, the botanical artists pencil of choice, they are oil based and have an incredible range of colours. For Chiliza the complicated part of botanical art is getting started, in planning the composition. He usually starts at the bottom of the plant, meticulously working his way up the plant. "Gillian Condy taught me a lot, even though she prefers to work in watercolour, she also taught me ink work for book illustration”. Chiliza has worked on images for three books including "Clivia, Nature and Nurture" by Dirk Swanevelder and Roger Fisher. He has taken part in several group exhibitions and has won awards on the three SANBI Kirstenbosch Biennales that he has participated in.

Chiliza worked as a designer for Aranda Blankets for just under two years, his favorites blankets were the traditional Sotho blankets "we referred to the archives from the Royal family but it was frustrating being limited by the specs of the designs”. The work left him no time to work on his own images. In July 2009 he left the company and started to apply for work as a miner (yes, you can gasp!!) fortunately his applications were unsuccessful.

In 2010 Chiliza did a residency at the Tswalu Kalahari Game Reserve; this entry is from their Guides' Diary:JAN 11 2010“Our First Artist in ResidenceToday marks a first - this morning Sibonelo Chiliza flew up on the plane from Johannesburg to begin a stay with us as Tswalu Kalahari's first ever Artist in Residence. We first discovered Sibo's work at an exhibition of botanical art created by Strilli Oppenheimer in the library of her home. Sibo may well be the only black South African artist classically trained in capturing the essence of our flora. His art is breathtaking in its detail and realism; the plants seem to bloom on the page. So we asked him if he would like to come and work here in the Kalahari.

The definitive work on the wild flowers of the Northern Cape by Jill Adams was published over 30 years ago in 1976 so his vision will create a new record of key species. We have chosen the first two plants for him to study - Hoodia and Devil's Claw. Hoodia, now a highly protected species, is a cactiform succulent which has received instant fame around the world as a "diet cure" as its flesh is a powerful appetite suppressant. A fact that the Bushmen knew first many thousands of years ago, using it to control hunger on extended hunts. High up on the mountains here at Tswalu, you can see extraordinary rock art by the San which may date from 380,000 years ago and so represent some of the oldest art on Earth. So it's special to think that Sibo will create new art here in the same spot, inspired by the same plants they depended upon”.

Each plant took him a month to complete, despite the heat the peace and openness of the landscape was the perfect place for him to work in.

When Sibonelo Chiliza works time seems to stand still and his calm permeates the studio. He draws from live plans and to scale (using a maths divider) to get accurate measurements. He has no particular species preference but is fussy about what he selects to draw. The form and colours have to be just right. We spent a few hours walking through the veld, it was early summer and the veld was easy to walk though having been burnt during winter. None of the flowers that turn the veld into a bushveld equivalent of a shell-strewn beach would do for Chiliza. We returned to the studio empty handed.

What did catch his eye were the arum lilies, flowering en masse in every corner of our garden at the time. He selected a firm flowering stem as well as a head of seeds wrapped in the brown remains of the flower. His attention to detail makes the shriveled flower and plump seeds the most appealing aspect of the plant. We then went off to a local nursery that specialises in indigenous and unusual plants. Chiliza selected a delicate aloe from Madagascar. The third plant he chose is an orchid from our garden that happened to be flowering for the first time since we bought it four years ago.

Chiliza's work is extraordinary in the perfection of its execution and apparent simplicity; with environmental awareness spreading we are very pleased to have a botanical artist of his caliber making prints in the studio.

Artists at The Artists' Press A to L (by surname)

Artists at The Artists' Press M to X (by surname)

The latest prints from The Artists' press

Three plants