NMU lecturer off to Singapore for next artist residency

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Not once, not twice but nine times. This is number of residencies a talented Nelson Mandela University (NMU) lecturer has to his name, with his latest journey seeing him jet off to Singapore.

Muziwandile Gigaba, a PhD candidate and lecturer at NMU, is the only African among the 24 student-artists taking part in the Tropical Lab gathering at Labelle Art Centre at Singapore University of the Arts.

Gigaba said what kickstarted the residencies was the desire and urgency to educate himself.

He was registered at a university to do his master’s in fine art but through a series of unfortunate events, including the death and the resignation of lecturers, he had no supervisor.

“I resorted to doing residencies,” he said.

“I went to university as a practising artist to enhance my skills.

“I felt I had a contribution to make and that I belonged to the global community.

“I had tried a number of things locally, like exhibitions, but I felt like I should take a risk.”

The university he was attending at the time awarded him the Emma Smith Fellowship, and he did his first residency at Illinois State University in the US in 2012.

Since then, he has had residencies in Italy, Egypt, Mexico, Serbia and three in China.

Gigaba is a multifaceted and multi-talented artist, and the focus of these residencies range from ceramics to printmaking.

With his upcoming two-week residency in mid-July, he said he was toying with combining the two mediums.

The theme of the 20^th edition of the Tropical Lab in Singapore is “terra”, as in terra firma or earth, and so lends itself to clay sculptures for the closing exhibition.

“I might improvise and do something with printing as well. We’ll see how things go.”

Gigaba, who lectures third-year students on art entrepreneurship, said he viewed the opportunity as being an ambassador for NMU.

”I am always looking for opportunities for students.

“The experience is likely to inform my teaching on project planning, creative sustainability and the practical realities of building an art practice.

“Insights gained abroad may later be shared as examples of how artistic development and enterprise can intersect.”

Gigaba joined NMU in October 2024 as part of the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP), a government initiative aimed at recruiting highly talented scholars to become academics.

Acknowledging the responsibility, he said he felt privileged to be doing his PhD and lecturing.

His art has most recently been seen at the 2023 Tokyo Biennale, for which he designed a traditional Japanese oshibori hand towel, and at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics International Printmaking Exhibition.

He is also featured in museum collections around the world, from the US to Serbia and China.

An exhibition of telephone wire art from SA, titled Ingqikithi Yokuphica/Weaving Meanings, at the Museum of International Folk Art in New Mexico, which he co-curated with Dr Elizabeth Perrill, a distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in the US, will be touring America from next year.

Gigaba said he was aware of his strong international profile but was determined to stay close to his roots.

“I’m not fully happy about having my work in sculpture parks abroad without making an input in South Africa.

“That’s why I started Hlonipha Ulimi Lwakho/Mind Your Language [which investigates the development of home languages through producing art], consciously creating impacts in the communities which I come from, and teaching at the university.”