Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Estelle Ellis
Published on 2024-02-21 06:00:44
Pola Maneli, a 33-year-old artist from Gqeberha, never dreamed that his work would end up in the Brooklyn Museum in New York City when he designed a front page for The New Yorker magazine in 2023. Born and raised in Zwide, Maneli’s earliest memories of drawing were of sketching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at nursery school. His passion for drawing stayed with him through his teenage years and into adulthood, leading him to pursue graphic design and fine art as a career.
After working in advertising for several years at agencies like Boomtown and Ogilvy, Maneli decided to make the leap into full-time fine art. He explains, “I have a huge appreciation for the advertising industry and all I learnt, but in the end I don’t think I had the personality for it. I did not want my art to be associated with work for the alcohol industry. I lived in Zwide and I know what having a tavern around every corner does to a community. I didn’t want to be part of that.”
In 2020, Maneli was commissioned by The New Yorker to create a drawing in response to the murder of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This led to a Google Doodle in 2022 to celebrate the birth of Charlotte Maxeke, a social and political activist and icon of the struggle for South African women’s rights. The culmination of his work with The New Yorker was designing the front page for the January 16, 2023 edition, which represented a significant milestone in his career.
The cover art depicted Martin Luther King, not as a civil rights activist, but as a father, which was a deliberate choice by Maneli. He wanted to show King as a normal person with a significant impact within his family, not just as a larger-than-life figure. His approach to the artwork was influenced by his master’s degree in fine art and his desire to break away from the reductive lens through which black activists are often portrayed.
Maneli believes that art has a responsibility to comment on the world’s events, and this philosophy was evident in his master’s degree dissertation, which analyzed the expression of black identity by South African visual artists. He highlighted the financial incentives for black artists to cater to a predominantly white audience and the structural limitations that exist within the art space.
The unexpected and remarkable turn of events came when renowned American film director Spike Lee contacted The New Yorker to purchase the original artwork of King by Maneli. Lee’s appreciation for the piece led to a personal conversation between the two artists, during which Lee shared his admiration for the artwork and his own connection to the King family. His decision to buy the artwork for an exhibit celebrating his life in the Brooklyn Museum was a surprising and deeply meaningful gesture for Maneli.
Overall, the journey from drawing the Ninja Turtles in nursery school to having his artwork displayed in a prominent New York museum is a testament to Maneli’s talent, dedication, and artistic integrity. His ability to create thought-provoking art that resonates on a global scale is a testament to his artistic vision and his commitment to expressing powerful and nuanced narratives through his work.
Read the original article on Daily Maverick
