Msaki’s quest for healing and justice

In 2013, East London-born musician and fine artist Asanda Lusaseni Mvana, known professionally as Msaki, released her debut EP, Nal’Ithemba. With four songs, it introduced the then-bubbling community of fellow seekers to the eclectic folk musician, her skilful songwriting, and her captivating vocals. Critical acclaim would grow over the years through a combination of her own work — her debut LP, Zaneliza: How the Water Moves, was released in 2016 — and collaborations with electronic-music talents such as Kabza de Small and Sun-El Musician. 

A decade into her career, Msaki has decided to celebrate the best way she knows how: through art and song. Her “Camagu in Symphony: 10 Years of Gratitude” concert at SunBet Arena, Pretoria, honoured the people she’s met and worked with throughout her career — a list that includes Dr Nduduzo Makhathini (who co-produced Zaneliza), Neo Muyanga (who produced Zaneliza’s follow-up, 2021’s Platinumb Heart Beating and Platinumb Heart Open), Anatii, and more. The concert, billed as Msaki’s last musical performance, was a resounding success.  

In addition, her art show is currently on at the Standard Bank Art Gallery in Joburg. Titled Kuthi Mandithethe: of Art and Justice and co-curated with Dr Same Mdluli, the exhibition finds her taking stock of the grace afforded her over the years, while exploring the duality of being a working artist and a mother. She felt compelled to speak, especially following a year in which she chose to remain silent in response to rumours on social media. The title forms part of the lyrics of Tiram, from her sophomore album. The multimedia works on display include water paintings, a video installation, a projection of the sea illuminated by a full moon, and a meditative room. 

Upon entering the exhibition space, one is confronted with objects from different facets of Msaki’s life. The main atrium greets visitors with a structure comprising church chairs surrounded by barbed wire, reinforced with wood and tyres. An iron dish containing water is placed at the entrance, inviting visitors to dip their hands, much like some cultures do when returning from the gravesite during a funeral. Most of the artwork hinges on the dichotomy between calm and violence, represented by blue and red respectively.

Opening night featured a performance of some of her songs with a string quartet. 

The dichotomy between calm and violence is also what her sophomore album hinges upon — the idea that protest songs can only be effective if they are rooted in love. The paintings, which she refers to as “reverse synaesthesia” because they provide clues to the inspiration behind her songs, feature broad strokes of black and red. Most of them are abstract, perhaps an intentional decision by the artist to allow viewers to make up their own minds regarding meaning. The red walls feature works with titles such as Isazela, CLAN, and IMFAZO. Other works incorporate text, such as the one titled BANG!, which comprises black crosses peeking out from a vast redness — a reminder of the brutality of the Marikana massacre. 

The centrepiece in the blue portion of the exhibition is the painting that became the cover of her debut EP. “It’s moved house with me three or four times. I was trying to figure out what my album cover would be, and these colours have symbolised different things, they have followed me around and have split into different eras of my song making. I didn’t know it at the time, because it was meant to be some sort of an abstract expression that was pouring out of me,” she says.

Msaki shares more stories of her come-up, of how she gathered the funds to print her first offering. It is a way of extending the work; of revealing another layer in her artistic process. Elsewhere, an audio-visual projection plays on repeat with Born in a Taxi, a cover of the Blk Sonshine classic, along with Statues, a critique of South Africa’s colonial past.

Another section of the space is designed to resemble a living room. A sofa rests in the middle, opposite a record player with a mirror above it. To the left of the mirror is a portrait of her father and to the right a series of artworks that look like self-portraits.

As the write-up to the exhibition says, “It represents a subtle yet bold way of dealing with the compelling urge to express oneself in a language outside of one’s comfort zone.” Msaki has outdone herself.

Kuthi Mandithethe: of Art and Justice shows at the Standard Bank Art Gallery until 31 January.