Mncela is an ancestral-spirit artist whose work confronts the erosion of morality within contemporary culture. Speaking through layered symbolism, humorous sarcasm, and visual provocation, he weaves racial, political, and social tensions into his practice—leaving audiences to question whether responsibility for human degradation lies with one group, many, or all.
A quiet revolutionary of his time, Mncela expresses bold opinions through a confident sleight of hand and thought. His work draws from his lived experience of contemporary youth culture in urban spaces, shaped by an ongoing tension between modern life and ancestral inheritance. Torn between these worlds, he explores connection and disconnection, utopian longing and ever-present ancestral shadows.
Primarily a painter, Mncela is increasingly expanding into installation and mixed-media practices. His abstracted figures emerge from states of brokenness, humour, and contradiction—embodying humanity’s tendency to bend rules, twist ethics, and blur truth. While his work speaks loudly, the artist himself remains soft-spoken and introspective, inviting viewers to look beyond surface shyness and encounter the confidence that pulses beneath.
His practice navigates a delicate line between existentialism and originality, engaging themes of history, psychology, religion, racial and sexual identity within his generation. Through intuitive applications of colour and form—connected yet divided by decisive lines—Mncela captures emotional turbulence and spiritual motion. As he states, “My works interpret visions that I believe are messages from my ancestors.”
Rooted deeply in ritual, Mncela continues ancestral practices on his land in the Eastern Cape, honouring cycles of rain, solstice, and harvest. This spiritual grounding allows his work to cohabit nostalgia, wrestle with the present, and desperately reach toward the future. In doing so, his art becomes both personal and universal—an appeal against social and economic distancing between the powerful, the privileged, and the vulnerable.
The body of work proposed for this exhibition is a bold exploration of shape, identity, and fluidity, brought to life through materials such as sand, wool, sticks, and buttons on canvas. Drawing from personal and family history, African mythology, and questions of land ownership, beauty, and belonging, the human figure becomes Mncela’s primary storyteller—narrating existence and the origins of humanity.
Having lived between Cape Town townships, squatter camps, and rural Eastern Cape (ezilalini) for over two decades, these environments have profoundly shaped Mncela’s expressive language. His work reflects ongoing struggles with spirituality, displacement, and the introduction of religion, forming a visual dialogue between past and present.
Thomarts Gallery proudly represents Mncela.
