Inga Somdyala is a visual artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Departing from his isiXhosa cultural identity, Somdyala explores aspects of the cultural, political, and social negotiations of the post-apartheid generation.

In the artist’s words: “Izandla Ezingcolileyo (ACT II) is part of a project titled ILIZWE LIFILE, in which I engaged my own relationship with 'formal' education and how the generally eurocentric cultural inscriptions in the education institution tend to exclude or suppress African culture or knowledge systems through things like language. In this video and within my practice, my use of chalk and red ochre is to evoke the cultural, social, and spiritual residue of the colonial and apartheid past in the present day South African black experience.

The title for my body of work ILIZWE LIFILE directly translates into 'The Nation is Dead'; it was a declaration used by amaXhosa to mean that a state of war exists in the land. This is drawn from my research into the nine Frontier Wars, and is the point of departure for what I argue is an essentially cultural conflict that permeates social and political institutions in the post-apartheid landscape.”

Concept & Creation | Inga Somdyala
Curator of The Long Minute | Bronwyn Lace