Stompie Selibe
Abstract Lyrics Series
About:
Music as a language has developed into a prominent theme within his work, Selibe describes his work as a deconstruction and reconstruction of musical sounds. Selibe perceives his artwork as a means of creating music with all that he senses around himself and as a means of expressing sounds from his inner being. This method produces an impulsive and fearlessness in thrill and exhilaration of fronting the unknown. Selibe feels that in experimenting, making art is an endless personal expedition to find and free ones most concealed inner nature, to him art creating has developed into an integral part of his “musical being”. In his work there are habitual themes of spaces and circumstances which Selibe states to have found captivating artistically. The exhilaration of exploring reprocessed sounds and making use of innovative methods is significant to the artist. Selibi feels strongly that it is imperative for him to be capable of making prints of these new melodies that the viewer can then understand freely, tallying to the “recycling” factor. Selibe comments on his work, “My art is an act of the soul not the intellect. When we are dealing with sounds and visions we are in the midst of the sacred self. We are involved with forces and energies larger than our own. We are engaged in a sacred transaction of which we know only a little, the shadow not the shape. We invoke the great creator when we invoke our own creativity and those creative forces have the power to alter lives, fulfill destinies and answer our dreams in our human lives”.
In other words my various works inform or cross pollinate each other. I often incorporate legendary musicians e.g. Busi Mhlongo, Dee dee bridgewater, Khadja Nin, Oumou Sangare, Rokia Traore, Malombo Philip Tabane, Sello Kgalane, the late Zim Ngqawana, Johnny Clerk, Miles Davies, John Coltrane, Chris Joris, Keith Jarrett, Bobby Mcferrin, Chris Botti, David Benoit, Malcolm Braff, Stanley Turrentine, Charles Mingus, into my artworks and this is where sound has a prominent cosmos or space in the artworks.
The fusion of the old and the new to recreate unique sounds and the visuals that has the power of healing has enabled me to reach a point of discovering the unknown truth of finding solace and connection in the two mediums utilized to reach my target audience.
Selibe was born in Soweto in 1974 and has participated in art workshops that includes the Creative Arts Therapeutic and Educational Facilitated workshops; National Paper Prayers Campaign, the AIDS awareness through printmaking project; lithography workshop; the Joubert park public art project, workshop to integrating music and visual art learning; Vuka Uyithathe research and development training; and human rights; and the Imbali Visual literacy project.
In 1998 he participant in international exchange and research project on music and healing, He made field recordings in Namibia, Angola, Cuba, and Belgium.
He has facilitated many art workshops on “healing through art”, and he has participated in local and international art exhibitions from 1997 to date, and has presented at residency and conferences at Boston and Bangkok, (Candice Berman Fine Art SA)