SPIER ARTS TRUST COLLECTION

‘Ophelia’ is a literary figure from Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet”. Numerous artistic interpretations have transformed her from a minor character into an archetype of feminine madness. Throughout the play, in life and death, Ophelia is acted upon by external forces and rarely speaks for herself. Her death takes place offstage when it is revealed that she has drowned in a stream, in a state of delirium after falling from a willow tree while gathering wild-flowers. From the story it is not clear whether she committed suicide or if her death was rather an untimely accident, an act of chance or fate.

Nandipha Mntambo holds a Master’s in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town and works with sculpture, photography, video and mixed media works to explore the human body. Perhaps best known for her sculptures that draped cured cowhide over human forms, Mntambo confronts the relationship between humans and animals, gender, identity, life and death.

Her solo exhibition, ‘Material Value’, was exhibited at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa presented, and she has been featured at EMABUTFO (2012) and permanently at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town. In 2011, Mntambo won the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award.