Mandlenkosi Mavengere was born in 1992 in Zimbabwe in Bulawayo (known as the city of kings). Mavengere works are predominantly a combination of printing and painting. He moved to South Africa after completing his O’level (matric) in Zimbabwe to start his life.
It was in South Africa where he took up art as a career and got enrolled at Artist Proof Studio printmaking course where he completed his 3rd year. Along the printmaking course, his paintings began to be evident as he participated in many shows.
Mandlenkosi’s artworks bring into conversation and discussion the issues of migration and labour relations in our contemporary society. His banknote artworks (significantly etchings and linocuts) are a framework within which one can observe the issues of migration with relevance to socio-economic divergence and convergence. The directional lines in the banknotes depict the scatterings people and population displacement; the repetition of patterns symbolize the circumstantial economic system embedded to the stereotyped migrants. The linocut banknotes printed onto fabric (canvas) emphasize the constructed perambulation of the population in search for income and better life. The figures and portraits (with headgear) painted on money are economically fabricated identities who are fitting into the new homeland of occupation versus the home of origin.
He exhibited at the Love-world Festival of Music and Arts held at the Nasrec Arena. He has been shown in group exhibitions like Julie Miller Art Investments, Henry George Gallery, Turbine Art Fair, Absa Gallery, and Artist Proof Studio. In 2017 Mandlenkosi has been recommended for a one-year internship and mentorship program at the William Kentridge Studio. This mentorship by Kentridge significantly developed his creativity skills from etchings into sculpturing and prominent linocut banknotes exploring themes consistent with his Migration Concept. In the year 2018, his work has been exhibited by MM-Art-house, The Melrose Gallery, Cherie De Villiers Gallery, auctioned at Strauss & Co and his work was exhibited at the 2018 AKAA Art Fair in Paris.
In 2019 Mandlenkosi Mavengere’s work was also exhibited at the Belgium Art Fair and his work is now in serious collections such as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Minerals Council South Africa.
