Bambolwami Sibiya

Bambo Sibiya was born in Springs, Gauteng, SA. He completed a Design certificate at Benoni Technical College in 2005. At the Artist Proof Studio (APS) he attended printmaking classes and there he caught “the printmaking bug”. This is still coming back in his recent works.

He began to etch poignant compositions of his own versions of poverty in his local community. He lived with a culture of alcoholism, growing up amidst the breakdown of his own family structure. Bambo in describing this experience, expressed his determination not to become like his father who had abandoned his family.

He began drawing his figures based on photoshoots he had taken showing how poor people, recently mineworkers survive in poverty. He asks them what they would like to be if they weren’t a mineworker and that’s how he paints them, proud and powerful.

Bambo’s skill and virtuosity and deeply felt empathy and engagement with community challenges, places this young artist on the threshold of a bright future.