The process of discovering oneself through love is the heartbeat of Arthur Dlamini’s work as a visual artist. The lens is his talisman - which opens up a world where he captures the sacred journey of the human experience. Armed with curiosity and a unique perspective of the Divine, he navigates the domains of creating memory by exposing the authenticity of human emotion.
His source of inspiration comes from his soul, his connection to music and the conversations he shares with everyday people. One cannot separate the cry for collective liberation and personal freedom from an Arthur Dlamini original. In a contemporary art space that often celebrates technique over message, Dlamini has managed to challenge the standard by using the complexities of human emotion as his creative compass. Each piece brings with it a reverence for compassion, vulnerability and honouring one's divinity.
The magic of how Dlamini captures a moment comes from his appreciation of the present. Being present for him means letting go of the limitations of the past and the future, and fully surrendering to each moment as though it is the only truth to ever exist. That is the threshold of which one can enter the transcendental work of Arthur Dlamini.
With feeling as his guide; his work inspires us to take a moment to release the confines associated with intellect - and to indulge in the expansive process of feeling. One can describe Dlamini’s art as lyrical; where each piece is as expressive as the last. Directed by the understanding that he sees with the help of his ancestors, the task of capturing a moment is how he serves others through his purpose.
Dlamini’s work not only inspires us to find channels of healing from within, it also challenges us to respond to the ancestral call of nurturing UbuNtu within our communities. South African communities are crowded by intergenerational trauma and layered with adversity. Dlamini has responded to the call by using his practice as medicine for the social and spiritual ills faced by those who surround him.
By experiencing the photographs and paintings of Arthur Dlamini, we are reminded of the wonders that emerge when artmaking is used as a portal into meditation, and creativity as passage of prayer.
