Serge Tiroche first encountered Simphiwe Mbunyuza’s work on Instagram when he was awarded the Red Clay Faction Award and Oscar Jacobson Award during his MFA graduation at The University of Oklahoma in 2019. From that moment, Tiroche knew he wanted to collect his work and collaborate with him.
Eighteen months later, Simphiwe arrived in Israel with his wife Linda as the first artist of the Africa First residency after a two-and-a-half-year Covid related hiatus. Their arrival was challenging: border control initially denied them entry, claiming Simphiwe required a work permit despite invitations from Africa First, Bezalel Academy, and Shenkar College. They were detained at the airport, awaiting a flight back to South Africa.
After intervention from the Israeli Ambassador in South Africa, Eli Belotserkovsky, they were finally allowed in.
Since then, Simphiwe has built strong connections, gained a reputation for excellence, and produced some of his most innovative work, exploring “splash sculpting” and creating stunning works on paper alongside his masterful ceramic sculptures.
His work defies easy categorization: while subtle echoes of Picasso, Miró, Hepworth, or Moore may be traced, the spiritual depth and ancestral connections align most closely with traditional African sculpture and ceremonial masks.
For Tiroche, Simphiwe Mbunyuza is one of the greatest and most original sculptors. It was a huge honor and real pleasure to have him in Israel and to assist him in completing the ambitious installation he planned for the exhibition at the African Studies Gallery.
