I didn't want to paint this, but the image of the whole situation haunted me for a while. I spent about six months in Los Angeles, working on my art in Simphiwe Ndzube's Studio. Simphiwe and I used to see many homeless people on our way to the studio and back home. One winter morning, I saw the above image. I remember wondering if he froze to death or just sleeping in the cold. I'm unsure what stood out about this homeless person, but I suspect it was because I couldn't tell if he was alive. I was conflicted about taking the photo but wanted to immortalize that person in paint. I was conflicted but was walking past, so I took a quick photo and kept going. In some ways, something in me felt helpless. So five years later, when I finally painted this, I was thinking about that African proverb "Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu", and just thinking about how my mom used to say it to me a lot when I was growing up. Whenever she encouraged me to do better in school, she always said it was because if you can do better, you will be able to help pull more people out of bad situations. It was her way of saying that no matter how successful I get, I should never be so high and mighty that I start to think that the homeless people and I are fundamentally different and that I judge their situation or make assumptions. She said the principle is the same even with your immediate family and friends. When I started working abroad and sending money to my mother consistently to help with her living expenses, she would say, "O ntirile motho" which translates to, "You made me a person". In her mother tongue, it roughly translates to, "You restored my dignity." Reflecting on that, I thought we lost part of that moral compass in our society. Hence, I use both my language and English in the title because the meaning doesn't always come through fully in the translation. It's hard to explain, but I'm trying to figure it out and get some conversations going about some of these "untouchable" topics that people sometimes dismiss and distance themselves from intellectually or politically. Maybe art might provide a launch pad for genuine engagement and introspection.
