How women from the Cape Malay community inspired Lionel Smit's art

South Africa's Lionel Smit, is considered to be a name to watch out for not only in his country but in the global art world. He's just in his 30s and has already exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London where his work received the Viewer's Choice Award. A highlight of his career has been the publication of one of his paintings on the cover of Christie's Auction Catalogue.
Now, he comes to Dubai for the first time as prominent Johannesburg art institution Zebra Square Gallery brings him to the city as part of their showing of art from South Africa at the One and Only Royal Mirage. His work is being showcased here until December 9.
London and Europe have shown a lot of interest and in the past year or two, Smit has started to focus more on the US, but he also has a following in Hong Kong.
His works include sculptures and canvas, and his current subject matter are the women from the Cape Malay community. From his birth town Pretoria, he moved to Cape Town and that's where he first encountered the women of the community, and it's obvious they mesmerised him. They are so brilliantly brought to life (his bronzes in particular) that you want to know the story of each woman.  
Says Smit, "I started painting and sculpting women from my surroundings when I moved down to Cape Town. It became interesting to me not only on an aesthetic level, but also conceptually. I did some research behind the Cape Malay people, and their genetic makeup, the history of South Africa to put everything in perspective. An interesting insight is their genetic combination - a mixture of Malaysian, European and African descent, and I think this translates as a universal person - not being racially specific."
His show in Dubai presents 10 women, all of who modelled for him. In his paintings, he used bold blocks of colours, and in his bronzes, he uses the lost wax casting method - one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques.
His sculptures sit in a water feature and seem to be floating in serenity.
"Most of the bronzes are done in blue patinas, which is a direct influence from my paintings that I find diverts from the traditional browns and greens," Smit says.
The exhibition speaks of identity and cultural hybridism. While the Cape Malay community date back to the 1600s showing that diversity is part of South Africa's past even though it's a country that lived in apartheid, and is of course the key to its future.
"I believe that we are all more intertwined, genetically, than we think, and that genetics influences our identities," Smit said. 
sujata@khaleejtimes.com