Nicholas Hlobo

....stitching and weaving disparate materials such as ribbon, rubber, gauze and leather to create seductively tactile sculptures and drawings. His works are richly layered, anchored in references to Xhosa culture and the experience of life in post-Apartheid South Africa, while reflecting upon themes of language and communication, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity. his using techniques such as stitching and weaving, which are traditionally undertaken by women in South Africa. His choice of materials is similarly charged with meaning. The old and punctured inner tubes of car tyres that he gathers from repair shops in Johannesburg are a symbol of industrialisation and the urban experience. For Hlobo, the rubber has particular significance as an emblem of masculinity, not simply because car ownership in South Africa is a masculine status symbol, but also because the inner tubes resemble condoms. Sexual themes are often implicit in his works through his use of phallus and sperm shapes, and forms resembling orifices, umbilical cords and internal organs. The satin ribbon that he uses to make his marks on paper, and which literally connects the disparate elements of his sculptures, suggests femininity, domesticity and unification, in contrast to the more ‘masculine’ materials that it binds together. The ribbon, and the way it is used, challenges gender-based assumptions about divisions of labour and introduces a more ambiguous approach to sexuality.(tate modern)
.. .my personal opinion, work translates alot about south africa, and the situasion of all country!, i heard a lot about country from personal friends, saying its beautifull country, its just threre is a big differentces betwen black and white, in all different aspects: ritch pour, coulour races black and white.

thow i realy liked his work as textile paeces, and art, it gave me clear point of view he is looking at!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaKWwYO203M