Lwando Dlamini: Holding His Breath, Holding His Power

South African visual artist Lwando Dlamini, is once again pushing the boundaries of contemporary African art with his latest solo exhibition, I CAN HOLD MY BREATH FOR 300 AND 65 DAYS, XESHIKWENI NDIKHOTHWA NGAMADLOZI. Currently on view at Villa Greppi in Monticello Brianza, Italy, the exhibition marks a major milestone in Dlamini’s career—an ambitious, deeply personal project developed during his European residency.

Comprising eight oil paintings and five works on paper, the exhibition is a visceral, emotionally charged exploration of identity, trauma, spirituality, and resilience. It is also the first iteration of a traveling show that will tour across Europe before ultimately being housed in a museum.

Dlamini, who was selected to represent the City of Johannesburg in a prestigious cultural exchange program with Italy, is rapidly gaining international recognition. His inclusion in the exchange highlights not only his rising profile but also the growing demand for African voices that insist on global recognition without compromise.

“With his painting, Lwando Dlamini has made peace with the world,” one curator remarked.

Indeed, Dlamini’s work does more than reflect the world, it challenges it. Through his art, he interrogates systems of power, institutional violence, and the complex emotional landscape of Black existence. His canvases are alive with bold, thick strokes and intense color palettes. “Color makes me happy,” Dlamini says-and his vibrant use of pink, a symbol of forgiveness, recurs throughout the exhibition.

Yet beneath the brightness lies a narrative of survival. Born in 1992 in the Eastern Cape and raised in the Western Cape, Dlamini has experienced significant trauma, including near-death experiences, a coma, and violent assaults in Johannesburg. These experiences inform his practice, which he describes as “instinctual.”

“First I paint, then I think,” he told IOL, a statement that captures the raw immediacy of his creative process.

Stylistically, Dlamini’s work merges elements of African spiritual traditions, cubism, expressionism, and street art. His figures often with richly rendered Black skin are at once intimate and defiant, reflecting both ancestral memory and contemporary struggle. His portraits embody what it means to carry both beauty and pain, structure and chaos, in a single breath.

As African creatives continue to assert their voices on the global stage, Dlamini’s work resonates with a larger cultural moment. One that demands recognition, autonomy, and the freedom to tell stories on African terms.

I CAN HOLD MY BREATH FOR 300 AND 65 DAYS, XESHIKWENI NDIKHOTHWA NGAMADLOZI is not just an exhibition. It is a portal. A confrontation. A prayer. And above all, it is a declaration that African art is not emerging, it has arrived.

Q & A with Lwando Dlamini 

SM :Your current exhibition’s title is poetic and spiritual — what does “Xeshikweni Ndikhothwa Ngamadlozi” mean to you personally?

LD:  While ancestors are anointing me. So in full “I CAN HOLD MY BREATH FOR 300 and 65 DAYS, WHILE THE ANCESTORS ARE ANOINTING ME”. This speaks to the past year or so that have been extremely difficult and a prolonged setback in both my career and personal life. Recently learned that I have a spiritual calling from my ancestors, I guess this is me coming to terms with this and learning more about it.

SM: How did your residency in Italy impact the way you see your own identity as a South African artist? 

LD: Definitely impacted both personal and professional career. Now seems to be building again some interest from people here at home (South Africa), and an ongoing relationship in Europe. Look forward to future exhibitions and museum exhibit in Italy soon. 

SM: Your portraits balance humor, rage, and forgiveness. What role does ancestral memory play in that emotional range? 

LD: Painting and/ or all art in general , has definitely contributed on shaping me become a better person, and continues to teach me to forgive. As I previously struggled with forgiveness (perhaps forgiving self). 

SM: You gave every subject in this show Black skin, what statement were you making through that choice in a European context? 

LD: Part of the brief of being at Villa Greppi (Monticello Brianza-Italy), was to be inspired by the environment.  I painted portraits of people I met and interacted with there. But now, I was only seeing White people there mostly. For that reason I painted them with Black skin, but also because I paint black experience. 

SM: This exhibition is said to “break down borders.” Do you believe art has the power to reimagine how African artists are seen globally? 

LD: Definitely. 

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