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Helen Sebidi (Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi) was born on 5 March, 1943 in Marapyane (Skilpadfontein) near Hammanskraal, South Africa, is a South African artist (born 1943). Discover Helen Sebidi's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is she in this year and how she spends money? Also learn how she earned most of networth at the age of 81 years old?

Popular As Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi
Occupation Artist
Age 81 years old
Zodiac Sign Pisces
Born 5 March, 1943
Birthday 5 March
Birthplace Marapyane (Skilpadfontein) near Hammanskraal, South Africa
Nationality South Africa

We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 5 March. She is a member of famous artist with the age 81 years old group.

Helen Sebidi Height, Weight & Measurements

At 81 years old, Helen Sebidi height not available right now. We will update Helen Sebidi's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible.

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Dating & Relationship status

She is currently single. She is not dating anyone. We don't have much information about She's past relationship and any previous engaged. According to our Database, She has no children.

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Helen Sebidi Net Worth

Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2023-2024. So, how much is Helen Sebidi worth at the age of 81 years old? Helen Sebidi’s income source is mostly from being a successful artist. She is from South Africa. We have estimated Helen Sebidi's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets.

Net Worth in 2024 $1 Million - $5 Million
Salary in 2024 Under Review
Net Worth in 2023 Pending
Salary in 2023 Under Review
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Timeline

1943

Mmakgabo Mmapula Mmangankato Helen Sebidi (born 5 March 1943) is a South African artist born in Marapyane (Skilpadfontein) near Hammanskraal, Pretoria, who lives and works in Johannesburg.

Sebidi's work has been represented in private and public collections, including at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington and New York, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, New York, and the World Bank.

Her work has been recognised internationally and locally.

1970

Sebidi returned her hometown when her grandmother grew ill in the mid-1970s.

1980

She made art about her lineage at the encouragement of Mohl, through her grandmother's death in the early 1980s.

Her grandmother let her work in secret and offered historical stories for Sebidi.

She made connections with multiple arts organizations and artists Bill Ainslie and David Koloane.

Sebidi explored a number of the limited art training options that were available to her at the time.

Sebidi met John Koenakeefe Mohl, a fellow artist and director of the White Studio.

Mohl served as Sebidi's mentor and is credited for having encouraged Sebidi to pursue a career as an artist, and urging her to develop an individual idiom, establish an independent style and practice as opposed to emulating that of her peers.

In 1980, Sebidi furthered her training by spending eighteen months at the Katlehong Art Centre in the east of Johannesburg.

She also spent time at the Johannesburg Art Foundation-a multi cultural centre for art education, under the tutelage of fine artist and director Bill Ainslie.

In the late 1980s, her works became more abstracted without losing their figurative content.

1985

In 1985, she took up a teaching position at the Katlehong Art Centre near Germiston.

1986

Between 1986 and 1988 she worked for the Johannesburg Art Foundation while teaching at the Alexandra Art Centre.

1987

Miracle (1987) and Tears of Africa (1988) were two of her seminal works from this era, both in mixed-media charcoal and depicting "contorted, cramped figures with distorted or multiplied features and faces sometimes meeting at right angles".

1989

In 1989, she won the Standard Bank Young Artist award, becoming the first black woman to win the award.

Her work was part of the group exhibition "Bild/konst i södra Afrika (Art/Images in Southern Africa)" which was shown at the Culture House in Stockholm from 19 May to 19 September 1989 and toured the Nordic countries until May 1990.

She received the 1989 Standard Bank Young Artist Award.

A common theme in Sebidi's artwork is the return of moral values, especially those associated with precolonial Africa.

2004

In 2004, President Thabo Mbeki awarded her the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver – which is the highest honor given to those considered a "national treasure".

2011

In 2011, she was awarded the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Art, while in 2015 she received the Mbokodo Award.

2018

In September 2018, Sebidi was honoured with one of the first solo presentations at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town – a retrospective entitled Batlhaping Ba Re.

Her work represents a mode of African modernist painting and sculpture, wherein she depicts her experience of having grown up and living in the South African countryside, and later her experiences as a black artist, living and working under an apartheid regime.

Sebidi's portraits often depict abstracted African subjects in bright colours and a rich palette.

She is often associated with the realist and quasi-expressionist schools, with her vivid paintings of life in both rural and urban South Africa and similarly striking clay sculptures.

Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi was born in Marapyane, outside Hammanskraal, South Africa.

She learned the crafts of murals, knitting and sewing, embroidery and beadwork, and calabash decoration from her grandmother.

Sebidi's name, "Mmakgabo", which means "keeper of the flame", refers to her grandmother's work ethic and belief in vocational labor's role in creating community.

Sebidi was born to a working class mother, who was a domestic worker in the city of Johannesburg.

As was typical of children born to migrant labourers, Helen was raised in the country side by her grandmother who taught her mural painting and pyroengraving of calabashes.

In an interview, the artist speaks about the relevance of seTswana storytelling as imagination and art education: "The old people told us stories...about how people live and...about how to see. They 'read' the clouds. We used to sit outside in the courtyard, and especially in the very bright moonlight when there were a lot of clouds they used to read the stories for us and tell us: look at that, look at the soldiers, look at this! And they would tell us: you're going to have to see other life that's coming."

As a teenager, Sebidi became a domestic worker and estranged from her mother and step-father.

Sebidi sewed and knitted and decided to pursue her art in her off-time with encouragement from the wife of her employer, who also pushed Sebidi towards formal training.

Sebidi exchanged artistic techniques with her employer who in turn demonstrated the application of artistic media such as batik, tie-dye, and oil paintings.

Sebidi took classes at Dorkay House after meeting Jonathan Koenakeefe Mohl by chance.

She studied drawing with him, progressing from plants to landscapes to local architecture.