Lindiwe Nkutha was born in Soweto to Mandla and Thandile Nkutha, who took seriously the task of initiating her into this world. Auckland Park where she lives and Melville where for vocational purposes she spends most of her time, are home to her Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde personas where they reside in bliss and torment respectively, sometimes the other way round.

I specialize in print-making and have participated in group exhibitions locally and abroad. I am the manager for Artist Proof Studio’s Nhlanhla Xaba Gallery and am currently in the process of learning Marketing and Sales.

Although trained as an accountant and now working as a business development consultant, Lindiwe has come to heed the messages that she has heard life whisper into her eyes and ears. In the last five years  she has spent most of her free time honing her skills in the use of various media, including photography and videography to complement her newly-acknowledged vocation to tell stories. 

Some of her poetry has been published in feminist publications in the SADC region, and read on stages of Jo’burg’s underground poetry scene. A short film she made titled ‘muted screams’ was shown in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Lindiwe has just showcased two debut pieces of photographic work as part of the Female Activation through Creative Empowerment (FACE) - Ansisters constellation; one a photographic exhibition called this way we bleed. The second called Jocasta’s Hairballs’ was presented as a multimedia, polyphonous narrative, with characters drawn from archetypes from across cultures and different time periods.

When I think about human rights, I think about how all people are equal. Yet when you go home, it is the same old thing – we still have people overpowering us. That is, men still dominate women.

I have personalised this issue by looking at the situation in my home. My father still has the power and say in the household, even financially. My mom used to be the only source of income for the whole family. She was a hairdresser. When my dad started working, everyone else had to stop. My mom was expected to look after my dad.

I depict combs in my work. They are symbols of strong, masculine figures like my father. They are African combs, some from ancient times while some are the combs that my mom used on her clients’ hair. These combs tell stories. They are hard and like weapons yet at the end of the day, even if they hurt you they are tools of beauty, they could make you a queen.

I have also incorporated my hair and my hair extensions into the work. When I work with the comb I have a sense of tension, but when I put the hair on the print I feel as though I’m being released. The hair expresses how I feel - fragile, feminine and soft. As women we have been given a box to live in. The hair for me expresses freedom. We need to break out of this box. We need to know who we are.