Janet Siringwani-Nyabeze
Janet Siringwani-Nyabeze
This MuseArtist is a female Artist from Zimbabwe and is a single mother of two wonderful children: daughter Tam and son Taku.. She has exhibited in the Zimbabwe National Gallery and The Delta Gallery in Zimbabwe - the Major Galleries there- and various other exhibitions she attends Annually.
'JOURNEY THROUGH MY EXPERIENCES'
"My Art is the voice of truth to challenges within the life of a woman," tells MuseArtist Janet Siringwani. " What I have seen, what I have recorded and what I have heard around the lifestyles of women in my country and beyond.
I also attempt to question experiences of a mother-in- law and daughter-in- law relationship that involve conflict or reaching an impasse. These experiences need to be assessed in terms of what is likely to go wrong between a mother-in- law and a daughter-in- law. Apart from my own experiences, as I step out of the door of my house I am exposed to other women’s challenges on areas of physical abuse, financial, social, emotional social and many more forms of challenges that affect women and what leads them to resort to other behaviours or morals which I have witnessed in and around and some of them which are very questionable. When you see a mistake it needs to be corrected.
I honestly believe as a God fearing woman there is hope for every woman for healing. It takes courage and realization for one to able to stand up on her own to face and overcome such challenges and experiences like hostility, rejection, torture, unease, discomfort, and all part of the memories that I am revealing through my paintings."
Janet tells us there are so many hidden things that happen inside people's lives. Some people may think they are tales but yet they are true. Someone, somewhere, has physically gone through this unbelievable reality. As an artist she believes that her paintings also attempt to speak to women out there that despite the different challenging situations, she can still use Courage, Humour and Grace in making a bold wise decision to survive with hope for better.
The Artist relates, "What inspired me to make this series of paintings, in search of my identity, was after my visit to the cradle of Humankind in Maropeng in South Africa. I was inspired by the human ancestor fossils, as well as the Rock Art back home in Zimbabwe."
Janet could depict the anatomy of humans in their movements and actions without the cover of garments. She realised that she could actually express herself freely without the difficult of drawing the human form. Janet could emphasise the dramatic movement in each action she wanted to express in order to describe her idea in each of the stories.
"My ideas are also based on my Christian background." she continues. "My colours, patterns, lines and shapes are influenced by the works of other African artists of North Africa, Mozambican artist Malangatana Valente-Ngwenya as well as Pablo Picasso and Afro-American Jean-Michel Basquiat.
What is unique or special about my series is that I attempt to describe the mother-in- law herself as a huge, imposing woman, defining her as a big woman with a large behind and large breasts, her arms are open and spread, not in a welcoming manner, but in a gesture of aggression, rejection and violence. I also define male figures with large big dark heads and larger than the females as an attempt to express their dominance over women and how they sometimes take advantage of them."
The Artist is brilliant in her use of color. Janet said, "I used colour to express my emotions: greens for rejection, jealousy, cruelty and greys for fear and confusion that was often instilled in the son and the daughter in law. Blue is often used and purple around victims of situations or circumstance are portrayed such as women and or with their children appearing together.To me they bring in calmness and love. I use black as my major colour to signify my identity as a black woman in the black family that is also my identity as an African.
