Thokozani Madonsela (b. 1988) is a South African artist working in charcoal drawing, painting and mosaic. He is best known for his nude, faceless, often laughing figures, whose gender, age and economic status cannot be read – their wide-mouthed laughter mocks the surrounding context and points to the city’s undervalued people.
b. 1988, South Africa
Thokozani Madonsela specializes in different mediums such as charcoal drawings, traditional painting and mosaic art. The artist is mostly recognized for his iconic nude, faceless, often laughing figures – a bold statement used to depict neutrality in human identity – one cannot tell what gender, economic status or age the people represented are. He has been able to deliver complex messages through facial expressions, as of an explicit, wide-mouthed laughter, serving as a mockery for any background context of the painting aiming to disclose an existing lack of recognition of so-called undervalued people of the city.
