Ayanda mabula biography

South African artist (born 1981)

Ayanda Mabulu (born in 1981) is a South African artist mostly known for his paintings.

Painting

Mabulu's work of 2010, Ngcono ihlwempu kunesibhanxa sesityebi (Xhosa translation: Better poor than a rich puppet), depicted various international political figures in the nude, including South African president Jacob Zuma.

The painting received little critical comment at the time, but was rediscovered as part of the political controversy surrounding fellow South African Brett Murray's painting (The Spear) in May 2012.^[1]

Mabulu criticised Zuma and the African National Congress for their response to Murray's satirical painting – and that of the Nazareth Baptist (Shembe) Church, who called for Murray to be "stoned to death".^[2] He questioned their motives in attacking it, having ignored Mabulu's own work – which depicts Zuma alongside Desmond Tutu, Robert Mugabe, Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela in similar fas