LOCAL talented artist Cinthia Sifa Mulanga is seeing her career heading in a new trajectory after being commissioned by the Italian fashion house Gucci to create an artwork that celebrates the iconic Diana tote bag for their latest campaign.
In 1991, this special bag was introduced and popularised by Diana, Princess of Wales, and later adopted her name.
With the list of both local and international exhibitions that she has ever made, her extraordinary artistry has generated a wave of interest in one of the most globally celebrated fashion houses.
Mulanga’s paintings are more than just any conventional paintings as they hold a profound notion about female subjects trapped in interior spaces chimed with the times while also overturning ideals of beauty through her exceptional art.
This major campaign had the 25-year-old thrilled about how her work amassed recognition and also impacted other people.
“It has definitely been surprising. I was really taken aback. I'm only now digesting what has happened and starting to understand the impact of my work and how different it is.”
“The (traditional) Barbie doll was my primary (point of) reference. Growing up, there were few references for black women, so we had no role models to look up to that allowed us to feel beautiful. I wasn’t able to see someone in popular culture that looked like me. It made me aware that more black women needed to be represented. I was interested in how they try to be beautiful or what measures are used to determine this, whether it is through their hair or the tone of their skin.”
The star, who hails from Johannesburg, also shared that her work explores the distinct layers of constructs of beauty.
“It is used to defend the fantasies of men, but it is also determined by women – they often look down on each other.” she shared.
The opportunity has allowed her also display her discourse on beauty and black female iconography.
Mulenga's work further highlights domestic settings, which are a brand of her art with some touching base on the pandemic where people were trapped at home while also detailing the prevalence of domestic violence, something that feeds into her art.
With these extraordinary settings, the 25-year-old explores major socio-political transitions that occurred during the pandemic.