N'ginganji 1997

Manuela Sambo made this striking portrait, ‘N'ginganji’, with mixed media on paper. I imagine her, caught up in the process, layering the strokes and letting the image emerge from the push and pull of her intuition. The palette is muted, mostly grays and blacks, and a little hint of gold. It makes me think of the early modernist portraits by Picasso and Modigliani, but something about the gaze of the subject, that steady, unwavering stare, sets it apart. The paint looks thin and washy, almost like watercolor, but with the assertive lines of charcoal or crayon cutting through. Did she draw first? Then paint? Or maybe the other way around... I love how the lines seem to trap the image, to compress it. I wonder if Sambo thought about the women around her as she made this. She might have wanted to show their strength, resilience, and maybe even a touch of defiance.