Nut-ntu Goddess, a vibrant Shweshwe fabric collage, representing South African art and culture.
Nut-ntu Goddess artwork showcasing vibrant colors and intricate patterns inspired by South African art.
Nut-ntu Goddess standing beside vibrant collage art, showcasing South African art and culture with a rich display of colors.
Nut-ntu Goddess, vibrant floral collage inspired by Soweto, blending colors and local craftsmanship, South African art.
Nut-ntu Goddess, a vibrant Shweshwe fabric collage inspired by South African art and local Soweto scenes.
Nut-ntu Goddess, a vibrant Shweshwe fabric collage, representing South African art and culture.
Nut-ntu Goddess artwork showcasing vibrant colors and intricate patterns inspired by South African art.
Nut-ntu Goddess standing beside vibrant collage art, showcasing South African art and culture with a rich display of colors.
Nut-ntu Goddess, vibrant floral collage inspired by Soweto, blending colors and local craftsmanship, South African art.
Nut-ntu Goddess, a vibrant Shweshwe fabric collage inspired by South African art and local Soweto scenes.
Tsholo Motong

Nut-ntu Goddess

Save $-2,000.00
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My work is only inspired by local scenes from Soweto, South Africa, which has a rich history of migrant labour. I use a lot of colour because I believe colour is like a spice of life.

 

Read more about Tsholo
Technique Dimensions
Shweshwe fabric collage on canvas 47" H, 31" W
Framing From
Gallery Wrap Soweto, South Africa

As above so below, as within so without as the soul,
so is the ultimate universe, Thokoza makhehla 'mhlophe exiting
the phase of MA'AT to welcome
the season of NUT-NTU Goddess
of the cosmos, skies & stars beyond any galaxies,
towards the return of the Sun God from up North as aligned
with the South of the New Year during the Spring Equinox.
In honour of the harvesting from the first fruits,
towards the Reed Dance umkhosi womhlanga during
the full moon phase, mNdauwe Ase-Namaste.

 

By Splash Motong
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  • International: calculated at checkout
  • Ships from: San Francisco, CA
  • Ships within: 1-3 days if in stock, 10-14 days if made to order
  • Delivery time: 5-7 days domestic, 10-14 days international
  • Duties & import taxes: paid by the customer on delivery
  • Returns: 30 days on originals and original prints; made-to-order prints are final

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Tsholo "Splash" Motong trained as a fashion designer and worked for several Johannesburg labels. When cheap imports saturated the industry he moved into art, which asked for the same hands — cutting, patterning, assembling — and he has been building faces out of cloth ever since.

He collects fabric from across the continent: Shweshwe from Da Gama Textiles in South Africa, Ankara from Nkosikazi Fabrics, Vlisco and GTP wax prints from West Africa, Kalanga from Zimbabwe, Malian bògòlanfini. Each length is cut into hundreds of small irregular pieces and laid onto canvas like a mosaic, then layered with acrylic and paper. Patterns that were never meant to sit together, coaxed into a single face.

He learned it from women. His grandmother knitted blankets and jerseys and crocheted; his mother was a seamstress, sewing curtains and bedding with hand embroidery. "She was my pillar," he says of his grandmother. "She didn't scold me when I told her I wanted to venture into this career."

He writes one of these poems for every work — English, isiZulu, Afrikaans, tsotsitaal, published under his own name.

His work was the lead photograph of National Geographic Traveller's March 2024 feature on Johannesburg's artists, and a 2023 collage is on the cover of a Peter Lang study of African women's writing. Each piece is selected personally from his Soweto studio.

Read Motong's full story — Ubuntu, Soweto, and the fabrics he works in.

Interview with Tsholo

We sat down with Tsholo in October 2023 before his second solo exhibit at Art House SF.

Read the interview

"Faces of Soweto"

Tsholo returns to Art House SF with his second solo exhibit in August 2023. Titled "Faces of Soweto" in this exhibit, Tsholo Motong presents the people around him, people of Soweto.

He tells their stories with insightful clarity and compassion.

See the exhibit

"Proud and Beautiful"

Tsholo's first solo exhibit at Art House SF in August 2022. For the first time we're introduced to the amazing world of Shweshwe fabric and his fabric collages.

see the exhibit

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is this artwork original? How is it framed?

Check the "Technique" field above:

Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, or Fabric — a unique, one-of-a-kind original, delivered to us directly by the artist and framed in California.

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Check the "Framing" field above for this piece.

The design is our own — museum-grade, archival, and always real wood, never veneer or composite.

The species suits the work — cherry, ash, maple, oak, poplar, or hinoki cypress. Chosen per artist, not to a house style.

Where it's made — Kuriyagawa's and Namiki's frames are made in Japan. Everything else is framed in the United States, from hardwood milled by a third-generation family workshop that supplies exhibition frames to museums.

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