Umkhangu/Birthmark

Whatiftheworld is pleased to announce the opening of Umkhangu/Birthmark, a solo exhibition by Sthenjwa Luthuli at the Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa, opening to the public from 11 September.

Born in 1991 in KwaZulu-Natal, Luthuli is a self-taught printmaker, celebrated for his meticulously carved wood reliefs and woodcut prints, enriched with oil paint, charcoal, and mixed media. His works move beyond portraiture to serve as profound meditations on identity, cultural tradition and African spiritualism.

Through a visual language rooted in pattern, and symbolism, Luthuli investigates the human body as a vessel for memory, struggle, and transformation. His practice is deeply personal and autobiographical, anchored in his own journey of rediscovering ancestral knowledge after growing up within a dysfunctional education system that prioritised Western pedagogy. In response, Luthuli embarked on a path of self-education; immersing himself in African cosmologies, traditions, and spiritual practices, which has led to reclaiming connections that had been suppressed or obscured.

The title Umkhangu, derived from the hero artwork of the exhibition, is translated from isiZulu as “birthmark.” It refers not only to a physical mark one is born with, but also to its wider cultural and spiritual connotations. In many African traditions, a birthmark may signify ancestral presence, spiritual purpose, or a unique destiny. In this context, the birthmark becomes a symbol of guidance, which is an intimate imprint of origin and belonging.

This exhibition features fourteen artworks created between 2010 and the present, including an impressive new body of work. The show positions Luthuli’s work as a form of visual storytelling that bridges the corporeal and the metaphysical. Umkhangu/Birthmark invites viewers to reflect on how inherited histories both seen and unseen, shape identity, and how the body remembers, resists, and ultimately reconnects with the spiritual dimensions of ancestry.