An award-winning artist and South African cultural ambassador, Esther Mahlangu is acclaimed throughout the world for her bright and bold abstract paintings featuring vibrant geometric patterns, rooted in the tradition of the Ndebele tribe to which she belongs. She learned this art as a child and was the first to reinvent its visual tradition, bringing Ndebele geometric designs to new places, from canvas and ceramics to sculptures and eventually, like a true pop art icon, customizing cars, airplanes and sneakers. One of the most highly-regarded and collected artists in the world, Mahlangu now teaches traditional artistic skills to young people at her Mabhoko school in Mpumalanga.
