Emthonjeni (A spring), 2026

Cinga Samson

Cinga Samson: Hi. My name is Cinga Samson, and I am an artist based in Cape Town. The work I have created for The House of Nisaba is a work titled Emthonjeni. Emthonjeni is in Xhosa, which is my home language, and which means By the Spring or The Spring. The work comes from images, photographs that I’ve created and turned into drawings, from drawings to paintings. My intention was to create a device that could allow anyone who connects with it to work as a key to the deeper selves of our existence.
 
So, the work, in a way, is almost like a portal to one’s subconscious. I think that’s where we experience… that’s where we could experience more abundance, more expansion of what our lives have. So, my intention was to create this particular – or this type of – painting that can allow us to have that cosmic experience, or feeling, or sensation, which I think, most times, is what we look for when we try to… come in front of a painting or an artwork.
 
I did this through using identifiable figures, dogs, figures in a space that also feels a little bit familiar, but a little bit disappointing, even though [it comes] from reality, from extra-reality. Even though it looks [real] and gives a sense of reality of its own. It could be believable, but it is just the reality of the painting, and it just acts like a portal to experience a little bit more of life, or to have some form of transcendence of cosmic energy.
 
For me, as an artist – I think – that’s what I’ve tried to create with this work. And I hope that those who are able to enjoy it will enjoy and have their own individual experiences. Thank you.