Esther Mahlangu South Africa, 1935

Esther Mahlangu was born in 1935 and has been painting professionally since the age of ten. She is a multi-award-winning visual artist and a well-known cultural ambassador for South Africa. 

Her vibrant Ndebele-inspired artworks are featured in many of the world's most prestigious museums, private, public, and corporate collections. Many experts believe that no significant Pan African Contemporary collection would be complete without one of her pieces. 

Dr Mahlangu continues to spend time in many of the world's largest and most sophisticated cities, engaging with museums, art fairs, curators, celebrities, and respected worldwide companies, while remaining strongly rooted in her traditional Ndebele culture and choosing to live in rural Mpumalanga.

She is considered a visionary and disruptive, being the first person to reimagine traditional Ndebele design in contemporary media. She has painted canvases, walls, ceramic pots, sneakers and doors, as well as cars, planes, bicycles, motorcycles and skateboards.

This has led her to well-known global collaborations with companies such as Rolls-Royce, BMW, Fiat, South African Airways, British Airways, John Legend, Belvedere Vodka, the Smithsonian Museum, Freshpak Rooibos, and many more.

In 2018, Dr. Mahlangu received two honorary doctorates, in 2019, she was named an Officer of Arts and Letters, Frances' highest honor for her contribution to the arts, the Department of Arts and Culture published a book in her honor, and she received a United Nations award in Johannesburg.

In 2020, she became the first artist in the world to be asked to paint a piece of art for the "gallery" of a new Rolls-Royce Phantom which they named "The Mahlangu" in her honor.