BORN 1943, MARAPYANE, GAUTENG, SOUTH AFRICA

MMAPULA MMAKGOBA HELEN SEBIDI developed a life-long love for designs of traditional arts and crafts influenced by her grandmother who was a traditional wall and floor painter. Coming from a humble family with limited means of obtaining formal education, circumstances forced HELEN to seek domestic work in JOHANNESBURG. In private and in her own time she pursued her nascent sense of creativity until her work was discovered by her employer, who astonished by her talent encouraged her to paint. After training under JOHN KEONAKEEFE MOHL at the White Studio in SOPHIATOWN, she showcased and sold artwork for the first time at an exhibition in JOUBERT PARK.

HELEN SEBIDI’s work depicts the progression of her life from a girl growing up in rural SOUTH AFRICA, to a woman working under the harshness of apartheid in the crowded metropolis of JOHANNESBURG, then an artist working in a free country who has been recognised, respected and honoured.

In 1988 HELEN SEBIDI was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to travel to the USA and exhibit at the Worldwide Economic Contemporary Artist’s Fund Exhibition. She toured AMERICA, and worked at the Millay Colony for the Arts, AUSTERLITZ, NEW YORK.

1998 Awarded the Standard Bank Youth Artist Award.

1998 Represented SOUTH AFRICA at the LISBON Expo.

1998 World Wide Workshop and Exhibition, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

2004 Received the Order of IKHAMANGA in Silver at the National Orders Awards for her excellent

Contribution to the field of visual and traditional Arts and Crafts.