Francina Ndimande, b. 1940
Biography

Francina Ndimande (also recorded as Francine Ndimande) was born in 1940 in South Africa's Ndebele heartland. Like other Ndebele women, she practises the geometric wall-painting tradition passed down through generations, decorating the exterior and interior walls of homesteads with bold, symmetrical patterns in bright, contrasting colour.

Her best-known work extends the tradition beyond the domestic sphere: she painted the Catholic church at KwaMabhoko, in South Africa's Ndebele region, in the distinctive geometric style of her people. She was documented alongside Esther Mahlangu in a 1996 feature on Ndebele mural painting and decoration, the two artists standing among the tradition's most prominent practitioners.

Beyond architectural wall painting, Ndimande has translated the Ndebele geometric vocabulary onto portable supports, producing acrylic paintings on canvas and board whose hard-edged, brightly coloured compositions echo the patterns of her wall murals. Her work has appeared at auction internationally, including at Christie's Amsterdam.

source: Smithsonian Institution Libraries and Archives, African Art Index Project