JOE MALATJI BIOGRAPHY:

Many people may know Joe as a professional musician with his band, Thula Sana. He is talented not only in music, but also in visual art. Joe Maselwa Malatji was born in Mahlabatse near Thabazimbi in South Africa in 1952. In 1975 Joe went to Botswana as a refugee. When he received a scholarship to study motor mechanics in Nigeria from 1977 for three years, he also shared his time with art studies. In this period his talent began to manifest itself. Since 1979 Joe has exhibited his works in Germany , Sweden , Holland and in the National Museum and Art Gallery of Gaborone.

Joe uses many different materials and techniques in his art to communicate with his fellow human beings. His paintings are a very personal way of expressing African art.  Since his arrival in Australia in 1985, he has concentrated on his music as a new opportunity to express his cultural roots. He recently began painting again as it has always been close to his artistic spirit. In 2003 he was commissioned to paint the representative image of Nongoma (Song Mother) for the concert program and costume T-Shirts for “Nongoma – The Melbourne Millennium Chorus” performed and recorded at the Melbourne Concert Hall organised by The Boite. Joe has been invited to exhibit his work at the State Museum of Pretoria in South Africa in September 2005. His powerful paintings depicting “Silent Voices” are arresting, haunting, emotionally charged and technically assured in their ability to translate in paint, the quintessential nature of survival and love in South Africa and the world.