Artwork by Percy Sedumedi.
Percy Sedumedi was a South African painter, sculptor, poet, teacher and comic artist. As a comic artist, he was most notable for the comic 'Mzi Mzo' in Drum, and he also self-published the comic book series 'Travels of the Free Spirit'.
Life and career
Percy Sedumedi was born in 1950 in Sophiatown, South Africa. He went to pre-school at St. Sebrantz and later in the Meadowlands. Sedudemi developed a strange speech pattern, mixing words from several languages in his sentences, including English, Afrikaans, Sotho, Zulu and English. Like most poor black people from his era, he didn't learn much that could advance him in society. He became disobedient, getting into arguments with teachers, skipping school and doodling during lessons. At age nine, Sedumedi ran away from home and lived as a homeless person in Johannesburg. Behind the Supreme Court building, in the underground toilet era intended for whites only, he and fellow poor people spent their nights. Every day was a struggle to survive, which they spent by stealing stuff. In 1967, 17-year old Sedumedi stole a handbag and stormed into a random building, where he suddenly noticed a group of black violinists performing. He was so mezmerized that he forgot that the police was on his tail and he was promptly arrested. But Sedumedi, who had now spent three hopeless years on the streets, finally saw a different, more promising life direction: he wanted to become an artist.
"Carving His Way Out".
Sent back to his family, Sedumedi studied at the Jubilee Art Centre, then went to boarding school in Rustenberg, only to return to the Jubilee Centre in 1969. Once again, his education went nowhere, but by the early 1970s, he built up contacts with various black theatre activists, who used their performances as way to raise social consciousness about the injustice of the apartheid system. In 1971, Sedumedi held his first exhibition at the Lidchi Art Gallery, but the white gallery owners took most of the financial earnings. Sedumedi got a more lucrative job as an art teacher in the town of Soweto.
In 1976, the South African government announced that all school lessons should now be given in Afrikaans. This not only put black students who didn't know the language at a serious disadvantage, but Afrikaans was also regarded as the language of the white minority rulers. In Soweto, pupils protested and boycotted their school, which led to white police forces suppressing the riots with brutal, bloody force. The Soweto Uprising made global headlines and increased the international anti-apartheid movement. Together with Fikile Magadlela, Percy Sedumedi organized an illegal exhibition, where they displayed drawings criticizing the violence in Soweto, literally using their own blood as paint.
'Travels of the Free Spirit'.
Comics
Based in Durban, Sedumedi's comics ran in magazines like Staffrider and Drum during the 1980s. The latter publication featured his comic 'Mzi Mzo'. In 1981, Robert Berold published 'The People's Workbook', a manual on how to conduct several practical matters, like farming, starting a library, dealing with police and making a will. The "how to do it" illustrations were provided by Percy Sedumedi.
In the 1980s, Sedumedi self-published several issues of the fanzine comic 'Travels of the Free Spirit', which revolved around a martial artist making his way in life. However, the story also has a strong political subtext, in which the martial artist protagonist is actually a metaphor for the average downtrodden black South African fighting back against apartheid. Sedumedi literally sold his comics to passersby on the street, carrying the issues around in a shoulder bag, alongside paper and drawing material. During the same decade, Sedumedi and the young publisher Neil Napper brainstormed about creating comics intended for a black target audience, but the project went nowhere.
Sedumedi also contributed 'Durban's Homegrown Comix Magazine' to PAX ("Pre-Azanian Comix"). In 1986, he received the "Unknown Cartoonist of the Year" award in 1986.
Death
Percy Sedumedi died in 2007. One of Sedumedi's children, Nina Sedumedi, is a notable fashion designer.
'The Instant Poet' (PAX, 1985).