Community activist, teacher and painter Samuel Mcebisi Gabula returns to the BAT Centre’s Menzi Mcunu Gallery with a new exhibition of oil paintings entitled Moods.

Samuel Mcebisi Gabula trained in Fine Art at the Ruth Prowse School of Art in Cape Town. On completing his degree, he returned to the Eastern Cape to use his newly-found knowledge and insights to strengthen his community. He is presently visual arts co-ordinator for the Magwa Potters and Visual Arts Project which is designed to fight unemployment by providing skills in pottery and painting.

The collection of oil paintings to be shown at the BAT Centre reveals the life of a man working to promote the wellbeing of the people of the Magwa Tea Estates Plantation. It also represents the appreciation for the physical and cultural landscape of his nation that he has gained in so doing.

“I have found a greater admiration and passion for women and the landscape,” says Samuel. “The mood of my paintings is very much an expression of my happiness, my joy, my inner peace and my new found love of diversity”

Named after a talented young Durban artist who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1992, the Menzi Mcunu Gallery is committed to showcasing the best of the talent of KZN and South Africa as a whole.Moods opens at the Menzi Mcunu Gallery on October 20 and runs to November 12. Gallery hours are 09h00 to 17h00 Monday to Friday and 10h00 to 16h00 over the weekend. More details from (031) 332-0451.