Dr. Esther Mahlangu's First Online Retrospective Published

To celebrate the 91st birthday of pioneering South African artist Dr. Esther Mahlangu, Google Arts & Culture has launched her first online retrospective, focusing on her life, art, and legacy.

Published on the Google Arts & Culture platform, the project titled “‘Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting’: Esther Mahlangu, a Retrospective” offers global audiences access to over forty stories and the artist's rich archive. Dr. Nontobeko Ntombela, a senior lecturer in the university's Department of Visual Cultures, stated that this exhibition was shaped by years of research and deep admiration conducted with the artist and her family.

The project brings together large-scale mural paintings, intimate works, and rare archival materials. However, due to the lack of pre-1980 archives, Dr. Nontobeko Ntombela from Wits University and the Google team used artificial intelligence technology to visually recreate the artist's undocumented memories.

As a result of workshops and interviews conducted with Google DeepMind, the Google Arts & Culture Lab, and Domestic Data Streamers, missing historical periods—including when Mahlangu began painting with feathers at the age of 10—were documented. The generated visuals were transformed into videos using Veo technology, bringing the artist's early memories to life.

The prepared online archive encompasses over 45 exhibitions prepared in collaboration with institutions such as the Art of Contemporary Africa, Iziko Museums of South Africa, British Museum, Jean Pigozzi Collection, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and Serpentine. The project presents a new approach adhering to personal memory and historical accuracy in the preservation of cultural heritage.