Freehand Ndebele geometry, bent wire and discarded objects share the same room in an exhibition shaped by two very different artistic histories.

Peffers Fine Art, Cape Town

Tender Is the Night | Dr Esther Mahlangu & Pia Truscott

31 October – 31 December 2026

Sixty-four years separate Dr Esther Mahlangu and Pia Truscott. At Peffers Fine Art in Cape Town, Tender Is the Night places Mahlangu’s vividly coloured geometric paintings alongside Truscott’s wire constructions and assemblages made from buttons, ribbons, bottle tops and other found materials.

Mahlangu learned the art of Ndebele mural painting from her mother and grandmother, developing the precise freehand technique that has made her work internationally recognised. What began as a tradition of painting homestead walls has extended to canvases, architectural projects and major international commissions. Her career was celebrated in the 2024 retrospective Then I Knew I Was Good at Painting at the Iziko South African National Gallery.

Truscott comes to her work through a different route, having studied anthropology and fine art at the University of Cape Town. Her constructions use wire and everyday objects to create loose, shifting arrangements that resemble improvised maps. Buttons, ribbons and discarded fragments become markers in an attempt to make sense of the world around her. In her first solo exhibition, Making My Way, at the Association for Visual Arts earlier this year, she described her practice as a way of paying attention to the world.

The pairing also raises a longstanding question about how art is classified. Mahlangu’s knowledge was passed down through generations of women, while Truscott’s training developed through university study and studio practice. Historically, institutions have often treated work rooted in cultural traditions as craft or decoration, with different expectations of what constitutes fine art. The exhibition places both artists’ individual achievements in view while acknowledging the very different circumstances in which their work developed.

The title is borrowed from John Keats’s 1819 poem Ode to a Nightingale, where darkness makes sight unreliable and other senses take on greater importance. At Peffers Fine Art, carefully directed lighting casts shadows from Truscott’s wire constructions across the walls. As visitors move through the space, these shadows shift around the fixed lines and colour of Mahlangu’s paintings, adding another dimension to the installation.

Exhibition Programme

Exhibition Opening | Saturday, 31 October 2026 | 10:00–14:00
Peffers Fine Art, First Floor, Radio House, 92 Loop Street, Cape Town.

Curator’s Walkabout with Ruarc Peffers | Thursday, 5 November 2026 | 18:00–19:00
As part of First Thursday, curator Ruarc Peffers will lead a walkabout examining the pairing of Mahlangu’s paintings with Truscott’s constructions. The discussion will consider the artists’ different histories, the exhibition’s literary reference and the role of lighting, line and shadow in the installation. Gallery open 17:00–20:00.

Lines of Transmission: Art, Inheritance and Contemporary Practice | Saturday, 21 November 2026 | 11:00–12:30
Artist Pia Truscott joins writer and curator Nkgopoleng Moloi and researcher and curator Nessa Leibhammer for a public conversation on how artistic skills and traditions are passed between generations. The discussion will address knowledge inherited through families, the influence of formal art education and the distinctions museums and galleries have historically made between craft, tradition and contemporary art. Gallery open 10:00–14:00.

Afterlight | Final-Month Gathering | Thursday, 3 December 2026 | 17:00–21:00
The gallery marks the exhibition’s final month with a First Thursday evening of drinks, music and extended viewing. Afterlight takes its name from the lingering effects of light and the images that remain after looking. Visitors can experience the exhibition under its specially directed lighting, with Truscott’s wire shadows extending across the walls alongside Mahlangu’s colour and geometric patterns.

Exhibition closes | Thursday, 31 December 2026 | 10:00–14:00

Images courtesy of Peffers Fine Art and participating artists.