Tender Is the Night: Where Esther Mahlangu and Pia Truscott Meet Through Line, Memory and Material

At first look, the artistic worlds of Dr Esther Mahlangu and Pia Truscott seem far from one another. One is shaped by generations of Ndebele visual tradition, the other by an experimental approach to sculpture and found objects and spatial. Yet, within Tender Is the Night, the two artists find an intriguing point of connection – through their individual interpretations the stories materials can hold.

Presented at Peffers Fine Art in Cape Town, the exhibition brings together a selection of Mahlangu’s paintings alongside recent wire constructions paintings by Truscott. Instead of drawing direct comparisons between their practices, the exhibition creates space for these different artistic languages to exist alongside one another, inviting visitors to consider what connects them while remaining attentive to what sets them apart.

For Mahlangu, whose practice began at the age of ten under the guidance of her mother and grandmother, painting is rooted in a tradition of knowledge passed from one generation to the next. Her recognisable geometric works, defined by precise bold colour and patterns, carry the visual language of Ndebele mural painting into contemporary art. Over the decades, she has expanded this practice across canvases, architectural surfaces, sculpture and international collaborations, establishing a remarkable career that continues to challenge how African art is viewed and understood.

Truscott approaches her work from a different starting point. Born in 1999 and based in Cape Town, the artist works with wire, thread and salvaged materials, including bottle tops, beads, buttons, ribbons, and fragments of plastic. Reworking these sometimes overlooked objects into delicate constructions, she creates suspended structures and abstract maps that explore movement and the uncertainty of finding one's way. 

It is this use of line that makes the exhibition compelling. In Mahlangu's paintings, line creates structure, rhythm, and balance. In Truscott's work, it becomes something more fluid through the use of wire and suspended arrangements. Both approaches reveal how a simple visual element can carry meaning beyond its physical form.

The title, Tender Is the Night, draws from John Keats's 1819 poem Ode to a Nightingale, later borrowed by F. Scott Fitzgerald for his 1934 novel. Its reference to a world only partially seen gives an interesting way into the exhibition. Here, darkness is presented as an invitation to look more closely. Tenderness, meanwhile, is understood through the care involved in creating and reinterpreting artistic knowledge.

Importantly, the exhibition does not attempt to flatten the differences between the artists. Mahlangu's practice developed through the realities of segregation and apartheid, while Truscott belongs to a younger generation navigating a post-apartheid artistic landscape. Their respective histories remain different, making the opportunity to encounter their work together all the more meaningful.

Running until 31 December 2026, Tender Is the Night offers an opportunity to spend time with two individual artistic practices. It is an exhibition that rewards looking meaningfully, allowing the relationships between colour, material, memory, and space to reveal themselves without demanding immediate answers.

Exhibition Details

Exhibition: Tender Is the Night – Dr Esther Mahlangu and Pia Truscott

Venue: Peffers Fine Art, First Floor, Radio House, 92 Loop Street, Cape Town

Dates: 31 October – 31 December 2026

Image Credits

Photography: Dillon Marsh Photography

Courtesy of Peffers Fine Art