Patrick Sithole

Patrick Sithole draws on both memory and the rhythms of daily life to examine the ways in which consumerism, value and lived experience intersect through imagery. In his current body of work, he places particular emphasis on background, using collage and colour as a rich ground over which figurative portraits and figures are set. By incorporating advertisements for everyday goods like groceries, food and drinks, he reveals how these ubiquitous items form part of our everyday existence and shape our sense of stability, survival, and identity.

Sithole’s figures evoke emotional reactions and personal expression, yet they are set against a layered backdrop of consumer-culture visuals. Through this juxtaposition he invites viewers to reflect on their own relationship to consumption, prices, and the shifting value of necessities. In his 2025 series, the collages record current price levels, making each work not only an aesthetic object, but a document of socio-economic conditions at a moment in time. In this way, each painting becomes a piece of history: whoever owns it holds a record of lived reality and the cost of survival in that era.

His use of acrylic and collage on canvas unites subject and context in a powerful combination. The vibrant colours and textured layers are part of the message: the collage background releases the message through its palette and materiality as much as the representational subject matter does. Together, background and figure form a dialogue about how communities, individuals, and societies relate to material goods, economic pressures, and the passage of time.

Through this work, Patrick Sithole invites us to consider how deeply embedded consumer culture is in our lives, not only in what we buy, but in how we see ourselves and each other. His canvases challenge us to reconsider the ordinary, to recognise the value of everyday objects, and to acknowledge the complex web of economics, survival, memory and identity that defines modern life.