Dr David Nthubu Koloane (Fig. 1) was born in South Africa in 1938 and passed away on June 30, 2019, shortly after the opening of his retrospective exhibition, A Resilient Visionary: Poetic Expressions of David Koloane1 (Fig. 2). Koloane was an extraordinary pioneer in the visual arts who fiercely defied any form of categorisation. As an artist, teacher, mentor, curator, arts administrator, and published author, he fought for the human right to define oneself and to determine one's own future.
Over the years Koloane consistently received high praise from people in the arts and beyond. President Cyril Ramaphosa praised him as a “giant in the arts” (n.a. 2019) and former President Thabo Mbeki called him “a loyal fighter for the liberation of our people” (Nqola 2019). He had been referred to as a “leading force in the promotion of South African artists” by...