Title: Imbombela
Medium: Oil on canvas
Signed and dated: 1981
Unframed: 30cm x 45.5cm
Framed: 56cm x 70.5cm
The title of the painting, Imbombela, translates to train song, and addresses the hardships of Black apartheid-era South Africans who were forced to travel long distances as migrant workers. This image of the interior of a railway carriage is similar in theme to those painted by his contemporary and friend Gerard Sekoto. In 1942 after meeting Gerard Sekoto during a visit to Cape Town his focus from doing illustration work shifted to producing more socially aware paintings. Sekoto convinced Pemba that water colours were too “British” to represent Africa with, and emphasized how oil paint is a better medium to represent social injustice and hardships experienced by black South Africans in. This shift in focus was informed by Social Realism that originated in the 1930s in the USA. Themes such as poverty, political corruption, and injustice were explored by followers of this movement. It was also known for its naturalistic and quasi-expressionist painting style as well as its more general renderings of everyday life.
