The Black landscape: Gladys Nomfanekiso Mgudlandlu, Miriam Tlali, and decolonization

This article examines the work of two influential Black South African women—artist Gladys Nomfanekiso Mgudlandlu (1917–1979) and writer Miriam Tlali (1933–2017)—through the lens of decolonization. Focusing on Mgudlandlu’s Houses in the Township (1970) and Tlali’s Between Two Worlds (originally Muriel at Metropolitan), the article explores how both creators challenged dominant cultural narratives during apartheid. Mgudlandlu’s painting evokes Black township life through an aesthetic shaped by memory, spirituality, and everyday resilience, while Tlali’s novel critiques racial injustice and amplifies Black women’s lived experiences within oppressive urban and workplace structures. By situating these works within a decolonial framework, the study highlights how they unsettle colonial representational practices and foreground Black agency. Together, Mgudlandlu and Tlali offer alternative ways of seeing and imagining South Africa’s cultural landscape, underscoring the continued relevance of their contributions to discourses on resistance, identity, and transformative cultural change.