Ndlaleni’s practice derives from her character Blue, who functions as an intermediary for her daily thoughts. The conversations held within her work are influenced by her own mental health journey. Blue evokes topics around existentialism, depression, anxiety, derealisation, depersonalisation, and religious faith.
The Fragility of Man is a body of work that explores the human mind’s observation of daily existential questions around mankind’s existence through the lens of Blue. Blue operates as an intermediary for Ndlaleni’s daily thought processes as she navigates the spaces she inhabits while dealing with her own mental health. Blue seeks therapy as a way of processing and attempting to find answers to absurd questions surrounding mental health and existentialism, approached through the lens of religious faith.
The intention behind Ndlaleni’s work is to explore her own understanding of how to view her surroundings and how those surroundings affect her overall emotional state. The work serves as a commentary on how she is mentally coping with the world. She believes that Blue exists in all of us, consciously or subconsciously.
The Fragility of Man has been an ongoing body of work since 2023. Blue was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when lockdown was mandatory and the domestic setting became the primary world people inhabited. This period prompted Ndlaleni to unpack her own feelings about being at home and how that space brought her comfort and joy, while for others it produced feelings of entrapment and disconnection. Spaces associated with warmth and comfort became sources of anxiety, suffocation, and existential questioning.
Through observing the behaviours of different individuals, Ndlaleni examined varying understandings of comfort and the ongoing process of seeking help during and after the pandemic. Blue emerged as a personal response to ideas surrounding derealised and depersonalised states of mind, even when situated within familiar territories. Central to this body of work is an exploration of anxiety and the concept of “The First Anxiety” (2024), which she identifies as the beginning of all human suffering. Within this framework, she reflects on the biblical narrative of Adam and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, suggesting that without this moment, the concept of Blue would not exist
Collaborative exhibition Cognitive Gestures in Observation and Absorption, presented in 2022 with Maxine Maistry at The Point of Order, Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
Group exhibition Rites of Passage, presented in 2023 at Constitutional Hill Women’s Jail, curated by Penina Chalumbira and coordinated by Among the Lilies.
Collaborative exhibition Inside Outside, presented in 2023 with Maxine Maistry at The Point of Order.
Shortlisted as a Top 10 finalist for the Wits Young Artist Award in 2023.
Group presentation at Turbine Art Fair (TAF) TALENT ’23, curated by Shenaz Mahomed.
Graduate exhibition NEWWORK ’23, presented at Wits Art Museum.
Group exhibition Third Space: A Postcard Group Show, curated by Odette Graskie and presented by PULP at FNB Art Fair, Johannesburg, in 2025.
Group exhibition Klein Wêreld: A Wonderland of Small Art, presented at Rosemary Hill, Pretoria, in 2025.
Group exhibition Many Selves, presented by Art School Africa in collaboration with ORMS, curated and produced by Buchanan & Co., Cape Town, in 2025
