Limpopo-born and Johannesburg-based artist and professional printer Lloyd Maluleke explores the topic of absent parentage from a deeply personal yet unexpectedly uplifting perspective. His practice draws viewers in precisely because it approaches this complex subject with whimsy, empathy, and lightness, rather than through sorrow or resentment.

Central to understanding Maluleke’s perspective is his own upbringing. Like many South African children, he grew up with limited access to his father, who had left for the city to seek better opportunities. Yet, as Maluleke reflects, his understanding of this absence was shaped not by bitterness, but by the way his mother framed it—with compassion, gratitude, and faith in community. This nurturing interpretation instilled in him an appreciation for the collective role of family and community in shaping who we become.

This worldview comes to life in his prints, where children appear wearing brightly colored hardhats or carrying shovels—symbols often misunderstood as indicators of child labor. Instead, Maluleke invites us to see these images through the eyes of a child who idolizes an absent father working in the city. Through the child’s imagination, the hardhat becomes a badge of honor, a symbol of strength and love rather than loss. The vivid yellows of the hardhats contrast against the near monochrome of the figures and backgrounds, a deliberate device that heightens the sense of wonder and idealization a child projects onto a distant parent.