Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Mural commission, 2014

In September 2014 the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts commissioned Esther Mahlangu to create two large scale murals to be permanently placed in the museum's Evans court as a gateway to their African Art Gallery section.. In a unique but extremely well received exhibition format, the VMFA invited members of the public to visit the museum to watch Esther, and her granddaughter Marriam, as they painted the two murals echoing patterns found in Ndebele beaded vestments and jewelry.

This project, which at the time was the only major museum commission by Esther in North America, was created to advance the VMFA’s African department’s objective to begin collecting contemporary art, with the 9-by-15 foot vibrantly colored paintings expected to energize the court whilst complementing the other major murals at VMFA.

During the month-long exhibition, the team spent their time working on the two iconic canvas works each day and even took some time to teach a few children’s art classes in between.