Born in 1943 in Hammanskraal

Her first teacher of art was her grandmother, a traditional artist who passed on to her granddaughter the vernacular aesthetic which has such a strong presence in Sebidi’s work.
They lived a rural life, cultivating crops, making mud from which they constructed walls and floors, which they then decorated in the tribal tradition. They also made and decorated calabashes and worked with beads. Helen stresses the importance of acquiring these traditional skills in order to be an artist versed in a vital culture. From 1970 until 1973 she was a student of Johan Koenakeefe Mohl. At the "Artists under the Sun " exhibition in 1977, she sampled a first taste of recognition for her work as an artist.

Helen has held numerous one person and group exhibitions and is represented in many private and corporate collections in South Africa and abroad. In 1989 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, as well as Vita Award.

Collections (selected):
The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.., U.S.A.
Sasol and Sanlam Collections
University of Cape Town
University of the Witwatersrand
World Bank. Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Pretoria Art Museum
Gencor Collection
S.A.B., Johannesburg.

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