Esther Mahlangu is barely five feet tall, yet standing on a corner in New York City’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, the 80-year-old South African artist commands a striking presence. Passersby spontaneously pull out their phones to photograph her traditional Ndebele style: hair shorn close to her head and adorned in elaborately beaded headbands, a thick striped blanket carefully draped around her shoulders complemented by more beaded jewelry, brass hoops stacked high around her neck and legs. She is unfazed by the attention, and in fact silently proud, because with each passerby she’s one step closer to achieving the goal she’s traveled halfway around the globe to accomplish: to keep her culture alive.

The week prior, Mahlangu led a priv...