• Q: Why do you use wood as one of your prominent art mediums? A: This is an interesting story. The...
    Q: Why do you use wood as one of your prominent art mediums?
     
    A: This is an interesting story. The only education I have within the arts came from high school, between the 10th and 12th grades, whereby I took visual arts. During those 3 years, we were exposed to different mediums, such as digital, painting, sculpting, but I was the best at wood carving. I even did wood carving for my final practical in matric. When I started venturing into art, which was around 2019 after I graduated, I took up architectural drafting. I started drawing portraits in pencil, but I saw that the market was quite saturated. Pencil drawings date back to Realism. 
     
    I felt that I needed to do something else, so I did linocuts and prints and then I thought to let the wood block be the artwork itself. I found that this allowed me to explore what people have said about me having an old soul. By that I mean, when I am carving, it feels as though I am writing someone’s name on a tree that will stay forever so long as the tree is there. In the same breath, wood is present, it is here, but the carving itself was done at a certain time, and it is able to withstand time. 
  • Q: You draw inspiration from two movements, Pop Art and Surrealism. What about these two movements inspire you?
     
    A: The Pop Art movement came into my work by default, because of my use of colour. When I looked into it, the movement fits into me being a modern artist, of my age and just being present in the moment. With regards to Surrealism, I like being present, but also providing people with multiple perspectives of a particular subject. That can be done with Surrealism. The end goal is to have a hybrid genre for my art. With continuous work, I will definitely be introducing abstract art as it is very close to what I am working on now. 
     
    Q: You often depict popular icons (Jay-Z, Lauren Hill, Basquiat). What do these figures represent for you?
     
    A: I think in most cases, I do not pay much attention to who it is. I think if the image was well taken and it resonates with what I want to express, then I use it as a source. At one point I was just using popular icons to gain traction so people could take notice. Once I established an audience, then I shifted to what I really wanted to do, which was depicting people where nobody is of a certain calibre, but rather creating an image that people can relate to. I need to be happy with the work that I put out for people to engage and understand it. I want to be here for a long time. 
  • Q: Another theme in your work is mental health. How would you say mental illness is perceived in communities of...
    Q: Another theme in your work is mental health. How would you say mental illness is perceived in communities of colour and amongst men?
     
    A: I think that we are fairly at the early stages of the dialogue and conversation around mental health. I think in most recent times, we are now able to define mental health and its various categories. However, there is still much work to be done as a collective and within genders.
     
     There is a piece I created that focuses on mental health issues particularly amongst men. This closely links to another piece which speaks about what it is to be a man - to be a man is  to stand. Men are always called upon to be present, but the platform is always shaking beneath us. So where do we as men stand to actually take up certain issues and just to simply be there for ourselves. 
     
    The topic of mental health needs to be approached from various angles, with one in particular being the spiritual aspect. I am a spiritual person, as I still believe in ancestors and I am also religious, so I just find the balance between the two. There are things that we continuously try to fix as people of colour, as Black people, that we do not have any understanding of, only to find that people who were there before us, our ancestors, were dealing with mental health issues, but they just could not define it at the time. 
  • Q: A theme in your work is African experiences. Which African experiences in particular are you referencing?
     
    A: There is not a single African experience, I think. How I work is that I want to open the space for everything and anything all at once. It is about the need to talk about love, family dynamics, and simply just existing beyond what has been written about us in history books. Simply living at a current point in time is the African experience I am speaking about. 
     
    Then I can explore geographic points in terms of where each African country is economically, for example. There is no need to pick a sector and dissect it. I do not have a particular African experience, but if I were to narrow it down, it would be more of my personal experiences and what I share with  the people around me. I create from what I am going through at the moment, that is why I struggle to have a single body of work limited to one subject. 
     
    Q: What does the notion of African identity mean to you?
     
    A: African identity is forever evolving. I think we are not given the space for that. We are painted according to tradition and culture. As African people who have now been introduced to the world, we can move into different parts of the world and take on different identities. I do not want people to label us or see us as our cultural practices only. Let us add depth to what people see.
  • Q: What artist(s) influence your work?
     
    A: I found myself looking at Luis Alberto Rodriguez, there is a body of work where he explores nudity to explore power and purity. It is a photographic book, so his book really stands out for me, especially with what I am trying to do now. In terms of South African artists, I would say Sthenjwa Luthuli as he and I use the same medium and with him being quite experienced in the industry, I get to look at his different techniques and perfect what I do. Then there is Katlego Tlabelahe, he is a painter based in Pretoria I think. His exploration of the soft life for Black people is something I enjoy and most recently he started incorporating architectural elements in his paintings.