Themba

My name is Themba Mkhangeli and I am 22 years old. I grew up in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, in a small village called Julukuqu where my roots lie. I am currently based in Cape Town in Nyanga East. I am an aspiring ballpoint pen artist who focus mostly on the human form, particularly portraits. I started doing art at the age of five but I realized my talents in Grade 6 while doing school projects. I always loved doing practicals than reading. The older children encouraged me and from the environment my confidence grew. 2. Yes, I have two brothers and one sister. The only father I know is my mother, she runs a small business of selling sweets, cheeps, meat, chickens and buckets in the streets of Nyanga East in Cape Town more than 25 years now. I’m the one and only artist artist in my family because my brother could manage to follow art since he dropped out in high in the Eastern Cape. When I was in the Eastern Cape I had no idea of what is art or what does it means and also I did knew any artist but when I came to Cape Town I connected with few artists. 3. I always love to play, create and I was curious. I used to built animals, people using clay and create cars using wires. We grew up without no toys. Even built soccer balls using plastics, I love sport and art. Something that was fascinating to me the most was when at home we were not allowed to go and play, always we must behind or around caw and sheeps. Life story 1. I work as a full-time artist. It’s been almost 6 years since I changed my mind to became an art after completing my matric in 2013. I draw, paint and work as a freelance signature sometimes. 2. My teachers, classmates, people around my community they always advise me to go to art school to study art while I was doing maths and and physics in high school, even myself of course. I’m more passionate about playing soccer and do art all the time. My personal goal is to excel in all the aspects of art and to be recognized as a serious artist in the future. My ambition is to be represented in public, corporate and private galleries all over the world. I plan to do art for a living since I believe art is life. I want to open a project to give back to my community by teaching children art after school or any of their spare time. 3. To be skillful lead me to art. My matric results were not good enough for me to proceed with my study then I applied for industrial design, they accepted me for extended carriculum programs (ecp) at CPUT. I did my ecp then I failed theory (history of art), they didn’t allow me to go to my first year because of that then I decided to drop out and work as a self taught full-time artist at home. 4. I did my low grades in Mthatha in Julukuqu Junior Secondary School from grade R to 6, Linge Primary school in Cape Town from grade 7 to 9 and New Eisleben High school from grade 10 to 12. It was really exciting to learn about different environments and meet new friends. 5. I have no mentor in my life journey as a self taught artist but I have few artists that I look up to like Loyiso Mkize (SA) Nelson Makamo (SA) Elize Bezuidenhout (SA). They all portraits artists who work in different styles of drawing/painting but their work speaks to me and motivate me to do better as I learn by seeing. I have also my favorites ballpoint pen artists I look up to around Africa Enam Boski (Gha) Oscar Ukonu (Nigeria) Mostafa Khodier (Egypt) all hyper realistic portraits artists. 6. 2016 I exhibited my work for the first time in the gallery, the exhibition was called The Framed Feather Art Exhibition at Artscape in Cape Town which was curated by Hugo Da Villiers and Ilse Nieman which open doors for me to see a green light . 2017 I selected as a top 40 finalists for Sanlam Portrait Awards competition which helped me to get more connections around many galleries across the country. I was a selected as a top 3 finalists for Bic Pen Art Master competition 2017 which also helped me to know how to market myself using social media platforms and get I also get more exposure. Recently I donated 20 portraits of late Nelson Mandela to Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha via Primeir of Eastern Cape which also helps me to boost my CV as a young artist. 7. To become an artist it’s not easy, it’s very expensive. It needs more time and dedication. Lake of materials and support from my family before they understood what I’m doing is very important it challenge me a lot. Lake of space it also affects me even now because it doing have money to rant studio. Reflections and lessons 1. I learned that art journey is not as someone thought it is, it needs more patience and dedication. Interesting more time in your work helps grow better and unique style is very important. 2. I have no mentor in my life journey as a self taught artist but I have few artists that I look up to like Loyiso Mkize (SA) Nelson Makamo (SA) Elize Bezuidenhout (SA). They all portraits artists who work in different styles of drawing/painting but their work speaks to me and motivate me to do better as I learn by seeing. I have also my favorites ballpoint pen artists I look up to around Africa Enam Boski (Gha) Oscar Ukonu (Nigeria) Mostafa Khodier (Egypt) all hyper realistic portraits artists. As an African artist I love African art. 3. I work as an individual or independent artist 4. As an independent artist I also make sure that my speaks volumes to other people or artist. I capture the focus facial expression on my portrait because I found important to look forward never turn your head back and focus on your dream. 5. I enjoyed working on hyper realistic portraits because many people don’t understand why people have so many features and details. I feel like every detail a person has described her/him without going inside his/her heart like face especial eyes. I love nature. When I was young I used to play and kill inserts as I grew up I learned that inserts are very important in our lives and they play a huge role. I always associate people with insects according to their facial expressions and a research I got about that specific insects I found to educate people to appreciate nature. I love all my work but my special piece is call Uloyiko, the portrait with the spider dropping down from the head because it really shows that sometimes you need to brave and constant focus where you want to go don’t be afraid about negative that trying to drag you down. In my cultural beliefs, we believe that spider is a devil. 6. 7. Self taught everything. Practice makes perfect and as I mentioned investing enough time to your draft is very important. 8. Without your community support you are nothing. I love community development, I don’t have nothing but to invest my time with kids who really want to learn something from me it means a lot. My mind set always wants to give back to the people. I received so much love and respect young kids and adults. 9. I have a big sense of hope because I pushed my name a bit forward to the art industry and is to lose hope because the road still too long now it’s the begging. 10. I want to host a solo exhibition next coming year. My dream is to own my own art studio and gallery and to serve as a mentor to young people, particularly from the poorer black communities. Acquiring artistic knowledge and skills will provide a positive attitude and confidence and a much needed source of income. Thank you Regards