Real people live in informal settlements and I want to tell their stories through my art. I have been doing art from when I was about eight and used to draw with pen and pencils - pictures of bullies at school, and I decorated my schoolbooks with images of the UDF struggle graffiti I saw in the '80s on the walls of Nyanga where I lived. Now I paint with oil and acrylics, or draw with charcoal, sometimes on canvases but mostly on found objects. I love the rough surfaces of found objects; they have a story of their own, like the two-plate burner. People have lost loved ones because of these stoves, they are not safe for the informal settlement. I use whatever I can find that tells a story, and I have painted on everything from skew pieces of rusty metal, to the doors of my grandparents' cupboard, which told their love story.
I love paint. It talks to me. The colours have different emotions.
As an artist we are the voice of those who can't talk.
Background and Early Life
Khanya Mehlo, born in 1977, is an artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. His artistic journey began at the tender age of eight, where he started drawing with pens and pencils, capturing images of school bullies and decorating his schoolbooks with UDF struggle graffiti from Nyanga, where he lived during the 1980s.
Education and Early Career
Mehlo's formal art education was limited to one year in Standard 5 at a school in Kensington, Cape Flats, where he also attended Saturday art classes for a few months at the Community Arts Project (CAP) in Woodstock. After leaving school in Grade 11, he returned to CAP for two years of art study, including a unique stint on Robben Island, where he engaged with visiting schoolchildren through art-based educational performances.
Further Studies and Residencies
He was awarded a bursary to study animation at City Varsity but left after two years due to financial constraints. He briefly studied design at the Red and Yellow School in Salt River. Mehlo's career includes several artist residencies: a year at the Castle of Good Hope in 2009, three months at Greatmore Studios in 2010, and residencies at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg in 2013, where he was interviewed by the Sunday Times, and at the Becomo Art Centre in Soweto, where he also taught art to local children.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Khanya Mehlo's work has been showcased in numerous exhibitions, including Luciano Benneton's Imago Mundi in 2013. He is featured in the book "South Africa:10x12: Contemporary Artists from South Africa" and has his art documented in the Art & Artist files at the Warren M Robbins Library, Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. He participated in group shows in Berlin in 2007 and at Daor Contemporary in Cape Town, with exhibitions in 2020 and 2022. His 2022 project, "Homecoming," is a series of charcoal drawings depicting rural homecomings.
Recent Works and Community Engagement
After his home in Qanduqandu, Khayelitsha, was destroyed by fire in September 2021, Mehlo repurposed the salvaged metal for his exhibition "After the Fire" at The Woodstock Hub. During the lockdown, he taught art to children in his community, with support from a crowdfunding initiative for materials and sustenance. Exhibitions of these works were held at Kelvin Corner in 2020. Since then, Mehlo has continued to exhibit his art at the Waves Theatre Café in Long Street and at 1895 Art Gallery in Burg Street, creating from his makeshift studio in Qanduqandu.
Khanya Mehlo's work spans oils and acrylics on various surfaces, reflecting his life experiences, community engagement, and the socio-political landscape of South Africa. His art is a testament to resilience, creativity, and the power of art in education and community development.