Nelson Makamo from Limpopo had one of his artworks featured on the Time Magazine cover, spent time with Oprah and he has now been interviewed by our very own Trevor Noah!
New York City, United States – Nelson Makamo is an incredible artist who candidly opened up about himself while being interviewed by Trevor Noah!
Nelson was born in Modimolle in Limpopo and later moved to Johannesburg to pursue his career as an artist. He has had art exhibitions all over the world, including the UK, Italy and Paris, France. He has hosted ten solo exhibitions since 2005. We first featured the incredible artist after his work made the front cover of TIME magazine!
The magazine was guest-edited by Ava Duvernay, a filmmaker and director. She is renowned for directing films like Selma and A Wrinkle in Time and creating the series Queen Sugar which airs on Oprah’s network OWN.
In her editor’s letter for this issue, she spoke of celebrating artists that carve a path in this world.
“In the issue, we celebrate and suggest ways that one can find inspiration in our present moment through the work of artists who carve a path for us all. Whether a filmmaker or a photographer, an author or an actress, a poet or a painter, these pages are filled with people, who use art as a weapon for dynamic optimism.”
His style is mesmerising! It is a combination of charcoal, acrylic and watercolour paints. His use of black and bright colours draws the eye to the faces of the children so you can almost see into their souls.
“Nelson’s work is strongly influenced by the candid innocents of children. He is particularly drawn to children in rural South Africa, he believes that they embody the peace and harmony we all strive for in life, the search for eternal joy lies in the child within us all, we are just so consumed with worldly things that we forget the simplicity of life through a child’s perspective. He evolved his scope of experience, so did his medium of expression, namely charcoal, acrylic, watercolours, monotypes, silkscreen and oil paintings.”
Makamo opened up and described how he went from a small-town boy to a world-renowned artist and lays out his mission to portray Africa in a more optimistic light with his incredible interview with Trevor Noah!
Watch the incredible interview below:
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