Thokozani Mthiyane is a Johannesburg based artist, who has been largely influenced by his time spent under the tutelage of artists Sfiso KaMkame and Thami Jali.

Mthiyane has experience in children’s theatre with the Madcap’s Educational Theatre Company, after which he had his first solo exhibition at the Flat Gallery in Durban.

His artistic flare stems from his creative combination of painting and poetry. He has exhibited for Alliance Francoise and Resolution Gallery in Johannesburg.

In 2015 he had a solo exhibition titled “Whetin dey happen Lagos/ Jozi” at Mzansi Gallery Johannesburg South Africa.

Whenever Mthiyane paints he plays a lot of jazz in the background and that also fuels his thought process.

His works are more about personal expression and the channeling of innate creative forces than they are stylistically reflexive engagements with the discourse of art history.

“The works are only premeditated up to maybe the first gesture. After that to complete them, it’s something completely different. It’s an automatic process and I just go on,” he said.

Mthiyane has a profound and creative way of using art as a tool to subtly make a statement about the challenges that we face in South Africa.

He considers art as something that enriches the soul. It’s a healing process and also a tool, to him the process of making an artwork is more important than what the work is trying to say.

His working process seems to transcend normal practice as his entire body is used to create his works. He can be seen spontaneously adding collage, drawing, textual elements, mixing paint and soil with his feet and sticking found objects like needles onto the paper.

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