Johannesburg - A maths boffin and A-student, a boy from a village near Brits in the North West harboured dreams of becoming a veterinarian. But a chance encounter with a Good Samaritan turned his fortunes around and he’s never been happier! Science’s loss became art’s gain.
Michael Mfisa (38) says he never imagined even in his wildest dreams that he’d ever wield a brush to dabble in art. Today he’s gaining quite a reputation as a growing – and brilliant – Ndebele painter. He’s so good at it that often when he’s done, he stands back to admire his work and thinks there was a third hand helping him on a project.
“I started in 2003,” Mfisa says, “somewhat by accident. Even at school, I was not interested in art. I met a white man. The problem I had was that I couldn’t further my studies, so I was looking for piece jobs. He took me to paint, just normal painting in a project he had in the North West,” Mfisa says, tracing his journey.
The man he met was Hans Nel, the famed late production designer. Nel was the costume designer for the movie “Shaka Zulu”.
“He had an eye for talent. So he asked me if I did not want him to teach me something. I was only there for the piece job. I wanted money. I thought ‘what the heck’, so I agreed. After finishing the painting project he took me to Lesedi Cultural Village, near Lanseria, north-west of Joburg. He exposed me to the Ndebele art. He had hired Ndebele women to help him at Lesedi. They were slow; they took their time in being meticulous. He asked if I couldn’t help hasten the pace, and get the job done. I did.”
“I started learning from these women. Bit by bit, I got to like it. I never thought I’d do it outside Lesedi, for a living. Nel was near retirement. We sat down for another chat. He said, ‘I will leave you with the whole project. I’m giving you something that can earn you a decent living’, he told me. He said I should not confine my work to Lesedi. He taught me everything. ‘What I’m giving you today’, he told me, ‘you will appreciate when I’m gone’. I went to different places with this art that he taught me. It was God’s way. I was good at maths at school. I passed well. Here I was, suddenly a painter!”
Mfisa says he did not want to copy what Esther Mahlangu does. “I have my own signature. I want to tell my own story. The colours are not just cosmetic. There’s meaning. In many areas where they do Ndebele art, they do not have brown. My work has brown, which is featured prominently.”
He gives meaning to every colour in his works. He’s never met Esther Mahlangu. “What I like about her is that she ensures Ndebele culture does not die.”
Renowned photographer Peter Magubane’s book, “Vanishing Cultures of South Africa” has made an impression on the upcoming painter: “Reading it, I thought I could also play a role in preserving these cultures. It’s a legacy I want to leave. Slowly the cultures are vanishing. Esther has taken it upon herself to ensure the Ndebele culture stays.”
His new work has taken him to Gqeberha, KwaZulu-Natal and all over Gauteng. His footprint is left at such places as the curio shop on Vilakazi Street, Soweto.
A devout ZCC faithful, he quotes from the scriptures, to find God’s purpose for him on earth. He also quotes the bishop of his church expansively: what is your purpose in life?
“Last year I was in KZN at the invitation of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation. They help crèches with meals and stationery. The buildings were dilapidated. They asked me to fix and paint.”
Mfisa has also added plumbing and electricity to his portfolio of work so renovating the crèches becomes easier. He did six of them in Natal. We still have to travel around the continent,” he says.
He’s now going around his home province of the North West, refurbishing crèches. “This is something that I want to do for life. The challenge is funding. You need paint, and travel costs, I can do it happily, but the extra hands I need to source want to be compensated. They will not volunteer.”
He speaks fondly of his work in KZN, especially of parents asking what they can do to help. “The gifts I got when I finished. It was a humbling experience. If we are going to help kids, we must start them young, at a kindergarten level. This art exposed me to my real passion. I don’t think I’d have been happy if I had gone on to do something else."