Vuyo Mabheka lives and works in Thokoza, Johannesburg.

– Home and studio — together or apart?
I don’t have a professional studio or a home that could fit one yet. I work from my room, I guess I can say that it’s my dream studio since it’s also where I sleep. Hopefully I will have a bigger studio some day and I’ll be able to store and display my work and ideas.

– What is the first art book you remember?
The first art book I remember was a Gregory Crewdson, I was fascinated by how everything seemed to be perfectly in place. The lighting and composition, I could feel his control over the image, it almost felt like a real life dollhouse.

– What is your studio/creative soundtrack?
My soundtrack is basically personal stories, whether they’re being told through music or by mouth. I visualise a lot, when I hear a story or listening to music or people having a conversation, all I see is myself in there while the said story unfolds, it always feels like I was there too.

– What is the favorite thing you have in the studio?
My favourite thing other than the “Popihuise” series in my studio so far is my guitar, I bought a guitar because I love folk music but I can’t play any instruments. I also love writing and composing music, I do it digitally on my free time.

– Did you always want to be an artist?
I can’t say that I’ve always wanted to be an artist but I’ve always been an artist in one way or another. I did my story telling through rap when I was at junior phase in high school but I couldn’t afford to record music and I tried acting a year before I joined in photography. I was a visual arts learner at school but I only discovered myself as artist through photography.

–What does a free day look like?
My free day is when I’m chilling with my peers and having conversations not necessarily relating to art or myself because I spend most of my time alone working or brainstorming ideas, I’m only free outside of my home and when I’m home I reflect on my experience from outside, and that usually results to more creative ideas. I didn’t have much of a social life when I was younger and now that I’m an artist, I am more invested in my work because it’s how I get to be part of conversations, my work is basically how I deal with social anxiety.

books & objects