A triumph in Time for SA artist Makamo

WHEN Hollywood director Ava DuVernay visited Nelson Makamo’s studio in Joburg last year, little did he know that his artwork would make the cover of Time magazine.

In her post, she wrote: “What a thrill to visit the studio of one of my favourite artists, @NelsonMakamo. An honour, in fact. I can’t wait to welcome this dignified lady into my home. Thank you for introducing me to her, Nelson.”

If your focus wasn’t solely on the State of the Nation Address yesterday, you would have noticed that Makamo’s name was also trending.

Fellow South Africans didn’t take long to congratulate the visual artist for his triumph. The magazine available in stores today.

DuVernay, the mind behind movies such as Selma and 13th, was the guest editor for Time’s Art of Optimism editon.

“I really love consuming, drinking in the creativity and imagination of other people. It’s like fuel to me, like fire, like food. Art doesn’t have to be behind walls. It is the way that we are living creatively in our own lives, the way that we are taking in all the images around us in a day,” DuVernay said in a Time video on Twitter.

The social media platform was flooded with congratulatory messages from friends and fans of Makamo such as Black Coffee, comedian Loyiso Madinga, Maps Maponyane and Bridget Masinga.

In an interview with Time, the Limpopo-born artist said he had never done work for a magazine before and wanted the painting to be an introduction of who he was to the world.

“It scared me because, even though I’ve been working for a long time, it felt like a debut.”

The work, Vision of a limitless future, was inspired by Makamo’s 11-year-old niece. “Later in life we sometimes forget there’s beauty in being a human being, but children are just discovering that.”

Read about Makamo on Time.com.