Make ugly beautiful
Mbulelo Nhlapo
Copywriter
Thabang Lebobye
Visual Artist, Animator
“Art can change the world. Words can change the world. Trash can change the world. The simple act of cleaning up the environment creates beauty, in more ways than one. Firstly, a clean environment is more beautiful than a littered one. Secondly, when we recycle the trash we pick up we can create a better world. The specific South African brand of waste pickers – called abomakgereza in the township lexicon – plays an important, heroic role in this process. Abomakgereza are making South Africa beautiful again. We’ve juxtaposed a lone makgereza against a vast blooming field of cosmos flowers. This way, we show how beautiful the world can be when we take the ugly out of it.”
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Meet Sergeant Major Mbulelo Nhlapo. See, this here soldier, never faulted in the war of the written word. When his shoulders were laden with anxiety at the sight of the ‘enemy’, the brief, brother-man would have a belly laugh coz questions asked of him in the brief seemed facetious at the least. Sometimes, he would simply just snigger to hide anger. He would soldier on, steeled with words that moved mountains, slogans that would part seas, headlines that would bring the world to its knees. This soldier courts words, this cannon fodder whispers sweet everythings in their unsuspecting ears while quietly watching words worship at his feet. His resolute pursuit to conquer the written word led him to working in the trenches of wars at Leo Burnett, Lowe Bull, Ogilvy, FCB, Network BDDO, Jupiter Drawing Room, to name but a few. He has been honoured for his sterling victories with the war of the word by The New York Advertising Festival, Clios, Cannes Advertising Festival and Loeries. This has been for championed work for brands like Audi, Dulux, Metro FM, Cell C, Channel O, Salvation Army, Coca-Cola, Axe, Castle Milk Stout. Ai, ai, Captain.
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Thabang is a visual artist based in Johannesburg experimenting with various techniques using acrylics and charcoal. He started his formal art practice at The Artists Proof Studio, where his love for his home city as a subject in his works started. He then graduated with a National Diploma in Fine Arts from the University of Johannesburg. He went on to study Multimedia at Vega. He received patronage from Johnson & Johnson to further his professional development at the Artists Proof Studio in 2005, and also from the artist William Kentridge in 2008. In his recent works, Thabang explores life in Johannesburg in an ongoing series exploring the inner-city inhabitants, and the city itself as the subject.