Street art honors South Africa's heroes

DW (English)

Dbongz Mahlati's hyper-real paintings adorn both the city center of Johannesburg and vibrant townships, where he aims to uplift and inspire young minds and leave a lasting positive impact on the community.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:03 Free art, illuminating the streets

00:05 and townships of Johannesburg.

00:07 Street artist, Debongz Makhloti,

00:11 captivates hearts with these hyper real murals.

00:14 His representations of hope and peace

00:16 are a common feature throughout the city.

00:18 - Being from Ekasi to the city,

00:24 would I have imagined that my talent

00:26 would bring me to this point?

00:28 Never, it's who I am and it's what I am.

00:31 And yeah, it's what I live for basically.

00:33 - An element of graffiti is tagging,

00:37 illegally spray painting one's name on public walls.

00:40 The aim is to be seen without being caught

00:42 or to spread an important message.

00:44 Considered one of the four elements of hip hop,

00:46 it is a means of cultural expression.

00:49 Debongz legally creates his work

00:51 blending graffiti and street art.

00:53 His pieces feature local heroes,

00:55 inspirational public figures and everyday characters.

00:59 - So right now we are at Mary Fitzgerald in Newtown.

01:03 So this is the hub of hip hop.

01:05 This is where hip hop basically lives in Jo'burg.

01:08 So we are here under the bridge, under the M1 bridge.

01:12 And this is where I painted these pillars

01:15 that are behind us.

01:16 These are four beautiful pillars of jazz legends.

01:19 So the aim with these ones was to honor

01:21 the work that the jazz legends in South Africa

01:25 have done for the music industry as a whole.

01:28 Because a lot of their songs, a lot of their sounds,

01:30 it gets sampled right now by hip hop artists,

01:33 by artists in different genres.

01:35 So it was to basically honor these great legends.

01:38 (speaking in foreign language)

01:43 So yeah, I love their music.

01:45 It shaped me and shaped how I look at

01:48 the spectrum of South Africa before democracy

01:52 and now in the times that we live in.

01:55 And the one that is right behind me,

01:57 exactly right behind me is AKA.

01:59 So it was to honor him also for the work that he's done

02:02 as a hip hop legend.

02:03 Like for me personally, there's great things

02:06 that he has done for my confidence

02:07 and for how I look at being an artist and a hip hop artist

02:10 and being in the hip hop spectrum in South Africa

02:13 and moving it from South Africa to the rest of the world.

02:16 - A mural can take three days to two weeks to complete.

02:20 Each of his artworks carries a narrative

02:22 that is dear to him and relatable to others.

02:24 (upbeat music)

02:27 - I'm giving to the people a narrative.

02:30 I'm giving them a story.

02:31 I want people to look at my work and be able to relate to it.

02:34 That's why I paint people.

02:36 And I try to paint them as realistically as possible

02:39 so that people can relate to them.

02:41 I try to paint them in a way that they carry a soul

02:44 and their spirit is evident,

02:46 just looking at the eyes of whoever that I'm painting.

02:49 About creating these walls for people,

02:52 when I paint, I don't paint for myself

02:54 'cause I paint the wall and then I go,

02:56 but it gets left to the people.

02:58 - A big part of what Dabangg's loves to do

03:00 involves uplifting young minds in the township

03:03 through his work.

03:04 Having grown up in a township himself,

03:06 the road to get to where he is today wasn't easy.

03:08 - So currently I'm doing a mural in Mshakeng,

03:13 which is the township that I'm from,

03:15 where I was born, where I grew up.

03:17 And the reason why I'm doing it

03:19 is because I think that's where my heart lies

03:21 more than anything,

03:22 more than me painting commercial works.

03:24 My heart lies in painting in the township

03:27 because I'm painting for the little boy in me.

03:31 I never got to experience that.

03:33 I went to a township high school.

03:34 There was nothing art activity-wise.

03:37 There was nothing that had to do with being creative.

03:40 You always got taught about the known professions.

03:44 I remember this one teacher, like,

03:45 "Yeah, I think I wanna be an artist."

03:47 Like, "Artist? Good luck."

03:50 And because I listened to that and that program,

03:54 I studied HR for three years,

03:56 but at the same time,

03:57 that's when I started doing graffiti in the city.

03:59 But true to what township life is about,

04:02 the pressures came in, family-wise.

04:05 You need to start making money, you know?

04:07 And this thing doesn't really seem to be taking you anywhere.

04:10 But 2017, I just decided, like, you know what?

04:13 I really have to do something about it.

04:15 I can't let this depression win.

04:17 So I started just, yeah, rebelling in a good way.

04:21 - And rebel he did.

04:23 Moving to Johannesburg city ignited a fire in him.

04:26 Now the murals he paints as a form

04:28 of giving back to his township

04:29 inspires anyone who comes across it.

04:33 - I'm from the West End, in Mushaken.

04:35 I love the Bongz's work

04:38 because it inspires us positively here in the township.

04:41 I mean, we get a lot of paintings from him.

04:44 - Drawings from him.

04:45 Like the drawing you see there at the back.

04:48 - There's a book and a child.

04:50 Oh, and there's a school there.

04:52 We really love his work.

04:53 It's beautiful.

04:54 - Yes, it's all good and well for me to be going around,

04:57 painting, traveling, and painting in different areas.

05:00 But it's so much more special.

05:01 It gives them so much more enlightenment and hope

05:05 when they see it live.

05:06 I grew up in a shack.

05:07 Six years ago, I was living in a shack.

05:09 Now, situations have changed.

05:11 So it's for them to also see that it doesn't matter

05:13 whether you're living in a shack,

05:15 whether you are studying with a candle.

05:18 That doesn't actually matter.

05:20 It's nothing to who you are

05:22 and it's nothing to what your gift is.

05:24 It's nothing to what you have been gifted.

05:27 - Free in mind, free with expression, and free to see,

05:32 these artworks send a message to dream big

05:34 because anything is possible.

05:36 (upbeat music)

05:39 (upbeat music)

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