Khutso Mmethi shows hand-drawn t-shirts
As you set your foot into her modest workshop at her home at Zone 1, Seshego, outside Polokwane, the stench of acrylic paint stops you dead in your tracks.
You have not entered into the chambers of mishmash and awe… you have just made an entry into the real world of a fine artist, craftswoman and designer.
The adrenaline rush is almost tangible.
Scattered all over the workshop are scrap metals and other antiquated materials.
Khutso Mmethi admits to spending ample time at scrapyards and dumping sites scouring for outdated bits and pieces which she will latter turn them into eye-catching objects.
Among some of her antiques is a time traveller piece made of old wood and zinc covered in what is known in village and township vernacular as Machangani bag.
The watch is decorated with traditional colours of various colours in African cultures.
“The theme for the Machangani bag and these colours on the watch is a reflection of the time travelled by African people carrying their possessions in this bag associated with the Tsonga people” Mmethi explained.
Fine art has always been part of Mmethi’s DNA since she was still a little girl growing in the largest township in Limpopo.
Explaining her path through her formative years, Mmethi says, “From a very young age, I was already capable of showing signs of a future fine artist. Although the people I grew under their watch couldn’t understand my inclinations at the time, today their eyes are wide open and their mental recollections are refreshed. This is because I am pursuing a career path I started at a tender age.”
Asked how she describes herself, Mmethi is eloquent when she says “I’m that young female artist who sees the whole world as a canvas. As much as I say I am a professional, I am still paving my path to become not a professional fine artist but one who makes a living out of it. With my eagerness to learn about this world of our, I’m challenging myself with the kind of boundaries I cross my work, I believe I’m on the right path. With or without experience, I push to get recognition in relevant platforms to showcase my work. With the disadvantage of not having to learn the business side of arts but the practicality of creating it, I am willing to put my head in and learn as much as I can and make success out of it.”
After matriculating at Bokamoso secondary school in her home township, she followed her childhood dream and descended to Gauteng in 2009 where she studied for a National Diploma in Fine Arts at Vaal University of Technology where she graduated in 2012.
Since then, the world has been her oyster, perfecting that art of print making, etching, lino, woodcutting, screen print, mono and lithography.
Her craft also includes welding.
Khutso makes and sells handmade clocks, hand-drawn t-shirts and caps.
A regular Polokwane Flea Market participant, Khutsho is set to take the South African fine art market over by exhibiting at bigger platforms in the country.
Some of her work is exhibited at Mthui The Hub in Hartfielf in Pretoria.
Asked whether there is money in fine arts, Mmethi had this to say: “There is lot of money in this line of business if you are able to penetrate lucrative markets. I am currently targeting furniture stores, white people, trendy black people and tourists. There is a major snag, though, when it comes to blacks in general. Black people still lag behind in terms of understanding the nitty-gritty of fine arts.”
Mmethi, who was a talismanic shooting guard at Seshego Sonics Basketball Club during her heydays, also moonlights as a poet and theatre performer.