ALEXANDRA – Alex artist Elvis Maseko (33) gets his big break.
Back: Elvis Maseko and shop staff Noma Mojane. Front: Tumi Mnisi, Kirsten Hopwood and Valerie Phahlane. Photo: Leseho Manala
Alex artist Elvis Maseko (33) commended retail group Rush for providing him with a lifeline for prospective success in the clothing design industry.
This through a design they have used on a T-shirt that reflects his life and proud Alex passion.
The Cape Town-based company met Elvis at the Alex Mall where it launched the first of its current two shops countrywide and was awed by the design now on their brand of clothing. Company marketing manager, Kirsten Hopwood said the design is brilliant, well deserved for the shirt and exposed Alex’s hidden talent. Maseko, who fell in love with art at nine years old and trained at the now defunct Alex Art Centre, doubles as a car guard at the mall.
“My love of art centres on the Alex I was born in and truly love. It expresses residents and others’ love and hate relations of the township’s social, economic, environmental, cultural and other conditions.
“The design resembles life in Alexandra with all its rats, both literally and figuratively and this T-shirt is all about love or hate. Either you love Alex or you hate it, and I love Alex with all my heart,” Maseko said.
He approached the shop with a display of 20 art samples and they chose one of a rat devouring a love-heart, which is printed on black and white T-shirts said to be flying off the shelves compared to their own one printed only with the ‘I Love Alex’ message. He said all his designs were windows into the township for anyone interested to know Alex and its people’s lives and styles.
“God designed me and other local artists and designers to be Alex’s ambassadors through messages on its rich history and intricacies. Also, the shirt compliments the mall’s ambassadorial role for tourism and the financial spin-offs which uplift the township. He commended the shop for setting an example to others to provide lesser-known but skilled residents opportunities to better their lives and expose the community and its conditions.
Back: Elvis Maseko and shop staff Noma Mojane. Front: Tumi Mnisi, Kirsten Hopwood and Valerie Phahlane. Photo: Leseho Manala
Hopwood urged businesses to focus beyond profit motives by supporting social initiatives in their market base. “The message on a shirt made from quality 100 percent cotton embraces the close-knit community’s spirit, normalises the image of the residents in the eyes of others and to businesses which tend to exclude them from quality products and services that meet their basic and other needs. All our employees are Alexandrians and we will partner a local school as we embed our presence in the township.”
Maseko wants to resuscitate the art centre and create a consortium of unemployed artists to save and promote the township’s rich artistic talent and history. He commended prominent Alexandrians like Nelly Maseko and Obed Baphela for encouraging him to continue thinking out of the box and achieving his dream in the art and design world.
Details: Kirsten Hopwood 082 748 8887.
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