Siphesihle Melato says he was always different from the environment in which he grew up. He always had long hair and got into music and fashion early in life – which was a form of expression of art and himself. Pictures: Nigel Sibanda
Dressed in black in what looks like an ordinary pair of jeans and a jacket, there is more to the man than meets the eye.
The jacket is by a local brand, Tshepo Jeans, the vintage shoes are army-green and there’s a redand-yellow scarf hanging loosely around his neck.
Multidisciplinary artist Siphesihle Melato, known as John Johannesburg, looks stylish, dressing himself and others as a thrift store owner.
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But he is now spending more time on his body of work about mental health in the hood.
The artist walks with a swag that makes you think music is playing in his head. So it’s no surprise to find he’s a vinyl collector who refers to himself as a “vibes dealer, meaning I bring vibes to spaces where I play”.
His music selection is from “African diaspora, taking it back to the ’90s all the way to the ’70s”, he says. Some of his musical inspirations include Fela Kuti, the Nigerian jazz artist and pan-Africanist who was famous for his political activism, and the “father of South African jazz”, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, known for his anti-apartheid songs.
“I’ve always been a different dude from the environment where I grew up [on the East Rand].
“I always had long hair, I got into fashion and music early in my life and that in itself was a form of expression of self and art,” says Melato.
He wears his dreadlocks with pride, like the pride he has for his portraits which provoke a conversation about mental health where access to health care is limited.
“What does it mean to not be mentally okay in the hood? What does anxiety, bipolar and multipersonality disorder and stress look like?” he asks.
He says these disorders are accompanied by economic contributors like poverty, which have made it hard for people to access help.
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“I preach Black Consciousness which is based on a philosophy of understanding self. This is why it’s important to be confronted with what mental health looks like so we can understand ourselves.
“It’s also because the wrong diagnosis, which is often self-diagnosis, hinders us from moving forward so conversations about what it is can help us,” he says.
Melato says the reason his portraits are drawn with pen is because it is a permanent medium.
“There is a lot of anxiety around using the pen because you can’t erase it, so it was a challenge to myself to not be afraid.”
As you enter his home studio, you’re greeted by a wisp of smoke flowing into the room’s high ceiling. The Maboneng studio constantly bustles with movers and shakers, creatives, tourists and hustlers who fight to exist in the City of Gold.
They are much like Melato, who says he worked hard to get out of the hood, “I now do everything I promised myself as a child I’d do and I have to be the greatest of all time. I have to not just be a jack of all trades, I have to be the master of them.”
This means constantly working on his craft. Melato’s studio is a typical loft with brick walls and large, bare windows that allow an open view of the city.
He lives in an open-plan space with stairs leading up to a bedroom that has a futon bed with no base. There are works of art all over the place, some are from other countries.
Then there’s his body of work which is hard to miss as it’s thematic presence screams for attention. The work is drawn by pen, with dark black lines or some lines visibly drawn over and over again to create shape.
“I’m just doing art to take us back to the core of what it means for us to be black and from the hood,” says Melato.
He adds that travelling and living in different cities has changed his life, “If I didn’t travel, I would probably only have been a designer and not have done some of the things I’m doing now.
“Living in different cities has opened up my mind to big things.” Melato’s contribution to subculture is just “being”.
He says this means simply living his life as a black person and as an artist in the world.
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