Soweto artist Senzo Nhlapo has been telling the story of his community through the medium of graffiti long before it became widely recognised as art. Known in the art world as Senzart911, Nhlapo is one of Soweto’s pioneering graffiti artists, using walls not as sites of destruction, but as canvases of memory, resistance, and African identity. The name Senzart911 traces back to a studio he once worked in, located at number 911.
After travelling and deepening his artistic practice, Nhlapo of Mofolo Village opened his own studio where he trained others in art. He and fellow colleagues would say, “Senzi art e911 (we are making art at 911)“. From there, the name stuck.
Nhlapo did his first painting in 1991, driven by a feeling that painting on an A4 page was not enough. “I wanted to communicate historical things that were happening in the hood,” he said. Growing up during the apartheid era, graffiti became his contribution to the broader political movement.
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“For me, graffiti was the only universal language,” he explained. His artistic style draws heavily from African aesthetics, particularly Ndebele and Xhosa influences. He cites South African artists Ernest Manqoba and Charles Nkosi as key inspirations.
“These are the people who were around me when I started. I looked up to them because they were my teachers and mentors,” he said.
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