GQ: As an artist, you are quite famous for portraiture. What is the secret to capturing such intimate, honest and compelling images/videos?
FM: Firstly, it’s the years of experience. I’ve mentioned in other interviews that I got into art, at the age of seven, I discovered that I’m an artist at that age. What captures the essence of the portrait or the soul of a person you are capturing is the eyes. If the eyes are captured well, they draw you in. It’s also technique and I try my best to always be unique in what I am capturing.
GQ: You use the hashtag #arttherapy with your posts on Instagram. Do you think that is a form of healing? Does it bring joy? Or does it bring healing into the person who’s engaging with it at that time?
FM: I started painting, again, I think during the height of lockdown when we were on level 5. At first, it was boredom, and frustration because I couldn’t do anything, I See A Different You was on pause because we couldn’t produce anything. I had just moved into my new place and it’s beautiful. I have all these nice things around me, but there was, there was a feeling of unhappiness inside me, and that is when I started having an intervention and asked myself ‘’Fhatuwani, what makes you happy?’’ and the response was painting. From when I was a kid I would enjoy painting, which was something I stopped doing six or seven years ago. I started painting again during level 5 of lockdown and that felt therapeutic for me. I felt like I was reconnecting with my younger self again and that brought a sense of joy that you can’t buy. The more I did it, the better I felt about myself and the mindset I was in. It was such a therapeutic process for me that when I’m painting, I want that same energy I feel to translate into the work I’m working on. And whoever buys that piece of painting can get that energy transferred to them.
GQ: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
FM: Inspiration is all around us. For me, it’s simple. It’s the people I’m hanging with, from my childhood, and I also get it from my mother who is an amazing person, because I can’t believe how kind she is. She has moulded me to be the man that I am. As much as I’m a man who was born from a woman and I am very much aware that I am this strong because of the women that are in my life.
GQ: Who’s your favourite artist/s besides yourself?
FM: A lot. I have a lot I’ll name a few. My brother Justice is my favourite, Sthu Manaka, and then I love a lot of graffiti artists, there’s a guy in Germany called Dime, he does a lot of 3D work. Another friend of mine Osmic, Wanda Buhle, Harmonia Rosales, Ibe Ananaba and Linsey Levendall.