This video screenshot shows the trash collected by Ndabuko Ntuli around Alexandra township. (Photo/CCTV.com)
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, and that rings true for a disadvantaged, self-taught artist in South Africa's Johannesburg. He sees value in what other people discard.
One man's trash can sometimes be another man's treasure. And For Ndabuko Ntuli the trash collected around Alexandra township is what gives his sculptures life.
"As you can see there is a lot of trash here, a lot of rubbish in Alex because of the way we are living, so there is a lot of things that I can find, like sculls bottles anything people use and they just throw. Here I come with something new, different using different mediums like using trash. I don't know how it comes out, but I have been trying to experiment different things, in different ways, so here it comes when i am using trash," Ntuli said.
And it's in the middle of these shacks in one of Johannesburg's oldest townships where the magic happens, And what once lay on the streets of Alex now hangs on the walls of a Sandton art gallery selling for thousands of Rands.
"Ndabuko is one of the artists in South Africa that people must look out for, locally and internationally, just by the purchases and the people who have bought his art they've responded in a way that they want to come back they want to see where this artist is going , so defiantly someone to look out for," Mandy Ndesi, art expert with Stephan Weiz & Co., siad.
At a close first glance Ntuli's informal creativity looks like scattered rubbish, but take a step back and the full creativity is revealed. Ntuli's hub of experimentation has resulted in unique Eco sculptures, and he dreams of one day exhibiting them outside South Africa.
"I want to see these sculptures in very big galleries around the world to see my new sculpture, my new 3D eco art, I want to see it in New York, London see it all over the work, and I want the world to know about my work, and my art, and to learn from this 3D Eco art, this is the medium I have to keep teaching people and they might also use this medium in the art industry," Ntuli said.
Nthuli hopes to reach millions around the world by turning trash into treasure, and becoming one of South Africa's most renowned eco artist's.
