Mbongeni Buthelezi from Johannesburg recycles plastic waste into art, tearing off strips of coloured plastic and melting them onto a home made plastic canvas.
When he was young, he could not afford pain so he decided to use waste plastic instead.
The way I do my work is that I collect plastics, recycled plastics, from retails shops, garbage dumps and so on. I bring them back into my studio. I first stretch white roofing plastic over a wooden frame, and then layer coloured strips on top.
Mbongeni Buthelezi, Artist
In 2011, Johannesburg Art Gallery hosted Buthelezi’s mid-career retrospective. Buthelezi’s work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada and Europe.
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