b. 1982
Modimolle, Limpopo Johannesburg-based Artist Nelson Makamo is best known for his charcoal and oil paintings that redresses decades of images that have portrayed African children in destitute.
Makamo’s career spans sixteen years since the year he received his formal training at Artist proof studios, in Johannesburg. However, he has managed to solidify an iconic signature and a subject matter that has steadily placed him on a global stage, making him one of the world’s youngest and most sought-after visual artists of our times. Makamo has exhibited in South Africa, the USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland. His work is featured in prestigious public and private collections.
Nelson Makamo’s artwork speaks to the changing global mindset around what it means to be an African child, employing a mixed media style and a unique mark-making technique that breaks scholarly rules in a very distinct signature style.
His work has been recently acquired by the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany.