“We should never give up.” The renowned artist drawing from life on the streets

Chuma Somdaka’s journey to becoming a renowned artist began with a piece of discarded paper and a stick. Lighting up the wood to make charcoal, she sketched out a portrait of a friend she met while living rough in Cape Town’s Company Gardens. Somdaka felt a sense of reprieve for the first time after years of sleeping on a bench. As she continued painting the people she encountered, Somdaka developed her talent by chronicling life on the streets. “The artist within me transcends my hardships,” she says.

Originally from the Eastern Cape, Somdaka moved to Cape Town after experiencing violence within her own family. But she continued to be subjected to discrimination. While living in Gugulethu, Somdaka was targeted and threatened by a man for being gay. Without a recourse to safety, she landed up in the Company Gardens. Art provided Somdaka with the therapeutic outlet she had longed for. “Painting helped me process a lot of the traumas I faced that I was not ready to deal with emotionally,” she says. It was also her route to recovering from homelessness. At the advice of a friend, Somdaka began a blog using a computer at the public library to share her art and stories. As her work gained more attention, Somdaka was invited to join an artist’s residency with the organisation Souper Troopers.

From previously sleeping on top of her artwork to protect it from being stolen, Somdaka now has a studio and exhibition space for her abstract and emotive pieces. “My work is crossing borders and being appreciated in private collections,” she says. “This makes me feel great and gives meaning to my struggle.” Today, Somdaka can afford her own accommodation but still uses her art to speak up for and support people experiencing homelessness. “My message for anyone living on the street is that there is reason and there is purpose in you,” she says. “We should never give up on our dreams.”