The sculptor who turned mud into a masterpiece

Minenhle Nxele’s talent is unstoppable. As a young boy, he’d run to the river, grab a handful of mud, and shape it into a car, a cow, or any object he wanted to play with. Nxele clearly had a knack for sculpture, but it wasn’t something he could do in Elandskop. “Art is not something that is common in my village,” he says. And yet Nxele knew he had to pursue it.

Because his school didn’t offer art as a subject, Nxele begged his mother to let him attend extra classes. When she finally gave in, Nxele didn’t mind the 45-minute walk to his weekly lessons. There, he could sharpen his drawing skills. After high school, Nxele moved to the city to further his talent at Durban University of Technology specialising in sculpting. It didn’t take long for him to impress the country with his artistic vision. Nxele has welded life-size dinosaurs out of disused car parts, and created a massive portrait of Nelson Mandela entirely out of scrap pipes. “Art has always come naturally to me,” he says.

Nxele is now continuing his studies in art, pushing his boundaries, and sculpting a career with the support of his loved ones. “If it wasn’t for my family, I don’t think I would have been able to become an artist,” he says. “I cannot imagine doing anything else right now.” We’re all born with talent, but it’s up to us to mould a future from it.