Resident ARTIST in the forest, Nkhosikho has lots of talent! Here he’s getting to work on something special for the BIG BOTTLE WINE and ART AUCTION at Cellars Hohenort this August!

My name is Nkosikho Vulangengqele. I was born in 1984 in the Eastern Cape at a small village next to Umtata. I am the third born in my family of five children. I started to work with clay when I was young, herding cattle with my friends. I loved making animals and cars using clay. I did not know then that I could one day get employed by making things with clay and that through that I could help my family.

When I was in grade 2, I stopped school because some people in the family were using witchcraft on me and as a result I could not read the exam paper. In 2000 I came to Cape Town and found work as a carpenter, and I really enjoyed it. Then in 2003 my father’s employer, Mrs Angela Scheiner, asked my father to bring me with to his work. She took me to a ceramic school in Hout Bay under the leadership of the ceramic artists Lissa Classens and Mr Shapiro. I worked for her after I finished my ceramic classes in the afternoon. She also sent me to an adult literacy night school were I learn Mathematics, English and Xhosa.

In 2006 my father had a stroke and he spent 2 years in hospital. Mrs Angela paid for everything and gave my father money to support him self when she left for Australia, since my father could not work. She is still assisting with my school fees and calls often to check on us. I am the only one working and my parents did not go to school and so my mother can not find work.

In 2008 I came to Light from Africa Foundation through the help of Mrs Classens and Mrs Scheiner. I enjoy working with clay and it makes me happy to help other people through my work. I am learning a lot here at Light from Africa because other artists help me to grow and teach me other new and different things in using clay.