I draw my inspiration from my dreams, my imagination and the reality of our lives as spiritual beings, especially people who come from humble beginnings like rural areas, townships, and migrants. People who seek change and to own something and not be swallowed by the big cities.
Senzo Shabangu was born in the village of Driefontein, Mpumalanga, in 1985 and spent a large part of his childhood living at an apostolic mission station. Imagery from this time in his life features regularly in his work. Shabangu came to Johannesburg in 2006 after completing his Matric, and although he had dreams of becoming a pilot, he ended up studying printmaking at the Artist Proof Studio in Newtown (2006-2008) after being introduced to the medium through the Taxi Art Education Program at the Johannesburg Central Library. Although this was the beginning of Shabangu’s formal artistic training, he had been drawing on his own since childhood.