After years spent moving between art and engineering, Mthatha-born artist Nelisa Mdledle has returned to her first passion with the launch of the Lasembo Art Gallery in Berea.
The contemporary gallery, which recently opened its doors at 19 Pearce Street, showcases works by established and emerging artists from the Eastern Cape and beyond.
For the 45-year-old founder, the opening marks the culmination of a journey that has taken her from fine arts graduate to painter, civil engineering technician and, ultimately, gallery owner.
Mdledle discovered her artistic talent while still at school and was encouraged by her father to pursue a career in fine arts. After school, she enrolled at the then PE Technikon, where she studied fine arts before embarking on a career as a painter.
However, turning art into a sustainable livelihood proved difficult.
“I painted for some years in Mthatha. In 2008 I got married and had children. I was pregnant with my second child. I decided to go back to school because while I was in Mthatha, nobody understood painting,” Mdledle said.
“So I saw it was a waste of time as I could not survive with it. I put painting to the side because I was under pressure to assist my husband in raising our children and growing the family. In 2012, I went to Walter Sisulu University and studied civil engineering.”
After graduating in 2015, Mdledle began working as a civil engineering technician, placing her artistic ambitions on hold.
That changed nearly a decade later when friends and fellow artists, ceramicist Andile Dyalvane and sculptor Zizipho Poswa, encouraged her to return to the creative world.
“I started taking painting seriously in 2024 in Cape Town. Andile Dyalvane and Zizipho Poswa organised a party for me and called it my return-to-arts party,” she said.
The idea for Lasembo Art Gallery came while she was searching for office space for her engineering business.
“I was looking for an office for my civil engineering side. I found one in Berea. As we were leaving there, I found another place that had a Cape Town feel to it,” she said.
“We found out the place was used as a coffee shop. We decided there and then I’m taking it as an art gallery. I didn’t know how I would pay for it, but the plan came along as we went.”
The gallery’s launch attracted prominent artists, including Dyalvane, Poswa, Professor John Stelle and Meshack Masuku, whose works were among those exhibited.
Mdledle said the response from the public had exceeded expectations.
“It is like people were hungering for this. People who come here are like children in a candy store. We are the talk of the town,” she said.
She hopes the gallery will help create opportunities for artists while encouraging greater support for the creative sector.
“We are hoping to get support from government so children’s skills don’t die. People should make a living from this, and they should know they can open their own gallery.”
Gallery representative Lulama Sihluku said Lasembo aims to become a platform for artists developing their craft and building sustainable careers.
“We want to focus on being the platform for people who are putting a lot of work into upgrading their art form, improving their art form and investing in their work,” said Sihluku.
“We want to be a platform for those people who are constantly creating work and trying to get access to market. We are also creating a space for emerging artists who are starting out in the industry to know that there are platforms like Lasembo where they can get educated and gain exposure to the quality of work exhibited in a gallery, the professional ways of working in galleries and selling their work as an artist.
“We want to be a home for artists from the Eastern Cape.”