Dressed in black in what looks like an ordinary pair of jeans and a jacket, there is more to the man than meets the eye. The jacket is by a local brand, Tshepo Jeans, the vintage shoes are army-green and there’s a redand-yellow scarf hanging loosely around his neck. Multidisciplinary artist Siphesihle Melato, known as John Johannesburg, looks stylish, dressing himself and others as a thrift store owner.
ALSO READ: Creative tour de force: Standard Bank Young Artists at the National Arts Festival [VIDEO] But he is now spending more time on his body of work about mental health in the hood. Music to go with his jam The artist walks with a swag that makes you think music is playing in his head. So it’s no surprise to find he’s a vinyl collector who refers to himself as a “vibes dealer, meaning I bring vibes to spaces where I play”.
His music selection is from “African diaspora, taking it back to the ’90s all the way to the ’70s”, he says. Some of his musical inspirations include Fela Kuti, the Nigerian jazz artist and pan-Africanist who was famous for his political activism, and the “father of South African jazz”, trumpeter Hugh Masekela, known for his anti-apartheid songs. “I’ve always been a different dude from the environment where I grew up [on the East Rand].
“I always had long hair, I got into fashion and music early in my life and that in itself was a form of expression of self and art ,” says Melato. He wears his dreadlocks with pride, like th.