At the Vanderbijlpark Campus of the North-West University (NWU), Cebolenkosi Mkhize moves between two worlds that rarely sit in the same sentence – information technology and contemporary portraiture. Yet for him, they are not opposites. They are extensions of the same language: creation.

“I am studying information technology,” he says simply, but behind that statement is a life unfolding in two directions simultaneously: structured logic on one side, and expressive abstraction on the other.

His relationship with art began early on, in the quiet curiosity of primary school sketchbooks. Then, like many unfinished stories, it paused. High school pulled him away from drawing – not permanently, just long enough for silence to build. And then, in 2024, the pencil returned to his hand.

“I discovered it in primary school and quit drawing around high school, and then I rediscovered it in 2024,” he reflects – a return not of learning, but of remembering.

Today, his work lives in interpretive portraiture – faces shaped not only by likeness, but by emotion, distortion, and feeling. Mixed media become his vocabulary, allowing texture, tone and imperfection to speak where words cannot.

For Cebolenkosi, art is not a routine. It is instinct.

“I do not do art all the time, I do it when I feel like doing it. It is just like drinking water for me.”

There is no forced rhythm in his creativity – only flow. Art arrives when it chooses to, and he follows.

Yet even in this freedom, structure still exists. Studying IT demands discipline, deadlines and precision. Sometimes, those worlds collide – especially when commissions overlap with academic tests.

“Commission deadlines clashing with my academic tests,” he says, naming the tension without exaggeration, as if it is simply part of the process of becoming.

Still, he does not see the two paths as separate. In fact, he sees them touching constantly.

“I do think there is a connection between technology and art … websites and apps … game development and animation. Art is everywhere – we see it daily, but people do not realise that.”

Cebolenkosi Mkhize shows off some of his artwork.