Celebrating South African Art, Heritage & New Voices
William Humphreys Art Gallery, Permanent Collection
The William Humphreys Art Gallery (WHAG) is pleased to announce Themba Dreda Malaza as the recipient artist for the 2025/26 If Walls Could Talk programme. Malaza’s entry was selected as the strongest submission from a competitive open call, launched in October and concluded in December 2025.
The theme, Kindness is Contagious, emphasises the importance of spreading compassion, empathy, and care within our communities. By making public art accessible, this project seeks to spark conversation, foster connections, and bring artistic experiences outside traditional gallery spaces. This year’s mural is situated in Hospital Street, Kimberley. The WHAG gratefully acknowledges the District Grand Lodge of South Africa, Central Division, for granting permission to use the wall at the rear side of their premises.
Themba Dreda Malaza is one of Johannesburg-based pioneering figures in graffiti and street art. He is the founder of Mzantsi Street Exhibits, a legendary aerosol artist collective from Soweto, Johannesburg; a member of Vandals Making Waste, based in Europe; and part of the international hip-hop movement known as the X-Men Worldwide Crew.
Malaza began drawing graffiti in 1992 and painted his first piece in 1995. By 1998, he was undertaking commissioned work, and since then, he has produced large-scale murals across South Africa for both government departments and the corporate sector. Alongside this commercial success, he has remained deeply involved in exhibitions, collaborations, interventions, workshops, and community-building initiatives. By 2009, Malaza had established himself as a rising graffiti writer, winning street competitions while simultaneously achieving recognition in the corporate industry.
In 2012, he and a group of friends founded the Tabalaza Art Fair, a self-sustaining, do-for-self gallery platform. The fair brought together a vibrant mix of creative practices, including a barber shop stand, live musical performances, graffiti and street art activations, and a mini tattoo parlour, reflecting the interdisciplinary spirit of hip-hop culture.
His work has been documented in several international publications. In 2011, his artworks were featured in World Piecebook by David Villorente, former graffiti editor of The Source magazine and an early influence on his practice. This was followed by a South African graffiti publication of the same title, and later by Street Art Africa by Cale Waccador.
His exhibition history includes participation in group shows such as Alphabet Soup Series 1 and 2, Hello My Name Is, and Meeting of Styles. In 2017, Malaza was invited to exhibit a customized denim jacket in LIT: Hip-Hop Fashion and Social Justice, which opened in Oakland, USA. He also collaborated with Airloom Decor in Cape Town to produce Ukungapheli Komoya, a virtual exhibition exploring contemporary homeware and artwork ranges.
Many notable firsts mark Themba Dreda Malaza’s career, including organizing one of the earliest graffiti jams that brought together collective painting, live music, and entertainment. He also painted the longest continuous wall on the African continent, a 10-kilometre stretch along Louis Botha Avenue in Johannesburg and the iconic Soweto Towers, structures comparable in scale to two 10-storey buildings.
Previous recipients of the If Walls Could Talk programme include Omolemo Rammile (2023), Ras Silas Motse (2024), and Nkululeko Mahlangu (2025).
If Walls Could Talk is a community arts and cultural development initiative of WHAG, dedicated to promoting creative interventions in public spaces across the Northern Cape, and fostering meaningful engagement between artists and communities through accessible, site-responsive art.
