The Blue Chip Room In-House Collective
Meet the creators shaping the sound of The Blue Chip Room
Ennock Mlangeni
Ennock Mlangeni is a world-renowned, self-taught South African visual artist whose work is rooted in resilience and transformation. Known for his distinctive use of coffee, newspaper, charcoal, and reclaimed materials, he explores identity through richly layered portraiture. His growing international acclaim includes a sold-out exhibition in Belgium.
Beyond his studio practice, he mentors emerging creatives through Shack Art Studios, using art as a tool for empowerment and possibility.
Lucas Kumba
Lucas Kumba is a South African artist of Congolese descent whose work celebrates the vibrancy, resilience, and humanity of everyday life in Johannesburg. He began his artistic journey at the Little Artists School Project in 2007, earning early recognition through awards such as 2nd Prize at the Webber Wentzel Art Awards and distinctions for his dedication and talent. After studying professional printmaking at Artist Proof Studio, he developed a distinctive mixed-media style that blends painting and collage to tell layered stories of endurance, hope, and transformation.
Kumba has exhibited widely at institutions including Aspire Art, Anglo American, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Deutsche Bank, Absa, and TheBlueChipRoom. Now a full-time artist, he continues to mentor young creatives through the Little Artists Project, using his work to inspire hope and the possibility of a brighter future.
Samson Cristoavao
Samson Cristóvão Chambala is a Mozambican-born visual and fashion artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His work explores themes of migration, identity, and belonging, often using recycled textiles to create wearable art and mixed-media installations. Influenced by his family’s background in tailoring and design, he blends fashion and fine art to tell personal and cultural stories.
Semi Lubisi
Semi Lubisi is a South African visual artist based in Johannesburg’s Ivory Park whose work offers a poignant and insightful reflection of township life. Working primarily in painting and mixed media, Lubisi draws inspiration from everyday experiences, childhood memories, and the social dynamics within his community. His compositions are characterized by vibrant color palettes, expressive line work, and textured surfaces that convey both emotional depth and narrative richness.
Central to Lubisi’s practice are themes of hope, resilience, education, and social awareness. He frequently portrays children and community scenes, using symbolism and bold visual language to highlight both the challenges and aspirations present in township environments. Through his art, he seeks not only to document lived realities but also to affirm dignity, strength, and optimism within underrepresented communities.
Lubisi’s growing presence in the contemporary South African art landscape reflects his commitment to storytelling through visual expression, positioning his work as both culturally significant and socially engaging.
Serena Moodley-Anderson
Serena Moodley-Anderson is a South African self-taught multidisciplinary visual artist whose work explores themes of connection, identity, mental health, and how societal structures influence personal and collective experiences. Her artistic journey began following a severe head injury, which became a pivotal point in both her life and creative expression. Through her art, she aims to spark internal reflection and dialogue within viewers, encouraging deeper understanding of self and others. Serena’s work has been featured in exhibitions alongside other contemporary artists, and she engages in various artistic projects reflecting her evolving practice.
Sthu Manaka
Sthu Manaka is a contemporary abstract portrait painter born and raised in Soweto. His work has been exhibited internationally. As the son of a world-renowned artist, he has developed a bold and singular artistic voice.
Sthu’s work is driven by a personal fascination with the spirit realm. He explores how the spirit
moves and transcends physical boundaries. His paintings communicate beyond colour, gender,
or form and examine concepts such as masculinity and the nature of love. He seeks to capture the spirit’s honesty, rawness, and faceless movement.Through layered abstraction, ethereal forms and subtle gestures, Sthu’s portraits evoke presence without physicality. His work bridges the material and immaterial and invites viewers toengage with energy, emotion, and memory rather than conventional likeness. In doing so, his paintings offer a meditation on the universality of the soul and the honesty of its expression.
Slovo Mamphaga
Slovo Mamphaga is a multimedia artist whose experimental, process-driven practice is shaped by strong design principles. Working through imaginary surrealism, he explores themes of identity, resilience, memory, and the tension between tradition and modernity.
Blending spontaneity with structured composition, he layers textures, patterns, and symbolic elements to create dynamic, introspective works across drawing, painting, and digital media. His fragmented and reconfigured figures reflect on power, belonging, and self-definition, inviting viewers into a meditative space where personal and collective narratives intersect.
Thabiso Dakamela
Thabiso Dakamela is a South African visual artist based in Johannesburg, recognised for his dynamic compositions that integrate abstract and figurative elements. Born in 1994 to a Ndebele mother and a Venda father, his multicultural heritage plays a significant role in shaping his artistic perspective.
Primarily self-taught, Dakamela works across acrylic, oil, charcoal, and mixed media. His practice explores themes of identity, spirituality, resilience, and socio-economic realities, often portraying women and children as enduring symbols of strength and hope. Through bold colour palettes and textured surfaces, his work offers thoughtful social commentary while evoking emotional depth and reflection.
Slovo Mamphaga
Slovo Mamphaga is a multimedia artist whose experimental, process-driven practice is shaped by strong design principles. Working through imaginary surrealism, he explores themes of identity, resilience, memory, and the tension between tradition and modernity.
Blending spontaneity with structured composition, he layers textures, patterns, and symbolic elements to create dynamic, introspective works across drawing, painting, and digital media. His fragmented and reconfigured figures reflect on power, belonging, and self-definition, inviting viewers into a meditative space where personal and collective narratives intersect.
Thabiso Dakamela
Thabiso Dakamela is a South African visual artist based in Johannesburg, recognised for his dynamic compositions that integrate abstract and figurative elements. Born in 1994 to a Ndebele mother and a Venda father, his multicultural heritage plays a significant role in shaping his artistic perspective.
Primarily self-taught, Dakamela works across acrylic, oil, charcoal, and mixed media. His practice explores themes of identity, spirituality, resilience, and socio-economic realities, often portraying women and children as enduring symbols of strength and hope. Through bold colour palettes and textured surfaces, his work offers thoughtful social commentary while evoking emotional depth and reflection.