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Photo: YouTube/The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

Watch: Trevor Noah talks to fellow South African, Nelson Makamo [video]

Watch as Nelson Makamo describes how he became a world-renowned artist and why he wants to portray Africa in a more optimistic light.

Watch: Trevor Noah talks to fe

Photo: YouTube/The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

South African artist Nelson Makamo recently sat down with Trevor Noah on The Daily Show to talk about his booming career.

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My frame of reference ?

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Makamo comes from a small town in South Africa where he started making toys when he was a child.

“My foundation with art started from there. I started making toys from clay,” said the artist who is from Modimolle in Limpopo.

He says that during apartheid the choice of what a person could become as a professional was quite limited.

“But, I was fortunate enough to have a mother who truly believed in my talent.”

Makamo’s artwork went on to make it onto the cover of the weekly US magazine Time. He has also held exhibitions in Paris, Edinburgh, and the Netherlands. Makamo’s artwork also made it into the collection of the likes of fashion icon Georgio Armani, singer Annie Lennox and film director Ava Duvenay.

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Visions of a limitless future! ?? @time

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Trevor says that Makamo has become a world-renowned artist over the last couple of years.

“From Alicia Keys and Oprah Winfrey…I mean I remember Oprah telling the story of how she came to your building in South Africa [even though there was no elevator],” jokes Trevor.

Makamo goes on to explain how he made it his mission to portray Africa in a more optimistic light.

“I had to go back and reintroduce how we are as Africans. To say that we are more or less the same as any other person in the world.

“My thing and my view is that …I draw inspiration from the world. The advantage of traveling has made me look at my environment as a source of inspiration as well.

“As a young South African who’s been given the opportunity to rewrite history and reintroduce our image to the world, I had to go back and look at myself and say, ‘If I were to sort of represent ourselves globally, what language would I use?’ I had to actually use a universal language.”

Watch Trevor’s interview with Makamo to find out more about his work and artistic process: