For Hlumelo Mbeyiya, creativity has never been simply about making something beautiful. Sometimes known by his artist name, GONG, his creative journey began with a desire that feels both simple and deeply personal: to build a world of his own—a place where his thoughts, ideologies, emotions, growth and humanity could exist beyond the limits of words.
His art is an attempt to make that world visible.
But like most creative journeys, getting there has not always been straightforward. There have been moments when Hlumelo found himself feeling stagnant, unsure of how to evolve his artistic approach, execute projects differently or express ideas that seemed difficult to translate into a finished piece.
What eventually helped him move forward was not a complicated formula. It was learning to ask questions.
There is freedom in admitting that you don’t know everything. Hlumelo once found himself caught in the pressure to understand everything, but looking back, he sees how limiting that mindset was. Accepting that there was still more to learn gave him room to explore again. Those periods of stagnation, frustrating as they may have been, became necessary pauses—moments that taught him that not knowing isn’t failure. It is an invitation.
An invitation to learn.
An invitation to look beyond what you already understand.
And, perhaps most importantly, an invitation to remain curious.
That curiosity now sits at the centre of how Hlumelo approaches his craft. He believes that if there is something you love—or even something you are simply curious about—you should pursue it and show it love. For him, creative growth is not always about having a breakthrough. Sometimes it is about continuing to engage with the thing that matters to you, even when the progress feels invisible.
That mindset has begun expanding the boundaries of his own work.
Hlumelo sees himself exploring different mediums and forms of expression, experimenting with new techniques and approaches while collaborating with creators who share his desire to make something beautiful. Rather than allowing himself to be defined by one method, he is interested in discovering what happens when different ideas, disciplines and people meet.
But there is another evolution happening beneath the surface.
Hlumelo is learning to move beyond art that simply looks good.
At this stage of his journey, he is interested in finding a balance between visual appeal and honest emotion—creating pieces where the feeling behind the work is not hidden beneath technique, but becomes part of the work itself.
It is an attempt to bring more of his humanity into what he creates.
The result is a different kind of creative pursuit. One where aesthetics still matter, but they are no longer the entire story. A piece can be visually striking and still carry vulnerability, conflict, curiosity, joy or uncertainty. It can look beautiful while revealing something deeply human.
That balance is still something Hlumelo is figuring out.
And perhaps that is what makes the journey interesting.
He isn’t presenting himself as an artist who has already arrived at a final form. He is still asking questions, still experimenting, still discovering how much of himself he can place inside the work.
At the heart of it all is the same desire that started everything: to create a world that feels like his own.
A world shaped by his mind, his experiences, his beliefs, his growth and the way he sees humanity.
That world will continue to change as he does.
New questions will create new ideas. New experiences will alter his perspective. New collaborations will introduce possibilities he could not have imagined alone. And every new piece becomes another fragment of the larger world he is building.
For Hlumelo Mbeyiya, creativity is not about knowing exactly where the journey ends.
It is about having the curiosity to keep walking.
To keep asking.
To keep learning.
And to keep creating something that, above everything else, feels human.
Because perhaps the most honest art is not the art that claims to have all the answers. It is the art brave enough to keep asking questions.
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