On the move: Stop! Art in transit

People often ask Zama Phakathi whether she's an artist.

"I tell them no - I'm an artwork myself," she said.

The bleached-haired 23-year-old is the owner of StopSign Art Gallery at Arts On Main, in Johannesburg.

''I named it that to say 'stop!' to all the people who don't believe in art," said Phakathi, one of the youngest gallery owners in South Africa. The young woman from the West Rand is passionate about the advancement of art.''I never planned to own a gallery," she said.

In 2012 she worked on the Soweto Art Residency project, headed by TV and film director Dumisani Phakathi, coordinating the artwork received from artists needing a platform.

"There were so many artists sending me their portfolios and next thing I knew I had a bunch of great work that deserved to be hanging in a gallery," she said.

Phakathi approached two galleries with the idea of working as a full-time curator. She was turned down because most of her portfolios were works of young artists and gallerists kept asking who they were and what they'd done. So she decided to open on her own.

The gallery - inside a container - has been running for almost a year in the Maboneng district.

"I'm making enough to get by," she said about her turnover.

"The container feels like home to me. I get excited when I have to go and open up."

Phakathi's mother is a domestic worker. She raised Phakathi and her younger sister with the help of an aunt.

Since getting involved in art and establishing her gallery, her aunt has become suspicious of her lifestyle, Phakathi said.

"Some people think artists and gallerists are on drugs and that art is just about drawing and painting, but there's much more to it."

• 263 Main Street, zamabridget@gmail.com