I think that's the beauty about this platform you get to learn from different artists and the learning just never ends!

Thato Montshiwagae (_missthato) is an aspiring artist whom was raised in the Western side of Roodepoort Florida, she has had the love for the arts at a very young age and is focusing on having a qualification for all her interests, currently she has obtained her qualification in Dramatic Arts and is studying towards her degree in Marketing Management at the University of South Africa . "At first I never thought that art would be something that I'd want to do for the rest of my life nor look at it as a career for that matter, but something in me always yearns for the beauty of this platform and what I'm most grateful for is having my family believe in me especially within this industry because then I don't think I would've grown so much into having so much passion for what I do on a daily" Thato says.

 As the marketing director of the Blankspace production company an (NPO) Thato has also won multiple of awards during her school years such as best Practical award achiever in the Fine Arts ,Drama and Best Female Cultural award achiever just to name a few. Thato was a part of the Umsizi noPhende Fine arts exhibition 2022 alongside other artists which allowed her the opportunity to showcase her work at the springs art gallery, her love for the arts has grown so much that she has also taken the initiative in showing that through being a “Cell phone” self- portrait taker on social platforms. 

Taking professional like images with a phone is probably rare to find on the social streets and a lot of the people you find on social media either want to take a picture with a well-known phone or camera because that is what puts you on the map as they would say or rather has the best quality and Thato wanted to change the narrative completely.

"Being a self-portrait taker has always been something I have always wanted to do but I just didn't know how to produce the work or even know where to start (she laughs), but thankfully enough I had other people around me who were into art and photography and I was then advised/couched by them exactly how things should be done, one of them being Don Meyambo. I think that's the beauty about this platform you get to learn from different artists and the learning just never ends!".  

 Her aim is to inspire young upcoming artists in believing at what they create and doing it with pure passion and not for the clout no matter the circumstances, "one thing people need to know about having passion for this industry is that it should never be about the money or having the attention one should be able to believe so deeply into it that your only purpose to have passion for it is to heal those around you/inspire and make certain that you are proud at what you do".

one quote she always uses to inspire her further is to “Do it with passion or not at all”.

Thato started using the Huawei p8 lite 2017 to kick start her self-portrait journey, she is currently using the new Vivo V2027 2021.