When you enter the lobby of the tallest building in Africa, The Leonardo, you are welcomed by a kaleidoscopic two-story mural by Mbongeni Buthelezi made out of repurposed plastic.The collage narrates Mzansi’s rich social and political history.

The 54-year-old artist smiles from ear-to-ear when I tell him that it makes for the perfect Instagram background. During our conversation over coffee a few metres from his floor-to-ceiling artwork, I learn that Buthelezi’s art is not only for the elite, it’s for everyone. He just wants to make people smile. From Johannesburg to New York, Berlin, Madrid, Sydney and Cairo he has done exactly that...