Norman Stewart Middleton was born in January 1921, in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, Transvaal (now Gauteng) and moved to Pietermaritzburg, Natal (now kwaZulu-Natal) when he was 10. In 1940, after finishing school, he signed up to join the army.  

He was a soldier during World War II in North Africa and Italy and was wounded by shrapnel in an air raid. After the war, Middleton returned to Pietermaritzburg and began working at Eddels shoe factory, where he became an active member of the Leather Workers’ Union, eventually becoming vice-chairperson.

Percy Ndithembile Konqobe was born in 1939 in Nigel, Transvaal (now known as Gauteng Province). He completed school through standard six (now Grade Eight) before leaving to work. He was employed at several jobs and spent some years in prison until around 1976, when he felt called to become a sangoma or traditional healer. Since that time he worked as a traditional Zulu healer in Soweto.

Samson Ratshilumela Mudzunga was born in 1934 in the Nzhelele district of the former Venda ‘homeland’, now Limpopo province. However, Apartheid-era documents noted his year of birth as 1938, a date still recognised as correct in many publications. He began experimenting with moulding clay as a child, and at around age fifteen began to teach himself how to carve.

Michael Madimetja Teffo was born in 1957 in the Pretoria township of Lady Selborne. The Township of Lady Selborne was destroyed shortly after his birth. Teffo went to school in Hammanskraal up to Standard 8 before leaving to focus on his artwork. He received no formal art training, but he was interested in art from a young age, sculpting in Marula wood with a pen knife as a child.

Kay Hassan was born in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra in 1956. His mother brewed traditional beer at a shebeen, defying apartheid laws and repeated raids by police. His cousin, William Shibambo, worked as artist on a part-time basis. Painting and drawing images classified as ‘township art’ inspired Hassan to become an artist himself.

Portia "Bashin" Modise was born on 20 June 1983 in White City Soweto, Transvaal (now Gauteng Province). Modise chose football at a young age over the more popular girls’ choice of netball. She started playing soccer at the age of seven. She grew up playing football in the street with the boys in her neighbourhood, and began playing with the Soweto Rangers at the under-10 level. She played as a central striker.

Virgile Joseph Bonhomme was born in Durban on 15 March 1944 and his parents were Patricia and Francoise Virgile Bonhomme.He attended St Augustine’s Junior School, Durban and then attended Bechet College where he completed Standard Six (Grade Eight). At the age of 15 he became an apprentice upholsterer at a furniture manufacturing business, where he remained for 14 years.he joined the furnture and Allied Workers Union Following this, Bonhomme was elected Vice-President of the Furniture and Allied Workers Trade Union in 1973.

Jon Patja Kekana was born on 1 January 1916. He grew up on a rural homestead outside of Potgietersrus, now known as Mokopane, in Limpopo province. Kekana’s father was a carpenter and lay preacher who died when Patja was young.

Ricardo Rangel was born on 15 February 1924 in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. His mother was a black Mozambiquan and his father was a Greek businessman from a multifaceted background, with African, European and Chinese heritage.

Michael Nkolo Maapola was born in 1949 in Hammanskraal, a township north of Pretoria, Transvaal (now Gauteng Province). He showed an interest in art as a child, and by the age of 17 he was working as an artist, predominately in watercolour. In 1970, he brought some of his paintings to the South African Association of Arts and attracted the attention of the artist Helge Jensen who invited Maapola to enrol at the Art Design School in Pretoria.