Born in Springs, Nhlengethwa received a Fine Art Diploma from Rorke’s Drift Art Centre in KwaZulu-Natal in 1978. Once recognised primarily as a resistance artist, Nhlengethwa’s work has moved on to examine themes from everyday living, with a particular focus on jazz music. He works in collage, as well as in printmaking.

Mthethwa, who hails from Durban, studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. In 1989 he earned his Masters Degree in imaging arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology, USA, while on a Fulbright Scholarship.Mthethwa works primarily in the medium of photography but also in pastel and paint; he is best known for his large-scale colour photographs.

Nhlengethwa (painting and collage) and Mthethwa (photography) collaborated to create Lady - a painting and collage on a digital photograph.