Sydney Nyeleti was born in 1988 in Chongwe District. He has been drawing since childhood but started painting on canvas in 2009. Nyeleti is a self taught artist who had a rather rough background. He grew up in Lusaka with only his Mother, who had financial difficulties, making it impossible for him to complete his grade 12 at school. However, in spite of his predicament Nyeleti did not give up on life. At the age of 18 he discovered that he could sign-write, so he started practicing hard and did a lot of sign-writing for shops around Lusaka. Three years later, in 2009, he started painting on canvas and the following year began to take part in exhibitions at the weekly Sunday Market at Arcades Shopping Mall. In 2011 he became a member of the Visual Arts Council and was given a studio at the Art Academy Without Walls (AAWW). There he worked & interacted with prominent artists such as Mulenga Chafilwa, Charles Chambata, Nsofwa Bowa Wilson Lungu and Andrew Katembula. After some months working there he was called by Mukuba Copper Crafts to work as an artist in Livingstone, which he did for about a year. In 2012 he left Mukuba and, together with other fellow artists, created an open air art gallery and studio called “Mosi-o-tunya Art Centre”. The centre, situated along Mosi-o-tunya Road in 217 area of Livingstone, is where Nyeleti currently works and exhibits from.