In 1952, George Pemba resigned from his hated job as a rent collector to become a full-time artist. Though encouraged to do so by fellow pioneer artist Gerard Sekoto and by his own successful exhibitions, Pemba did not believe he would be able to "live by art". Working in the garage of his house, where he lived for more than 40 years, he felt himself to be in what he called "the wilderness", although his talent was obvious to those exposed to it: In 1931, one of Pemba’s portrait subjects, a man named Ncgobo, told him, "But I never thought you could draw souls!"