Marvellous Murals

A typical day for GIFFORD (GIFFY) DUMINY could see him hanging off 10-foot scaffolding, standing in a cherry picker four stories above the ground or on the rare day of rest, catching waves in the surf off Durban. We tracked him down for a quick chat and to find out more about his giant , eye-catching murals...

Giffy’s murals are the talk of the town in the Upper Highway area of KZN. Just about everywhere you look you’ll find something he has painted on the side of a building or wall. But art was never really on the agenda for this talented young man. “I took art as a subject in high school and although I was pretty useless at drawing and painting, it was way more fun than doing physics and maths. I had an amazing art teacher called Lynette Perissinotto, who let me do whatever I wanted. I felt like this was the first time a teacher wasn’t trying to influence me and it was exactly what I needed to grow my love of art”.

Amazingly this artistic 22 year old doesn’t consider himself talented. He says “I see myself as being dedicated rather than talented. I have spent thousands of hours painting with spray paint and I’m convinced that stimulating that part of my brain for so long has led to a huge improvement in my work. These days I paint every single day of the week and I’m quite hard on myself when it comes to getting an artwork perfect.”