Kwetsima Manzini and Percy Mathebula have not let Covid-19 destroy their love for drawing and painting.
Instead, these two young men from Hluvukani, outside Acornhoek, have found a way out of their problems amidst the pandemic. The pair are putting food on their tables from the lounge of their RDP houses by drawing and painting portraits on customers clothing. They have branded themselves as 4evayung. Manzini, a 25-year-old, told Herald that he has always loved painting and drawing from an early age.
“Since I had to put completing my degree on hold two years ago to support my family, I have been doing piece jobs,” explained Manzini.
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With lockdown regulations he could no longer work and to console himself, he started to draw cartoons and portraits from photos on his phone. He sent it to his best friend, Mathebula, who also enjoys drawing and painting. Mathebula’s brother is a painter and they asked him for leftover paint.
“We painted the drawings on our clothing and people liked it so much that they asked us to paint their clothes as well,” stated Mathebula.
Using matches and thorns, the pair has up to now painted more than 30 items of clothing including training shoes, bags, shirts and jeans with waterproof paint that they say will stay ‘forever young’. The orders have been steaming in and they are over the moon.
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“The pressure is now on because we do not have enough funds to actually build a work area where we can do our painting. We do not even have enough funds to buy the right art supplies,” stated Percy Mathebula.
They also have to overcome other problems such as delivery of their work to clients. The pair charge R250 for a painted piece of clothing. Visit their Facebook page, 4Ever_Yung for more information on their work.
