THE smell of spray paint fills the sea air along uMhlanga’s promenade where graffiti artist, Shaun Oakley (Damn Vandal), covers the drab white wooden panels surrounding the uMhlanga lifeguard tower with eye-popping murals ranging from traditional graffiti lettering to themed designs.
He is joined by two other artists who are no strangers to uMhlanga. Dustin Scott (Dust) and Warrick Shannon (Wok) from Urbanloveza who were also on hand to lend a helping hand to the street art project. The duo are responsible for the artwork that is the craning giraffe on Lagoon Drive.
The southern side of the wooden panels has a whale celebrating the ocean and uMhlanga, as well as summer fruits. The northern side has the lettering ‘Umhlanga Rox’ paying homage to the Umhlanga Rocks Life Saving Club. While the remaining board has a girl complete with a pair of shades celebrating the ragers and the arrival of summer.
“We started on Friday and ended on Sunday. I’ve probably used more than 70 cans of spray paint in the project. Our approach to this was to keep the traditional elements of graffiti. We wanted it to be fresh and funky and I think we’ve achieved that,” explained Oakley.
“The feedback has been amazing and people have admired the artwork which is just awesome.”
Warrick Shannon, of Urbanloveza, said he was eager to help out on the project.
“Both me and Dustin primarily work in reverse graffiti, which can be stifling in terms of creativity. We decided to take the opportunity to add to the vibrancy of uMhlanga’s promenade by adding some urban love. But we are such amateurs compared to Shaun,” Warrick said.
The mural was commissioned through the efforts of Tsogo Sun, the eThekwini Municipality, Urbanlove and the uMhlanga Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP).
In November this year, when it was clear the construction of the new lifeguard tower would not be completed in time for the festive season, the uMhlanga UIP investigated ways of making the wooden construction boards around the site look more appealing for the festive season, and an artwork seemed to be the best option.
