Vibrant colours, surreal forms, and lingering shadows cast by the bright hot sun - there is more to the art of South African artist Sibusiso Duma than initially meets the eye. Not much about his work has been published but this is what I discovered so far.

Based in Durban, South Africa, Sibusiso (also spelled Sibosiso) Duma was born in 1978 in Umbumbulu, in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province. He started drawing with crayons and coloured pencils at a very young age, capturing the attention of his teachers who asked him to draw maps and other visual teaching materials for the school.

Eventually his talent came to the attention of the late Trevor Makhoba, an artist well-known for his controversial art depicting the social issues of his time through elements of satire, social realism, and surrealism. Makhoba established the Philange Art Project - a studio space behind his house in the Umlazi township south of Durban - where he gave young artists the opportunity to work and cultivate their talents.

Duma painted under Makhoba’s mentorship at the Philange Art Project for almost a decade, eventually developing his own visual language and style that nonetheless retains Makhoba’s concept of bringing satire, realism and surrealism to indirectly evoke social issues.