Artist Profile: Fiya. South Africa

Fiya hails from South Africa and paints in Johannesburg. With his crew Quest boys he creates striking pieces in the city with his style. We caught up with Fiya on his visit to South London to ask him a few questions.

when did you start graffiti?

I  remember playing with and writing a couple of names when I was about 12 but really only started to spraypaint properly in 2002.

what inspires you to paint?

 There is always inspiration if your eyes and ears are peeled. Anything is possible if you are open. Meeting and collabing with people,  going to a new place, reading something or even hearing a good song. Sitting on the porcelain throne can some times help.
I'm interested in my home land South Africa, exploring and traveling, liberation, nature, animals, magic, energy, omens, messages, jokes, people, politics, music, the good people I have grown up with and the ones I can grow with. I really like idea of Quantum Space Travel!

 How would you describe your work?

 Lately I've been experimenting with new angles. I find myself getting bored really quickly the older I get. Painting mostly graffiti lettering for a long l time, I found myself almost feeling stuck after a while. I'm trying to push myself in different directions these days to grow and keep things fresh. At the moment I'm trying to wax stuff that looks like "brain hiccups".

what do you want to achieve in Graffiti?


4. Painting for me is ritual, for some reason if I don't do it after a few days I feel anxiety. I just want to be able to keep it up. I hope that some of my pieces along the way can inspire and make some sort of positive impact on the people that see them.

Did you study art?

5. I did a bit of art in college but didn't really study it. I studied Photography.

Watch This Space...and the Cats.

We recently transformed Lana's Garden and the cats seemed really pleased with the result
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzliH1RpW9s

Watch This Space at Lana's

Recently the project went to work on Lana's Garden which had not seen any work in a long time. The idea was to create a tranquil space which would be good to sit in and also invite guests.
The first obstacle was the ground level. It previously had a concrete floor which had been broken up and remnants of the brick and concrete remained. These had to be bagged up and taken off site.

Then the floor of the garden had to be flattened and we needed to raise it by 2 inches. To do this we used 35 bags of top soil kindly given to us by Junior of JNR Services and Tom, our local guys who clear gardens and donate what they can to our project.

We managed to score some turf so that was half the garden taken care of instantly. What a result!
Then we took some old wood beams from Rushcroft Road which were donated by contractors who were refurbishing the properties there. The beams were made into a small wall and decking area. Also a Rockery was added but with small Tree sections which were aquired from a felled Tree in Clapham.
Plantboxes were also made from the beams and the plants were then added.

The resulting Garden has a real natural feel to it that hopefully Lana and the cats will enjoy during the warm days.

 The beginning

 All the rubble is bagged

 Then flatten the earth

 Rake everything to get it level

 work out where the beams go

 Soil is laid out

 Some planters to start with

Fun Day

Today we showcased young Brixton talent at the CTH fun day in Slade Gardens. Our plan was to create and design small pieces of art which the young people could take home with them. Thanks to everyone supporting our project and coming through.

 we get our sketches together and....

 start painting!

 more drawing

 adding some colour

 The cat

 going big

 The sun is out