Tony Gum brings together her proud, Xhosa heritage with the art of cool.
The formal art world may swoon over her work but Tony’s message and art is for the people.
This is an artist as cool as she is respected. One month she’ll be a panellist at an art festival in Venice, the next, co-Styling Director for Converse shoes. She is in high demand.
Having studied film and being a creative director on shoots, Tony has a fine eye for photography. A flair abundantly clear from her Instagram pics.
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Tony’s parents are Frank Gum, a bakery owner and Winkie Gum – a nurse at the Nompumelelo Special School in Gugulethu.
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Over lunch we met Tony’s fellow creatives - Vuvu Maseti, the only artist who ever does her make-up; and digital art director and friend Sisanda Mgedezi.
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Working in almost every medium imaginable, exhibiting from Miami to Milan and still Tony Gum calls herself an ‘Artist in learning’. To us, modesty is the mark of greatness – and she’s only 22.