“When conditions are right Vuyisile Funda dons his red skirt and runs intricate patterns over the sand dunes in the Kieskamma area of South Africa.” (Graeme Hofmeyer)

Vuyisile Funda (also known as Gaba) lives in the Eastern Cape village of Hamburg, where the beach has especially high, smooth, and shifting dunes. Vuyisile was originally a watchman, but after being permanently left unable to work, he began to create images across the sand with his feet – using his footprints to make patterns like giant drawings on the dunes. His constantly changing movements, his twists and turns, form a complex dance – the dance in itself expressive and mesmerizing to watch.

His images are seldom seen by anyone: they are usually blown away by the wind long before daylight.

A musician and singer, too, Vuyisile says: “I dream and see pictures, and then I get up and make the pictures in the sand.”