An Atlantis quadrapelic and architect wants to encourage disabled youth to reach for their dreams with his mouth-painting talent.
Brenton Swawrtz, 42, was only 15 years old when a freak accident led him to become paralysed from the neck down.
Brenton tells the Daily Voice that he was shot in the neck while his younger brother was playing with a gun in 1994.
“We had an illegal firearm in the house, my younger brother played with the gun and accidentally shot me,” he says.
“I never had any bad feelings towards him for it because I knew it was a freak accident.”
Brenton was dealt a bitter hand when he was told he would never walk again but he says: “I didn’t let my circumstances deter me.
“I still had the privilege of being very good academically and I used this to my advantage.
“I went on and finished school at Astra and then I studied architecture at CPUT.”
Brenton says he was the only disabled student but did not receive any special treatment.
“I was treated equally and I enjoyed being part of this class.
“Some days when the lift didn’t work, my friends would carry me to the higher levels.
“Life really started for me when I ended up in a wheelchair, I decided that this won’t define me.
“I'm still able to realise my dreams and I want to encourage others to also use the doors being opened for people in wheelchairs.
“I’ve met so many people in wheelchairs who inspire me, some drive cars and have their own companies, it's just a matter of taking the opportunities.”
Brenton graduated in 2006 but sadly never found employment as an architect.
That’s when he discovered mouth painting and he’s never looked back.
“I fell in love with the art of painting with my mouth. I like painting various pictures, the easiest is nature, I love doing flowers and animals.
“I sell my paintings at a gallery in George and also direct to the public.”
Brenton starts by doing a pencil sketch and then painting over that by using an extended brush that he grips with his mouth.
His beautiful art is also reproduced on cards and mugs.