Bubblegum Club

Author: Christa Dee

  • Julie Nxadi // Stories as sonic and visual interruptions

    “My relationship with writing is in its infancy compared to my relationship with storytelling,” explains Julie Nxadi. She has always taken the value of a story seriously, whether it be communicated via music, film, photographs, performance art, or politics. For her writing is simply one medium with which to tell stories. “It’s a medium that I have been fiddling with for a while, but it has never been the medium itself that is important to me, it is the story that is being told,” Julie continues. I interviewed Julie to find out how she has nurtured her writing and her creative process when writing her short story ‘Love Back’.

    How do you like to describe your writing style?

    Audio-visual. I hear and see things before I write them down. The stories often come as sonic and visual interruptions. I hear a sound over and over again or I see something, a girl, a bench, a bucket of water and I have to wander after it in the form of a story. Sometimes it is easy to vomit out, other times it takes a lot of patience from me (and thus my supervisor). But I think that when people do read what I have written it gets stored in their memories as sound and sight more so than words. I try to make sure that I stay as true as possible to those audio-visual interruptions from whence the stories come .

    Who/what inspires your writing? What are some of your favourite genres?

    I don’t believe in genre. A good story is tragic, funny, romantic, uncomfortable, good, bad, everything, and nothing at all. Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, K. Sello Duiker, and Bessie Head are writers who made me understand the politics of storytelling. The politics of being honest in one’s writing.

    Following on from this, how to these writers and genres feed into how you think about your own work?

    Well, they help me to be patient and calm about my storytelling. But also, they help me to be brave. Telling a story that nobody asked to hear is a pretty scary process. Telling it your own way is terrifying as well. There is this strange balance one has to strike whereby you are not precious about your work, but at the same time you need to be able to stand up for it. I write black as fuck stories. I don’t need white characters in my stories for my characters to read as nuanced and deserving of anybody’s attention, Toni Morrison taught me that. I write in English and my characters speak isiXhosa, so their dialogue is in isiXhosa and that comes with no apologies and shame, just like my English narration comes with no apologies or shame because I am a product of THIS South Africa and I would rather hold that conflict than hide it, Bessie Head and Duiker taught me that. So you have to be brave, you have to be able to just say “yeah, this is important” and all these writers that I have mentioned have given me the strength to say “look, I’ve done the research, I’ve crunched the proverbial numbers and I can say that this is important.”

    Share where the story of ‘Love Back’ came from? How did you develop this short piece?

    Well, like I said the stories often come as sonic or visual interruptions. ‘Love Back’ was no different. I kept seeing this little girl in a white dress stomping her way home. Eventually I had to ask myself where she was coming from and where she was going. I realised that this little girl was just dealing with something that’s all too common, heartbreak. The incident itself was not important on its own, rather what became as important to me was the banality of abstract violence in our communities and how we are (from a very young age) expected to instinctively know our own unimportance. The refrain “if you are not bleeding you are not hurt” is really just a chant we say on our slow march to social death, because what are we asking when we suggest that “there are worse things” to a child whose heart is aching? Are we not asking that this child know what is worse, either via imagination or experience? Are we not insisting that their only currency is their flesh? In this story you have a little girl who has to find where her broken heart fits in the hierarchy of problems that her family might be facing, and she has to bury her broken heart there on that rung where it fits (the privileged fantasy of the objective reader would be that she might one day return to the site where she buried her heart and attempt to heal, but we know that that is not a reality for an overwhelming majority of people). So, in the meantime, we watch uLoli decide on childhood. That is a very grown up thing to do at 9 years old; to decide on childhood. To bury. To suppress. To create distance and time between oneself and what horror they may have experienced moments ago. But at the same time, who is better equipped than someone who is eloquent in the language of imagination? A child. Who is better equipped than one who can make the rain stop with a single glance, one who still has a sibling like relationship with the elements? As magical as all of that is, it is also incredibly unfair. I mean, we often forget that there is labour involved in making magic. And that is something that I try to discuss with my writing; just how much we ask of the most vulnerable amongst us and within us.

    ‘Love Back’ takes the form of a poem in the way that it is laid out. Would you like to share something about the decision to do this?

    The form has more to do with pacing and spacing than anything else. Michael Ondaatjie was suggested to me by my supervisor as a means of inspiration for this and he did exactly that. It’s amazing how a word appearing somewhere you may not have expected it to has the ability to slow one’s reading down or speed it up. But there is also something about the spacing of the phrases that helps one to imagine the village and uLoli’s own feelings walking through it; clustered at times and isolated at others.

    In the story you personify the wind which is quite interesting. Could you please share more about this?

    It is less an act of personifying the elements and more an honest depiction of how my own family and a lot of families I know speak about the elements; as living. When one translates that relationship to English it may strike as curious, but perhaps that is just a reflection on the English language and the particular cultural tones it possesses which render nature and the elements as little more than backdrops that showcase the lives of human beings. I have never understood things that way, I was never taught to. I was taught to listen. I was taught that the rain can cry with you and cleanse you. My only real job now is to remember to listen in the face of English.

    What are you working on at the moment that you would like to share with our readers?

    I am currently working on a collection of short stories as part of my Master’s thesis. Should I be lucky enough to find a publisher, it will make its way out into the world.

     

  • Zohra Opoku // Threaded history

    German/Ghanaian artist living and working in Accra, Zohra Opoku captivates viewers using multiple mediums including installation, photography, sculpture and video. Her thematic investigations revolve around Ghanaian traditions, spirituality and family lineage and how they relate to self-authorship and her hybrid identity. Material culture often forms the foundation of these investigations, with textiles woven together in how these thematic investigations manifest.

    Image by Zohra Opoku from the series ‘Unraveled Threads’ 2017

    The images that she prints on fabric speak to the intimacy and history that textiles can come to contain. In her series Queenmothers 2016, the centring of female figures is a reflection on matriarchal systems and women as creators of a sense of community among people.

    Her more recent work Unraveled Threads 2017, comprised of screenprints on cotton, canvas & linen, connects to her exploration of her family lineage. Opoku did not know much about her father or her Ghanaian heritage during her childhood. In Unraveled Threads, she uses the kente cloth as a way to enhance her family history. Kente cloth varies in design, colour and pattern, each carrying stories and meaning. While the cloth is worn by different kinds of people today, it is historically associated with royalty and sacredness. It is believed that the origins of this woven cloth is that two farmers came across a spider. Amazed by the way the spider creates its web, they tried to imitate thus creating the kente design.

    “Identity is always, for me, based in textile,” Opoku explains in an interview with OkayAfrica.

    Image by Zohra Opoku from the series ‘Unraveled Threads’ 2017

    The stories and proverbs associated with each kente design makes this form of woven cloth a carrier of ethnic history. Quite fittingly, Opoku was inspired by the kente cloth that she found in her late father’s wardrobe as the canvas on which to present her father as an Asante leader, as well as to print images of herself and her siblings. Here she not only pays homage to a father she barely knew, but also embraces the significance of kente as threaded history. This allows her to engage with her Ghanaian roots as well as her familial history. She explores her experiences growing up in the West, and what it means to confront blackness and Africa as an artist later in her life.

    Image by Zohra Opoku from the series ‘Unraveled Threads’ 2017

  • Looking After Freedom

    Freedom. A notion that has had a complex history within South Africa’s political and cultural landscape. Can it be viewed as an end point which can be monumentalized and celebrated with ballot papers as evidence of this? What about the similarities and disparities between individual and collective imaginaries that revolve around what this notion means and how it plays out? The two-part project Looking After Freedom addresses some of these questions, while consciously adding more queries to the table.

    Co-curated by artists and writers Nkule Mabaso and Raél Jero Salley, the exhibition Looking After Freedom is an extension of a larger project Decolonisation and the Scopic Regime. The exhibition centres thinking about multiple understandings of multiple freedoms. The larger project seeks to tease out locally specific responses to knowledge production and the multiple ways in which these are disseminated. The significance of this is revealed in how the exhibition’s curatorial process and the individual artworks speak to the different ways freedom has been thought about in the past and present, and the various versions of what it could look like in the future.

    An interpretation of the title for exhibition inherently opens up the polysemy embedded in the word ‘freedom’. Firstly, thinking about ‘looking after’ as a form of care. Here ‘freedom’ is understood not as an endpoint which stands as something which can be looked back on as having been achieved in the past and continues to exist on its own. Rather, freedom is something which requires tending, nurturing. A notion which can be understood as requiring physical, emotional and political labour. “I think the artists that were involved are still caring for; they’re looking after the issues that are involved in freedom because in many ways people in South Africa are still struggling for freedoms,” Salley expresses.

    Secondly, ‘looking after’ can be interpreted as a kind of looking beyond. In this sense ‘freedom’ is contextualized as a concept which has lives unfolding beyond its borders. This frames freedom as a point of departure that can looked at retrospectively in textbooks as well as through social circumstances.

    Investigating the plurality of freedom brings to the fore political contestations, unveiling its potentiality. Ideal understanding of freedom(s) highlights the real lived experiences of freedom(s) and its opposites. People still continue to fight for their individual and collective imagined freedoms to come to fruition. Within this, Salley points out, comes the relationship between individual and collective understandings of freedom; trying to figure out if individual freedom fits into larger conceptualizations of what this looks like and how it can be achieved.

    Dineo Seshee Bopape’s video work “untitled”, 2016 shows the artist bathed in a red light and over the course of the work chanting in a voice rising “Now I know I can. Now I know I can. In the past I didn’t, but when I saw my children mowed down in Soweto, in 1976, then I realized that in order to defend that… I would do exactly the same…” The statement echos the words from an interview that Winnie Madikizela Mandela gave to the Dutch television network, the date is not known but clearly it’s after the 1976 uprising. Dineo’s voice and the emotional pathos of the work becomes the sound to the exhibition as each work pulls you through recent histories and into continued and present struggles for personal and collective freedoms. Buhle Mbambo’s work “Black tax VS dreams”, 2016, depicts a ‘youth’ sitting on the street corner, appearing unencumbered, but also possibly taking respite from the heavy load of responsibility facing him. Kemang Wa Lehulere’s work “Dog sleeping, 2015” can be read as a critic of the education that creates subjecthood, dependencies, and subjectivities that condition the person coming out of education to have dependencies and not able to make affects or excise what has been learned beyond being a worker. South Africa’s systems fails young black youth continuously and the education system still is no exception both in the kind of the content taught and its inaccessibility, yet access to education equates to access to opportunities or at the least the potential to be able to identify these possibilities, and this curtails the possible extent of personal freedoms.

    Broadly the concerns of the exhibition contact and expand between the personal and the political, the private and the public, through the nuanced interweaving of meta narratives with intimate accounts. Gabrielle Goliath’s “Personal Accounts”, 2013 sensitively deals with issues of domestic violence. The 5 screen video installation shows the faces of 5 women and the rhythm of their breathing and sighing and they recount a narrative we never hear. As they re-live personal traumas that we do not have privy to. The silences are profound, the violence articulated through each breath and sigh.

    Mawande Ka Zenzile’s works with historic images that exist in the public realm and how they represent crimes with your perpetrators but lasting impact mired in conspiracy, and deals more with the notions of grand narratives of political freedoms. “CRIME SCENE”, 2016 draws from the images of Che Guevara lying in state in 1967.  After being hunted by the CIA, Che was captured by the military in Bolivia on 8 October 1967, and executed the following day. His body was displayed to the press in the village of Vallegrande, where member of the press photographed the dead revolutionary and other posed with his body before allegedly being buried in secret. In the face of the student and the institutional brutality meted unto their bodies is this not the end that awaits all revolutionaries?

    In the interview, referenced in Dineo’s work the interviewer provocatively asks Winnie “would you be prepared to take up a gun and kill someone in order to achieve what you would regards as your freedom?” The success of the exhibition is that all the works give enough space for the viewer to also bring to bear their own readings and understanding into the debates and positions of the artists as we try and grapple with our present and the possible futures.

    With an exhibition interrogating freedom(s), the Michaelis Gallery at UCT was a relevant setting. The Rhodes Must Fall movement started in 2015 created a wave across the country, bursting open hidden transcripts about decolonial and intersectional practices to be included in a collective imagination with regards to space, learning, interaction and institutions. Artworks created over the past 10 years by contemporary South African artists created a timeline of imaginaries, pulled together by the lingering energy of South African students permeating from the university walls, requiring viewers to contextualize the works within contemporary struggles for freedom.

    UK partners Dani Abulhawa and Sarah Spies worked together on a different aspect of the project which also falls under Decolonisation and the Scopic Regime. Spending their time based at a new gallery in Cape Town, A4 Arts Foundation, they spent their time embedding themselves within the artistic and social lives of the city. There method of working was to ask artists their thinking around the theme ‘Looking After Freedom’, both as artists and people living in the city. “We wrote notes during these conversations and afterwards we began processing the notes into fragmentary transcripts that we read, analysed and discussed together…Part of our processing of these conversations was to create a series of scores that we could use as the basis for a practical embodying of the ideas that were coming through.” They wrote four scores, each of which were integral to the project and offered much to think about and explore.

    Their specific interest is in examining the margins, the ground politics, and ‘sideways’ practices. As performance artists they are interested in looking beyond what is typically understood as and considered worthy of acclaim as performance and art. Revealing one of the moments spent with a graffiti artist, they explained that, “To us, it is these kinds of – largely invisible – activities in communities and everyday spaces that most engage with the concept of Looking After Freedom.”

    This project allowed for multiple ways of engaging with the theme ‘Looking After Freedom’ and from multiple creative forms. Through the scores created by Abulhawa and Spies as well as the exhibition curated by Mabaso and Salley, the past, present and future interpretations of freedoms were explored, offering a gateway to think about freedoms both ideas around care and everyday lived experiences.

    The exhibition will travel across the country with the support of the National Arts Council of South Africa and opens at the Stellenbosch University Art Gallery on the 07th of September. As part of the lager project on Decolonisation and the Scopic Regime there will be a symposium at the A4 arts Foundation from the 24 – 26th of August.

     

    ‘This article forms part of content created for the British Council Connect ZA 2017 Programme. To find out more about the programme click here.’

  • Diskotekah // an art installation set to techno

    Diskotekah (or DTK) was dreamt up on a beach 3 years ago by two best friends and stylists Gavin Mikey Collins & Michael Beaumont Cooper. “The idea came from a conversation we were having discussing the state of the world and how to us it felt like we were living at the end of times,” Gavin explains. Starting out as a joke with the question ‘Where would you want to be at the end of the world/’ for Gavin and Michael it was Cape Town. There next thought was ‘We’re living in a post-apocalyptic paradise, what are we going to do/’. For the two of them the answer was easy. “We’re going to be having the best fucking party of our lives!” I asked Gavin and Michael to share a bit more about Diskotekah and how it has evolved over the past three years.

    Tell me a bit more about Diskotekah. Who is part of the team?

    MBC: DTK was started by Gavin and I, but over the years we have added to our team. We have Derrick Pitts, our unicorn, who gives us our visual identity online. Jason Broomfield, is our music consultant and general sounding board for anything business related. Pierre Vermeulen, an artist, who helps with and creates beautiful installations at the physical event and lastly, but by no means last, everyone who comes to DISKOTEKAH and brings their own special brand. DTK truly comes to life when all the tropical creatures show up and show out!

    You describe Diskotekah as a “conceptual brand”. Could you expand on what you mean by this?

    GMC: The Diskotekah experience is based very firmly in concept. Our process involves finding interesting spaces and transforming them into fully immersive and interactive art installations. For example, our 2nd birthday theme was #BDAYSPLASH so we decided to host the party at the bottom of the ocean. We’ve had TRIBE, EMO-Chanel, XMAS IN SPACE and our now infamous HALLOQWEEN party to name a few. Our intention is to channel the mood of the world at the time in a theme that can provoke, inspire and entertain.

    MBC: DISKOTEKAH is constantly evolving. We never stick to one version of DTK. Each party has a different theme. This helps us to constantly think out the box in terms of what we do. We change location, we change the theme, we ebb and we flow. All of this continues to add to the concept, which is kind of experimental. Neither of us had any experience in throwing parties, but we had a concept for the first one and just went with that. So as the brand grows, so does the concept. Nothing is constant. The only thing that we try to maintain is the idea of reusing decorations in different ways. Recycle and DIY. These are the tools given by the gawds, to the drag qweens. So the way I like to view it as, is as an art installation set to techno. The final touch is the people who come and blow our minds with their individuality and creativeness.

    Share a bit about what the party scene in Cape Town was like before Diskotekah, especially what it was like for queer people?

    GMC: Before we starting hosting DTK I often felt like there weren’t many appropriate spaces for myself and my creativity in the Cape Town scene. Legendary parties like Evol had faded from the former fierceness, even MCQP had lost anything that made it innovative and relevant. It felt like a whole lot of the same. The same people, the same music, the same conversation. Even though Cape Town in the queer capital of South Africa there was still shockingly few queer friendly nightlife spaces and the ones that do exist can be aggressive and heteronormative.

    MBC: It was fine, maybe lacking in certain areas; creativity and purpose. I can’t recall a party for a while being in anyway inspirational. The effort was lacking. This vacancy of creativity paves the way for the mundane and does not allow any room for the people who wish to express themselves. So no shade, but four walls and a Dj lineup is only engaging up to a point.

    Following on from the above question, how did this inspire you to want to cultivate an alternative party queer party scene?

    GMC: Our goal was to establish a community of creatives who are liberal in creative expression. We wanted to create a platform for young people to express themselves through various forms including music, fashion, art and drag. The mood that we curate at our parties to ideal for new people to meet, old friends to dance & be outrageous all while celebrating everyone for their differences.

    MBC:  The world is in a bit of a funk at the moment. It’s always been up to queer culture to lighten the mood and stand up for acceptance and love.

    Share a bit about people in Cape Town’s perceptions of drag and how you have set out to embrace the beauty of what it has always been?

    GMC: I think the public perception of drag has changed over recent years with shows like Drag Race playing a massive role in educating people about what drag stands for. That being said there are still misconceptions about drag and drag culture, even though it has been thoroughly assimilated into pop culture by now. Think about the words we speak: “gag” “yas kween” “shade”, these all come from the drag scene. Women are even contouring their faces now. You think that came from Kim Kardashian? Bitch please! Even though people in Cape Town are more open minded than other parts of South Africa, in comparison to other parts of the world we are very conservative. That’s why we use drag as an opportunity to challenge people’s beliefs about gender and identity through humour and entertainment.

    MBC: Drag Race has been a real trail-blazer in the promotion of drag, so let’s give it up for Mama Ru. Now we have to form our own identity and express drag in our own way. Not that drag is localized to an area, it universal, but our experiences living in an area can certainly add to what we create and what issues we choose to address. Drag is a mindset. It’s a paradox to what is holding us back and if perception is reality, then drag can be an alternative reality where love is the standard we choose to live by.

    Some of the videos that you have put out to share the parties you have hosted play on humour but also show an ownership of one’s body and sexuality. Please expand on the importance of this in relation to how you have framed Diskotekah.

    GMC: Diskotekah is about acceptance. It’s about looking at what you’ve got and celebrating it from H to T. So what if you’ve got a limp? No problem. You werq that runway gurl… Self conscious about your make up skills? Throw a little glitter on it!

    MBC: As mentioned before. We are about the expression of all things good. Anything goes as long as you can accept others for their ways. It’s about being your authentic self. We were all born into a loving family and for some reason, if you feel alone, we hope you can find another loving and accepting family, your tribe so to speak. I don’t think it’s in our DNA to hurt others. So it’s a reminder that life has beauty and that there is room for all types of individuals. It’s a mindset, not based on anything external.

    How do you envision the future of Diskotekah?

    GMC: The future of DTK is bright and beautiful. We would like to expand the brand and talk more about queer issues in South Africa. We would also love to create more opportunity for young queer people in South Africa.

    MBC: The most we can hope for, is for people to get what we are trying to do. As long as we can create a safe space for people to express their inner self and as long as people show up, we will keep expanding on this. Hopefully we can cultivate a culture of love and acceptance.

    What are you working on at the moment that you would like to share with our readers?

    GMC: Currently we are working a music festival collaboration which is going to take place early next year. We can’t say too much about it now but if you follow us we’ll be releasing the details in September. We’re also working on a photoshoot documenting drag and club kid culture in Cape Town with an amazing South African photographer.

    MBC: Halloqween 3 is our most immediate project and then watch this space! Something cool is coming.

    Anything else you would like to mention about yourselves and Diskotekah?

    GMC: If it’s not intersectional, it’s not relevant!

    MBC: Love everyone for their quirks. Let’s make this life the best one! The house down!

  • King ADZ x Nando’s: Documenting Johannesburg’s street art scene

    Johannesburg. The city with an electric energy that often has people forming love-hate relationships with the lifestyles it engenders. The streets are the storytellers of the city’s complex history. Bright, colourful characters and lettering have been woven into the city streets by well-known and emerging street artists, providing a layered and living alternative documentation and form of expression.

    King ADZ was asked by Nando’s to come to Johannesburg and make a documentary that looks at the rise of street art through a collaboration with the young street artist Karabo Poppy Moletsane. In conversation with artists and cultural commentators, the evolution of these artworks is tied together with the evolution of the city. Street art has opened up the doors to the art world and removed its elitist connotations, and the value of this art form is demonstrated through revealing how it is shaping the lives of a new creative generation. Artworks that through its very existence breaks down ideas of what art should look like, who can view it and how it should be displayed. Making the streets the gallery and those walking by its viewers, admirers and critics. Discussions paint a picture of how street art blends with protest, art, celebration and freedom of expression.

  • Andindedwa – a photographic series on ancestral acknowledgement and cultural rediscovery

    Photographer and art director Thina Olona Zibi feels that creative imagery is something that has always been a part of her world. Having picked up a camera only 6 years ago, she has become well-known for how she captures various aspects that make up life in South Africa. “I was really drawn to styling, interesting personalities and everyday individuals on the street,” Thina explains. Her new exhibition ‘Andindedwa’ now showing at Agog Gallery in Maboneng speaks to her exploration of the human body in conjunction with ancestral acknowledgement and cultural rediscovery.

    How do you like to describe your artistic practice?

    I tend to work organically. I struggle with structure. When it comes it comes.  I like going out there and finding something to shoot. However currently I have started creating sets. My work has been described as “honest” or “pure”. It’s important that an image moves me. That when I decide if it is worth sharing.

    What are some of the themes you enjoy exploring?

    I gravitate a lot towards face and portraiture and the human body. There is something alluring about the human body and the energy an its existence. People are a big influence in my work.  There is something immeasurable and timeless about the human connection in photography.

    Please share more about the concept behind this photo series as well as the name you chose for the series. You mentioned that you are looking at African spirituality. Which aspects are you looking at specifically and how have you executed this in these works?

    ‘Andindedwa’ is Xhosa term meaning ‘I am not alone’, and in this particular context it acknowledges the spiritual realm that is among us. This photo series aims to relook the idea of African spirituality and reconsiders it as a viable practice for understanding where and how we are embedded in this world. In some way, I’m confronting the existence of this other world, parallel or protruding into, ours. My confrontation is coloured with my own surprise and confusion at the discovery of this world as I examine, and perhaps try to reclaim, a spiritual identity and practice that is lost with many contemporary Africans.

    The images borrow cues from “ukuhlanjwa” (spiritual cleansing). During this practice one is usually asked by their traditional healer to slaughter chickens in order to relieve themselves from malicious energy or to appease the ancestors. The photography is not a linear translation of how this is done exactly. The imagery plays with chicken body parts, blood, the bath (deliberately a modern design) to create a stylised, metaphorical rendition of ukuhlanjwa. No literal interpretation is intended.

    The subjects are searching – at times painfully, at others defiantly and admirably, even desperately – for relief and fulfilment. The viewer may detect a certain kind of distance in the subjects, not unlike the photographic studies of members of various subcultures, seeking both separation from a majority identity and inclusion into a new identity to which they can relate. The intangible obscurity in the pieces are the result of being engaged in ritual and occupying a liminal space. A rebirth is suggested, pertaining to a personal spiritual and cultural rediscovery and reconnection.

    You also mentioned that on the 9th of August there were installations by Tshego Khutsoane on show at the gallery. How will these tie in with your photographs?

    Tshego has added a more dynamic and tactile spiritual element to the show. Many people see ancestral acknowledgement as a dark, taboo practice that makes many feel uncomfortable. It’s that it is considered unparalleled to Christianity. The story of the exhibition is fighting that belief. Acknowledging ancestors has brought light, comfort and better understanding of self for many individuals.  The installation Tshego has incorporated bring forward light, warmth, comfort, cleanliness as well as a ancestral space that involves holiness. This is brought through with lit candles, flowing white fabric and sound installation of a woman singing popular African hymns that an average individual can relate to. The images focus a lot on the stages I went through when I understanding my relationship with my ancestor, these are further translates by a performance by  Ayanda Seoka, who brings these stages through life by taking the viewer through a journey throughout the exhibition.

    The show will be taking place at Agog Gallery, Maboneng until the 4th of September.

     

  • Lawrence Lek // Imagining a future without human labour

    Robots being programmed to take on human characteristics and functions. This has been a dream and fear which has haunted the human imagination with the development of science and computer functioning. Big screen productions such as I, Robot (2004) as well as small screen works such as Humans (2015) have played on the conflicted emotions around attempts to re-create ourselves in metal and algorithms. This desire to see a programmed image of ourselves has not only been driven by the longing of scientists to see how far they can stretch their practice. Capitalist motivations continue to call for more efficient and ways to accumulate wealth. Artist Lawrence Lek takes on questions around artificial intelligence through his video game installations in which he imagines a near-future where robots take over the necessity for human labour, including the creative labour that artists put into their work.

    “There’s this romanticised notion that we associate with creativity, but from my point of view, what is creativity apart from following the rules and then trying to break them? Breaking rules is a rule in itself,” Lek mentioned in an interview with Dazed.

    For his installation Play Station at the White Chapel Building in London, Lek took viewers to the year 2037 and imagined what it would be like to work for a technology start-up called Farsight. Viewers were introduced to a new work environment where work is actually leisure time. Participants in Lek’s exhibition were given VR headsets and taken through video tutorials before being given “assignments” to receive bonuses including e-holidays and entertainment credits. Work becomes a game.

    His speculative image of a future in Play Station provides a probing reflection on the direction we are taking ourselves in the name of progress and the possible future for recruitment in the corporate world. Lek also reflects on the repercussions of human labour no longer being necessary as well as what kind of political cultures may emerge from this.

    Watch the Farsight recruitment video below:

    Credits:

    Animation by Clifford Sage
    Architecture by Johnny Lui
    Music by Seth Scott
    Voiceover by Alp Mehmet
    Translated by Joni Zhu

    A co-commission by Art Night and Outset Young Patrons Circle. Supported by Derwent London. Curated by Fatos Ustek.

  • UKIYO || Floating World

    Gabriella Achadinha introduced me to the term UKIYO – うきよ – ‘The Floating World’ in the dance and fashion film that she co-directed with Alistair Blair. She explained that the term was used specifically during the Edo era [Edo is present-day Tokyo] as a way to describe an artistic movement within an urban culture. During the Edo era Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the last feudal military government. Characterized by economic growth and an end to continuous wars, the period also saw a rise in the development and enjoyment of artistic activities. This saw the rise of theatre, dance and music movements. UKIYO-E was also the term used for Japan’s famous woodblock prints which focused on this artistic revival – depicting imagery of actors, dancers, sumo wrestlers, etc. Gabriella also explained that UKIYO is a term which can be used in Japanese slang to refer to ‘one who is on another world, whose head is nestling in the clouds on another plain’ – a ‘dreamer’. With this definition, dancer Tomoko Kim was the perfect protagonist for the film. When she was a child Tomoko’s grandmother would refer to her as UKIYO, her obsession with dance making her take on the characteristics of a dreamer. “Thus, the dance video drew inspiration from this ethereal meaning of the word. Overall danced in a contemporary style, the video transitions from a mixture of the traditional Japanese butoh and bugaku into an African-influenced Dogon Mask step, ending off with a fluid fully-contemporary dance,” Gabriella describes. With Tomoko’s angelic movements combined with garments by South African designers, the film becomes a dream. As the viewer you are transported to three different locations, and the music lulls your senses as you watch Tomoko move across the screen. I had an interview with Alistair and Gabriella to find out more about the inspiration for the film and their creative process.

    Where did the idea for this fashion/dance film come from? What made you feel you wanted to connect dance and fashion in this way?

    Gabriella: I’ve always been a massive fan of dance videos, from Storyboard P to Lil Buck – contemporary dance combined with the medium of filmmaking has always been fascinating. We have such incredible local designers that it felt right to combine dance with showcasing local fashion. I met Tomoko Kim at a house party at the same time I was chatting to Alistair about collaborating on a project, it all fell into place naturally. Alistair and I have a very calm, easy-going rapport and immediately there was a click in our visions and working styles. Working together was perfect as he understands and has such an incredible technical and location vision whereas I steer more towards working with narrative/performers and art department/wardrobe. It was a dream working with Alistair as we share a very similar aesthetic preference.

    Alistair: Shooting fashion has been my main focus yet I like to incorporate the arts into my work. It allows one to feel something when they view a project like this, at least I hope it does. Living at The Forge in Kalk Bay has opened my understanding of art and creativity thanks to the guiding hand of Katherine Glenday. So when Gabi presented Ukiyo as an idea, I was really eager. She has a really cohesive understanding of all the parts that need to come together to make a film.  We both naturally fell into our roles and I appreciated her vision and creativity. I can’t take much credit to be honest. I was really mostly choosing the way I would like to shoot the project and how I would go about it. Gabi was a constant source of good opinions and ideas when we went over how we would light, choose locations and film the project.

    Could you share a bit more about the South African garments that you show in the film? Was the fashion the starting point for this film? This is a dance/fashion film, how did you incorporate the different styles of the designers with the contemporary dance styles you featured in this film?

    Gabriella: The film started off solely as a dance film. However, whilst conceptualising the film and reaching the topic of styling we decided it would be best to represent some local designers. We left the styling decisions to Sarah Byram, wardrobe stylist on the project, and her choices were extremely on point in matching the individual dance themes to clothing items. She combined pieces from local designers such as Sheila-Madge Design (with illustration by Andel Olivier Art) and Meso with vintage finds from her label Better Half Vintage, as well as Babette Clothing. It was crucial for us to match the pieces with the dances being represented thus the need to source vintage items that matched the bukoh and Dogon styles, with contemporary touches that linked the traditional with the modern.

    You shared some interesting info on Tomoko Kim and how she connects to the idea of UKIYO through the name her grandmother gave her. Could you please share a bit more about your choice to have her be part of the film?

    Gabriella: Japanese culture and its traditional butoh and bugaku dancing styles have recently become quite the inspiration to me – it’s rigid yet free-flowing nature, the beauty in its subtle emotion. Meeting Tomoko when I did was serendipitous, she’s a professional contemporary dancer and is extremely passionate about diverse styles. Her background in traditional Japanese, as well as modern and African contemporary styles, made her the best match for the project. She also has an incredibly strong, charismatic energy. I’ve loved the word ‘UKIYO’ for a while – ‘the floating world’, a term used for those on another plain, ‘a dream world’. But I definitely wanted Tomoko’s input with the title as she is Japanese. It was great when she was excited by it due to her background and her grandmother endearingly calling her that.

    It is interesting that you divided up the film into three sections. Could you perhaps share more about how you conceptualized the film and your creative process? What were your ideas behind the different spaces and colours in this video?

    Gabriella: UKIYO is all about a floating world, a world in which a dreamer exists, away from the mundane reality. We wanted to depict this via the various spaces and corresponding colour palettes, representing the dream worlds one creates through prominent influences, especially as a dancer/a creator. The three locations represent the three different dance style influences and the colours further heighten these dream worlds. A shout out to Henry Uys, our editor and grader, for meticulously colour grading the project to represent UKIYO. The conceptualisation was greatly initiated by working with Tomoko as we knew we wanted to do a dance video but she was the catalyst in how it turned out. She gave a lot of input into the dance styles. We researched diverse dance styles and loved how UKIYO / a dream world is beautifully accurate in explaining the space in which an amalgamation of experiences and exposures co-mingle and thus create.  Alistair, Tomoko and I spoke about individual inspirations and moved from there. Overall it was a very collaborative project between all departments.

    Alistair: The different spaces had to connect to the story for us. After discussing a few ideas we came to these three locations. They felt perfect to reflect the ideas of the story. The forest we choose is ideal as a Japanese setting, whilst the warehouse had this rawness that suited the African contemporary dancing and finally shooting a neon lit scene has been something I’ve wanted to do for ages so that was kind of a dream come true. It’s never perfect when it’s not a closed set but I think we did a pretty good job.

    The music adds to the kind of dreamy feel of the short film and it almost mimics the movements of the dancer. How important is the music in engaging the dancer? Could you share more about who you got on board to produce the music?

    Alistair: Gabi and I discussed what type of mood and feeling we were going for in terms of music so when I mentioned that a friend of mine, Mishaq Diesel, could perhaps produce something for us we listened to some tracks he sent us and were sold. We struggled a bit with the middle section because we had a tough time filming that from a time perspective but I felt Mishaq really produced something excellent for us. It’s got this great rhythm that carries you from beginning to end.

    What were you looking to do with this project?

    Gabriella: Honestly, we were not interested in reaching a specific goal with the project as much as we were focused on the process of collaboration in creating a film we felt we could grow and learn from, as well as showcasing Tomoko’s unique dancing style. This allowed for a very relaxed and experimental process. Alistair and I felt we needed a bit of a break from commercials and wanted to create something a bit wild and unlimited.

    Credits:

    Dancer: Tomoko Kim

    Production & concept: Gabriella Achadinha

    Directed by: Gabriella Achadinha & Alistair Blair

    Director of photography: Alistair Blair

    B camera: Keenan Ferguson

    Camera assistant: Ted Saczek

    Edit & grade: Henry Uys

    Styling: Sarah Byram

    MUA: Thandeka Steenkamp

    Music: Mishaq Diesel

    Credit design: Marlize Eckard

    Special thanks to Better Half Vintage, Maison Meso, Sheila-Madge Design, Andel Olivier Art, Babette Clothing, Max Botha from Hokey Poke Bar,Isak Persson, SUnshine Co.

  • i & i // combining workwear, Middle Eastern robes and old tailoring techniques

    I had an interview with Shukrie Joel about how he combines workwear with Middle Eastern robes for his label i & i.

    Share a bit about your relationship with fashion and how it has evolved?

    I grew up in my father’s tailoring workshop in Port Elizabeth. It bordered many factories and most days workers would be sitting outside our house during their lunch breaks. I was always fascinated by their overalls and clothing. These guys were just hanging out on our lawn dressed in their workwear but come Friday it was like a fashion parade when they knocked off looking sharp as ever. It goes without saying that my father, Ismail Joel was also their go to tailor. The contrast and transformation was so refreshing and as a kid I wondered if those were the same people I saw daily. This aesthetic is still prevalent in my work with a few additional influences.

    I tend to gravitate towards workwear, vintage military, Islamic / middle eastern robes and combine these influences with tailoring and old methods of shirt construction. I’m trying to source and manufacture locally to an international standard to show the consumer that this can be done without needing to go offshore. We still have some amazing makers in South Africa that are not being utilized to their full capabilities.

    Where did the journey for i & i begin and how has it grown?

    The label came about from a frustration that I’m always working on my own and not finding collaborators to exchange concept with. I worked alone most of the time focusing on bespoke. It was the only method I was accustomed to working with my father and also due to some bad business decisions in the past. In time I found that when you put out a body of work that it will attract the right people. i & i is not about the individual, a me or a you. Instead it represents what we can achieve when we build in a positive direction as a collective. The irony is that I’m still running a one man show but at least I’m surrounded by great individuals at the shared studio space above Corner Store.

    What is your approach to how you conceptualize and construct your garments?

    I must admit it is a strange process as I don’t sketch anymore. I used to sketch years back but in a 2 dimensional manner resembling the pattern more than the concept. These days I visualize the garment that I intend to make then I obsess over it for days, sometimes weeks, constructing the pattern and exact details from cut, stitch, pocket position in my head until it’s complete and only then do I approach the actual product. With most pieces that I design I try to break the design down to its most basic form as a child or someone with no design background would. I want people to think ‘damn! That’s so easy why didn’t I think about it?’ That to me is the best form of design no matter what the discipline is.

    From your Instagram it appear as if you work between South Africa and Canada. How does this feed into your creative work?

    I’m really blessed to spend a good amount of time between the two countries annually. When I’m in Montreal, Canada, I work on the i & i project, as well as working as a buying consultant for a boutique called Les Etoffe (which is also my stockist in Canada and run by my friends Chris and Diana). We travel to NYC over the fashion calendar and visit some of the best showrooms in the city thus giving me a good understanding of what buyers are interested in as well as what doesn’t get their attention. I then use this as my departure point and manufacture a range in fabrications that balances the design and price point.

    What was the inspiration for your latest collection? Could you please share the thinking behind the shoot? What mood/energy were you trying to bring across?

    There was no real inspiration for the collection as such. Over the years I’ve made so many patterns that I’ve never put into production and each year I review them and see how I can interpret them in new fabric. I focus on what works for me and in turn that familiarizes the consumer with the product. Regarding the shoot, every year so many publications come to Cape Town to shoot their editorials and catalogues and spend millions doing so. I mentioned to Anees Petersen why not use this as our direction as we are not paying a single cent as we have all this nature on our doorstep and readily available. Why should we be the ones trying to do an urban shoot when our scenic landscape is so accessible? We wanted to use what we have and see how the garments respond to this beautiful canvas as a backdrop. Together we did the creative direction and found Qiniso Van Damme who has a great silhouette and everything just felt right on her. I wanted to have a Vato / Latino feel to it as it worked nicely with her look. We had Seraaj Semaar do the onset styling as well as Marge Linderoth with hair and make up. The team worked well together and I’m proud of our efforts and the results, especially Anees as he is not a trained photographer and he was shooting on film only, so double challenges as he also did the location scouting. The guy is a one man powerhouse! In essence the shoot also captures the unity that we have as a team working at Corner Store. We are 5 brands housed in one store with the studio upstairs and we all share and strengthen one another on a daily basis. It’s something really beautiful and unique and I’m happy to be working with such amazing people when I’m back home in South Africa.

    Do you have specific fabrics you enjoy working with?

    Currently most of the collection is made in hemp twill and single jersey. With the i & i project I’m using natural, sustainable fabrics as this resonates best with the brand. I then divide it into articles of colour ways depending on how accessible the fabrics are in my vicinity. Natural fabrics work best for what I’m doing but I don’t like to restrict myself to a certain type of fabric. If it feels good and works for the design then I’ll use it.

    Who do you imagine as the person who would wear your garments?

    I use to have a set image of my consumer but since the release of the label I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. In the past I’d look at an individual and think ‘you’ll get it’ but then I’ll be disappointed when they don’t, so I try not to focus on that aspect too much. A number of women have been buying into the brand and prefer the men’s cut as opposed to it being more tailored to the female form. Most of my work starts of as a unisex concept but I leave it to the individual to choose without restrictions.

    Is there anything that you are working on at the moment that you would like to share with our readers?

    I’m expanding the line with more denim pieces, sweats in 3M and prints by Bradley Abrahams and Taariq Latiff, as well as soft tailored pieces in hemp / linen for summer and a small range of kids clothing. There’s also a leather project that I’m working on with Research Unit.

    Anything else you would like to mention about yourself or your label?

    Nothing that I haven’t touched on above but maybe one gripe. Retailers should stop with a consignment strategy and focus on empowering local design. It’s a difficult industry with brands taking risks and paying production costs while some stores are fully stocked with consignment goods on a sale or return policy. With most makers I have to put down a deposit as I want to ensure they can pay their staff but in turn I’m not being paid a deposit when a retailer places an order. Rather pay a deposit and strengthen the chain of supply. The retail industry in SA needs to find a better manner of doing business with their stockists if they want to survive as a brick and mortar in a digital age. That being said nothing beats a tactile experience especially when it comes to clothing.

    Credits:

    Creative direction: Shukrie Joel & Anees Petersen

    Photography: Anees Petersen

    Model: Qiniso Van Damme

    Styling: Seraaj Semaar

    Make up and hair: Marge Linderoth

  • AREA3 CPT ’17 // A co-creation space underpinned by design

    Photographer Imraan Christian and stylist Gabrielle Kannemeyer have been working with Andpeople and adidas to put together a co-creation studio at AREA3 in Cape Town. They have been appointed the Creative Directors, which involves them being in charge of the fluid structure that makes up the programme. They have put together talks and workshops.

    The idea behind the programme is to allow young creators in Cape Town the opportunity to be introduced to a studio space and work collaboratively under the guidance of Gabrielle and Imraan. With adidas as the supporter for the project, creators were provided with three apparel and footwear drops from June to August – June being Campus, July the NMD and August will be the EQT.

    Photographer: Haneem Christian & Waseem Noordien | MUA: Nubia Silver | Models: Aidan Groenewald, Justin February, Thandi Gula & Haneem Christian

    Imraan explained that the plan is for the studio to produce 4 shoots per week featuring the products allocated each month. Creatives have been encouraged to push boundaries with regards to styling, concept and execution. “We are pushing them to think unconventionally about the cube,” Imraan explained.

    “We thought a work studio would be a great place to share teach and learn – it’s an extremely intimidating place to be if you’re not used to being there (all the lights and complicated machines and people watching, etc.). We want to dismantle the fear and teach them that anywhere you create in is a home,” Imraan explained.

    Photographer: Reagan Paulsen | Stylist: Reagan Paulsen | Model: Nangamo Fonk

    Imraan and Gabrielle have been working with the creatives in the space helping them from the initial phases of conceptualization to execution and post production. “You’ll find us in the space helping creators build and execute their projects every Friday, Saturday and Sunday alongside Ra-ees Saiet, our space manager who runs the space by managing the foot traffic, assisting in bookings for creatives to shoot their projects, John Second our studio manager who teaches the creators how to operate and set up the equipment as well as Keenan Oliver our studio’s general co-coordinator and producer.”

    With this sharing of knowledge and resources, Imraan hopes that it will aid these creators in getting a foot in the door and encouraging a sense of community amongst them.

    The creators part of this programme are Dune Tilley, Reagan Paulsen, Hope Motlepa, Haneem Christian, Aidan Groenewald, Jaimi Robin, Ciara Madella, Conway October, Alexandra Truter, Joshua Pascoe, Sara Lagardien, and Thandi Gula-Ndebele.

    Photographer: Lara Fisher | Lighting: John Second | Stylist: Conway October | Models: Mathew Bell, Shakadelics & Conway October.
    Photographer: Alexandra Truter | Lighting: John Second | Stylist: Antonio Druchen | Make up: Gareth Coleman | Models: Britani Khan & Damian Fredricks
    Photography: Sara Lagardien and Haneem Christian | Styling: Sara Lagardien | Styling Assistant: Justin February | Models: Saaimah Badroodien, Saadiq Soeker, Sara Lagardien and La’eeqa Mosam | Makeup Artist: Haneem Christian | Lighting: John Alex Second
    Editorial by Jaimi Robin | Photographer: Jaimi Robin | Lighting: John Second | Stytlist: Jaimi Robin | MUA: Haneem Christian & Jaimi Robin | Models: Kayleigh, Haneem Christian & Saaimah

  • Nao Serati – fashion for a new age fearless army

    Neo Serati Mofammere, the founder of athleisure brand Nao Serati, found his interest in fashion while studying at the National School of the Arts. “In our studies we started learning about a few designers and discussing if fashion is art (inconclusive answer – babes I still don’t know if fashion is really art). That coupled with the fashion shows that some of the students would host really gave me the spirit to continue with fashion.”

    Having met FAKA during high school, Neo explains that they have remained a strong influence on how he envisions the exponential growth of his brand. Confessing that he is a shy person, his brand is the complete opposite of this. Through creating unisex garments and making visual references to the outspoken nature of young people, Neo uses his manipulation of fabrics as a statement connected to his views on gender and sexuality. This approach came quite naturally for Neo, but he recalls how he decided to push this further through his collections.

    Creative direction by Rich Mnisi. Photography by Aart Verrips. Make up by Orli Oh Meiri

    “With my first collection I dressed and made up men in quite feminine poses which I loved, and thought nothing of. But people would inbox and comment quite aggressively telling me that my position was dangerous for the models and that the images where African and basically a man should stay a man. This fired me up helping me decide that this is something that needs to be seen more so that it’s not so unseen. We need to start to see every gender as African.”

    Neo also tries to capture the fearless nature of young people in South Africa; the fearlessness in how they dress and as well as their willingness to speak out. “As a designer knowing that people are fearless makes me want to dress them and create that suit of armor for this new age fearless army”

    Embracing the idea that living is more than breathing, Neo imagines the wearers of his garments as people who take on a similar attitude towards life.

    “With lots of global attention right now our industry should start taking over the world and I’d like to be part of global growth.”

    Creative direction by Rich Mnisi. Photography by Aart Verrips. Make up by Orli Oh Meiri
    Photography by SDR Photography
    Photography by SDR Photography

  • Masixole Ncevu – capturing city living

    Masixole Ncevu creates work in charcoal and video, but his photography is taking centre sage at the moment. Having moved to Johannesburg from Cape Town last year, he has been photographing the sprawling metropolis and the vibrant characters that inhabit it. I interviewed him about how his move to Johannesburg has allowed him to embrace colour photography, and work on putting a book together.

    You work in charcoal and video as well but your photography seems to be taking centre stage at the moment. Could you share more about your relationship with photography and how it has evolved?

    Having been fascinated by black and white photography from an early age, I prefer to use charcoal for my drawings. My style is heavily influenced by my love for human figures and by my own emotions.  Whether I draw a close up or full portrait, I immensely enjoy the creativity and freedom of expression that comes with it. My love for video/short films comes from me continuously trying to challenge myself to find different ways of creating and enhancing the visual impact of my work. For me whether or not I succeed in that it is up to the subjective responsiveness of the viewer but the process of getting there is worth all the hard work and that for me is both deeply therapeutic and emotional.

    You also recently moved to Johannesburg from Cape Town. Could you please share more about the decision to do so and how this has affected your artistic practice?

    I felt the need to challenge myself because I was starting to feel too comfortable with the familiarity of Cape Town. I’m really passionate about traveling and Johannesburg is the beginning of that journey. I chose Johannesburg because it is the melting part of cultures and traditions and it is the gateway to Africa. I’ve always been interested in fashion and the move to Johannesburg has also created a shift in my work from black and white documenting, to embracing colour photography, as a means to express the vibrancy of Johannesburg’s street fashion.

    You are working on a book at the moment. Could you please share more about what the book will contain and how you have made progress with it so far?

    I’m treating the book as a work in progress. My intention for the book is to be a portrait of Johannesburg but the exact nature of the book will reveal itself as the work progresses.

    I have been looking at the work you have been sharing on Tumblr. Are these images part of what will be included in your book? Or are these separates series?

    It maybe a collection of photographs from the projects or I may end up choosing one of the projects that I feel represents Johannesburg in more a powerful way.

    I noticed that a lot of your photographic projects are works in progress. Is this a reflection of how you work and how you approach your photography?

    When I start a project/series I don’t immediately think ‘OK this is my next big project/series’. I just use photography as a way to investigate something that holds my interest. I respond to things I feel moved by or that I feel politicized by. Sometimes it works itself into a project/series, sometimes it doesn’t. I treat all of my projects as works in progress, and keep exploring them until I feel that I have told the story in a meaningful way.

    You have quite a few projects that you have been working on this year which I have seen on your Tumblr. Could you share more about your series “Sunday Street”? Where did the inspiration for this come from?

    I find peoples spiritual believes to be a fascinating part of the human condition. I’m interested in exploring how different people express their faith and I’m particularly in interested in how people in Johannesburg mix their western Christian beliefs with their traditional ancestral practice. So initially what drew me to make this photograph was their striking church clothes.

    From the series ‘Sunday Street’, Johannesburg, July 2017

    Could you share more about your series “Back seat”?

    In Cape Town my primary means of public transport were trains but since moving to Johannesburg I’ve been using taxis as a means of exploring the city. The scenes I was experiencing while using taxis reminded me of the work of Micheal Wolf from the project ‘Tokyo compression’. My interest was sparked when I witnessed two passengers fighting for the back seat and it made me wonder why that seat was a hot property.

    From the series ‘Back seat’, Johannesburg, July 2017

    Could you share more about your series “Trousers”?

    Johannesburg has a rich history of Pantsula, Swankas and Omashesha, a style taken from the ’60s and ’70s associated with gangsters and street dancers. Since I’ve always been interested in street fashion moving to Johannesburg has given the opportunity to explore the style.

    From the series ‘Trousers’, Johannesburg, 2017

    What is particularly interesting is how you have chosen to pair/group your images on your Tumblr and website. Could you share a bit more about these choices?

    I intentionally group my images in order to create a visual link between them, so that they can tell a complete story. When I present an image on its own, I do so when it tells a story on its own.

    Is there anything specific that readers should look out for from you this year?

    I’m participating in a group exhibition in Nimes, France (Nov 2017 – Feb 2018) with a photography gallery called NegPos. There is also a possibility of a group exhibition in London on the horizon (October 2017) but I will keep people posted on all my social media.