Bubblegum Club

Author: Marcia Elizabeth

  • Romano Pizzichini: The globetrotting director showcasing the beautiful similarities he sees in all people

    The UK based director known for ‘A Young Summer’s Heart’ and the video for ‘Black Crow’ took over my Mac Book screen with his vivid imagery last night. Pizzichini’s work has a defining style and the ability to be real and surreal simultaneously. The unique diversity of Pizzichini’s skill compels his viewer to travel between feelings of discomfort and warm nostalgia. In my interview with Pizzichini we discussed his work further.

    Born in Brazil, Pizzichini was raised between South America and Canada. Spending time in both Italy and Sweden, Pizzichini has settled in the UK and has been there for the past 9 years. “I think travelling around this much helped open my eyes to how similar people can be, and different perceptions of beauty.” Pizzichini tells me that filmmaking came to him almost by accident – “I was just put into the course and went with it.” Expressing that it was a blissful accident he aims to celebrate beauty and connect people in everything he does.

    There is no evident pattern in the subject matter Pizzichini chooses to portray. The constants in his work are the stylized imagery that ranges on near perfection yet still maintaining their organic nature, as well as his focus on youth and youth culture from various demographics. Pizzichini, vigilant in his use of lighting strays away from imagery that appears lit. “Sometimes I have an idea in my head and then try to find the right subjects to bring it to life. Other times, the ideas come from the available elements.”

    “I’m always trying to go beyond my subjects’ demographic or background and find out who they are as people. That’s the only way we can connect as people.” Pizzichini works from the UK but frequently travels for projects and states that Italy is a source of constant inspiration to him. Pizzichini is at the helm of writing and directing his film projects and his intention to bring people together in his work is clearly noticeable within this realm.

    ‘A Young Summer’s Heart’ was directed by Pizzichini in collaboration with The Mill and Smuggler. Released in 2015, the short film was shot in Calabria, Italy. In this film Pizzichini invites his viewers into a story that takes a closer look at a non-conformist Danish skateboarder discovering the streets of Italy on a summer holiday. At the heart of the film’s narrative is the summer fling between the skater and a local girl, and the language barrier between the two young lovers, as well as her father’s displeasure to her association with the young Danish skater. These elements contribute to a charming and wholesome storyline.

    The video for Beyond the Wizards Sleeve’s song ‘Black Crow’ was directed by Pizzichini and released in 2016. This piece articulates a sense of immanent death for the off centre electro duo consisting of Erol Alkan, an electronic music rebel, and Richard Norris, a renowned record producer.

    “Beneath the dramatic peaks of the track, there’s an underlying tension that’s always lingering. It doesn’t scream at you, but its there, like a sense of impending doom. I wanted the video to be in constant dialogue with that feeling by creating a world that could almost be normal, but is clearly not. Though shot in a matter-of-fact way, the imagery is constantly teetering between innocence and brutality.”

    The music video for this track directed by Pizzichini evokes feelings of intense discomfort for its viewer as strange forms of brutality is shown in the form of two girls who are made out to be rivals. The brutality is shown in the form of these girls dragging around heavy bags with their bodies by means of a harness on a tennis court and injuring one another with tennis balls. The brutality of the video is juxtaposed by the youthful innocence of the girls portrayed. In stark contrast to the warm feelings that ‘A Young Summer’s Heart’ evokes as well as its real nature, the ‘Black Crow’ video invites its viewer into an eerie alternative reality that ranges on perfect discomfort.

  • Janelka Lubbinge: constructing synergy with the female form and natural landscapes

    Lubbinge’s photography is female driven and with her cunning use of nature and the female form she pulls her viewers into a carefully curated utopia unique to her work. Nature and the female form become one as she captures with her lens that which she finds beautiful and inspiring.

    Lubbinge lived in Pretoria for most of her childhood. At the age of 13 her family migrated towards a quieter life to the small coastal town, Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape. As Lubbinge approached Grade 9 she was sent to an All Girls boarding school in Port Elizabeth where she completed her matric.

    She saw the world through a viewfinder for the very first time as a young 12-year-old girl photographing her eldest sister as a pastime. The camera in question belonged to her sister but to Lubbinge, it was hers. In order to protect the peace between the two sisters, her parents soon had to get her a camera of her own.

    In grade 10 Lubbinge got her first SLR camera and started documenting the world she found herself in at that age; a world that consisted of hostel and school life at an all girls school. “I was glued to my camera and it became a big part of my life.” Mesmerized by the realm photography had created for her, Lubbinge found comfort behind the lens of her camera.

    Using natural landscapes as the backdrops for her imagery, Lubbinge feels that growing up in a family that has a special love for nature, has made her feel like it is a part of who she is as a person. “I love how a landscape can patiently wait, and when the light strikes at the right time she transforms to her full splendor. She is ever changing and always perfect. I find studios restraining and I struggle to interact with an empty space. My talent lies in spotting something that is already there and giving it new meaning.”

    Lubbinge strives to portray the environment in her backdrops the same way that she sees them with her physical eye at that given time. She enjoys going on photo missions with friends and is enticed by how a sunrise and a sunset possess different qualities. “I love how the same beach always looks different or completely new, as it is a subject to light and tides. I love the lines nature creates and how plant growth and light clothes mountain ranges just like a girl would clothe herself.”


    Finding inspiration in people that she considers beautiful, nature itself and unusual clothing in interesting colours, Lubbinge captures what she sees with her naked eye in a hypnotic fashion. “We are all interconnected, constantly inspiring each other to improve and to do more.  If I can learn one thing from other photographers is that I can always improve…it is part of the journey. It’s a great attitude to have to stay inspired.”

    Growing up with a predominantly female presence in her life, Lubbinge is acutely aware of the insecurities that come with being female as well as the social expectations women feel obligated to honor. Lubbinge expresses that she possesses many of these insecurities herself and therefore finds comfort in other women.

    Choosing to photograph women because she understands their inner workings, she captures something inside her subjects that they might not have been aware that they possess themselves. “I have never quite felt comfortable in my own skin and I want to make the people around me feel like they can and should be comfortable with themselves because I see the beauty they carry within them and that beauty has a physical manifestation.”

    Stating that her photography is generally for herself and her models, Lubbinge finds gratification in the emotional responses her work evokes to her viewers. Her photography is intended to be an adventure and its purpose to capture how she feels about people and her environment.“When people and nature come together they create magic. I hope to trigger a feeling of honesty and positivity.” Lubbinge’s desire is for her photography to show her perception of the women portrayed in them and how they make her feel alive.

    The girls featured in Lubbinge’s work consist largely of her friends and family. In her process Lubbinge strives for authenticity and styles her own shoots. Using locations that have pulled her attention by means of its unique qualities, Lubbinge relies on natural lighting to portray realness. The spontaneity of working with natural light is something that Lubbinge enjoys and considers to be a defining characteristic of her work.

  • Meëk: aspiring to create the future of art

    Abi and Claire Meekel present under the collective Meëk. They have swiftly become a feature within the South African art scene dabbling in various forms of expression. You may recognize them as the sisters who modeled for Tarryn Francis or the sisters in the recent film by Aart Verrips or perhaps you know them as the DJ’s from AIR 2.0. However you know them, almost everyone in the art community in South Africa today has heard about them or seen their murals around Johannesburg. I met up with the 21 year old artists at a bakery in Melville. They walked in with a calmness about them, and Abi still had a blue paint mark on her neck from painting a mural beforehand. The blue of the paint accentuated her blonde hair and bold features. Claire’s red polo neck hugged her small frame. After we ordered our drinks, we began to talk about the various parts of their artistic practices.

    The Meekels were born in Amsterdam and lived there for seven years, hardly able to speak English. They then moved to Johannesburg and attended Parkview Junior where English became a part of their lives. Art has always been an integral part of the Meeks’ lives. Their mother is an artist and their father is an installation artist.

    “It has always been in our blood and in our faces. My dad would sit me on his lap and he would edit with me and with Claire on his computer.’’ – Abi Meekel

    “My mom would give us drawing pencils and pens when we were like 2 years old and we would sit there and draw and we loved it.” – Claire Meekel

    Meëk unfolded at the end of the Meekels’ matric year when they went on holiday in Europe. During this three-month period they decided that they wanted to create something, whether it was a brand, or an art collective or a movement. They were largely influenced by the art in Europe, from the graffiti on the walls to the architecture they were surrounded by. One day they sat down and just started drawing, and didn’t stop. And so Meëk was born.

    In speaking about this process the Meeks say that they created a character. Feeding off each other’s energies and shared background they decided to work as a collective. “It is more of our left leg or our right hand. It’s something; it’s an experience we have had as twins or sisters. It’s our pasts, our difficulties. It is what happens when we just come together. And it is very deep in a sense. It is also very playful. It’s like taking two halves and making it whole, almost.”

    The Meekels state that the older they get the more friction is evident between the two of them. Going to university led them to grow into individuals focusing on their own artistic practices. The Meekels are currently studying at Wits. Claire has always dreamt about being a photographer or a cinematographer and is currently specializing in cinematography. Abi specializes in sound and directing and has been playing the piano for nearly 14 years. Both sisters express that even though Meëk has a large following they have a need to work as individuals as well and find their own unique voices. They have already started branching out, with Claire having her own separate photography account on Instagram called @El_mno.

    @El_mno, Claire explains, is about close-ups of peculiar textures that make the viewer question what the object is that is photographed. She tells me that these pictures are all taken with her phone and then cropped out, and not edited. She enjoys the quality of the images and the restrictions that are enforced with a phone camera. The oblivious nature and confusion of subject matter that the images portray is what Claire finds appealing.

    Inspired by director David Lynch whose style can easily be described to resemble a nightmarish, fantastical dream, the Meeks conceptualize the soundscapes of their projects. “It’s a feeling. Like an atmosphere. An ambiance. It becomes a lot more difficult for people to relate to because it is a background thing. It’s something behind your head. In your head.”

    The Meeks aspire to create the future of art, but still take from the past and apply what inspires them into their practice. Becoming public figures in the art world at a very young age, they believe it has to do with their generation and the way the world is moving at this moment in time. They started putting their work up everywhere and took care to manage their social media presence. They have also been backed by their friends whom they collaborate with from time to time.

    Meëk is not about flawless imagery or content but instead they focus on creating a raw, unpolished aesthetic in their work. In their collage work they like to play with the fact that Photoshop is, in common practice, used to create perfect imagery but instead they warp normal perception with cutting up and duplicating parts of images. The twins have a uniform style and perspective that leans towards experimental that I like to think of this as cutting edge. “It’s just an image, it is nothing else. It’s not real. It is a moment in time. And you are editing over it. It’s distorting, changing.”

    The Meekel sisters are a part of Autonomy Wave‘s first micro residency, Future 76, and will be showing their work this Friday alongside artists that they consider to be their friends. Believing that this micro residency will push young South African artists to a new level they are excited to have been chosen for the first wave.

  • The Seppis – Two lovers. One vision

    The Seppis is a collective consisting of married couple, Seemaa Allie and Taariq September. The Cape Town based collective toil together in art direction, styling and photography. Their imagery and practice creates an aesthetic verging on unease and unconventional beauty.

    The Seppis was molded 11 years ago when Allie and Taariq started collaborating together during their dating phase. They started working under the brand, The Seppis about 3 years ago when the two creatives ventured into freelancing. In Allie’s words, “We are all about creating whether it be stills or videos. We are passionate about collaborating and learning as we go.”

    Having collaborated with Dope Saint Jude, Slabofmisuse, Simon Deporres, Mehnaaz Maleta and others, The Seppis are as involved in the production, photography, art direction and styling as a job brief allows. Allie states that in their practice they choose to have input in all aspects of the projects they are involved in.

     

    As a collective they largely create their own projects or collaborate with other creatives on projects that they have been a part of since their inception. “I think the major drawing card for us with regard to projects is the possibility of working with other creatives we respect and admire. The other elements that come into play is if the project has ‘meat’; by this I mean substance and is it relevant” – Seemaa Allie.

    Art directing their lives knowingly from a young age, photography was an art form they experimented with in their early years. It became their main medium of expression as they progressed in their artistic careers. The Seppis were trained within the realm of analogue photography and still practice it to some extent. They do however, shoot predominantly in a digital format at the current stage in their practice.

    Allie tells me that the lighting choices they work with in their projects is dictated by the required mood of the shoot stipulated in the brief for each individual shoot. The Seppis focuses on creating evocative imagery as the final product of their creative expression.  Within each individual project, they create continuity in their imagery, whether it be from the same series or project, or that from another projects entirely. Their focus or aim can be seen as the element that gives their imagery it’s signature look and feel.

    The Seppis are hands on with the location scouting of the projects they take on, their choice being directed by their project brief. “Location plays a big role in getting your narrative across especially when it comes to stills so careful consideration is put into choosing the location. There have been occasions that we happen upon a location and the location forms the base or the kick off point for a concept.”

    “We still have a very long list of people we would love to work with. We want to work, we want to create, we want to have kids, the future is bright and chaotic. Just the way we like it.”

  • Cale Waddacor: breathing new life into analogue photography with the platform DEAD TOWN

    Cale Waddacor: breathing new life into analogue photography with the platform DEAD TOWN

    DEAD TOWN is a platform aimed at highlighting the work of contemporary analogue film photographers in South Africa. It focuses on a wide spectrum of photography styles from landscape to documentary to fashion and beyond. The definitive desire is to create a blog with interviews, print publications and distinctive exhibitions. In my interview with creator Cale Waddacor we discussed the platform and the first video interview with Andile Buka.

    DEAD TOWN created by Waddacor in January of this year was birthed out of his endearment for film photography. Waddacor tells me that he has always had an affinity for the analogue format. He had a desire to group mind-blowing film imagery in one space. DEAD TOWN currently displays in the form of a blog. He aspires to grow this newly formed platform into a physical realm. Since the inception of the platform there has been various features including interviews with Gabriella Achadinha, Kent Andreasen, Albert Retief, Duran Levinson and Matt Kay. Other posts on the blog consist of an overview of the national photographic landscape, zines, book publications and picture round-ups from their Instagram feed, as well as a video interview with photographer Andile Buka.

    Photography by Katya Abedian

    The label DEAD TOWN refers to the approaching death of film photography that has been caused by the influx of the digital shooting mode which is not only an easier route to take but also less costly.  It may also refers to a time when people captured moments in time within a frame that has now exceeded sustainability and cannot be revived organically. Waddacor also states that he chose this title as it is not obvious, it is not instantly recognized for what the platform is, and slips easily off the tongue.

    Waddacor decided to focus specifically on analogue photographers because he holds that it is more extraordinary and niche. In his opinion the analogue photographers featured on the blog have a concentrated methodology and the style has the power to conjure diverse emotional responses from its viewers. Being a film photographer himself he is thrilled by the practice and the in communicable sensation that he associates with his images when he goes through the process of creating work. DEAD TOWN commemorates South African film photographers because there are few local blogs dedicated to this practice.

    Photography by Rowan Patrick

    Showcasing different styles, DEAD TOWN is fond of showcasing photographers that are not only skilled in the craft of analogue photography but have voices that cannot be matched. Waddacor states that he’s been following the work of most of the featured photographers on the blog for years. Some of the photographers are only hobbyist photographers and others shoot so much film that it’s unbelievable.

    Striving to make DEAD TOWN into a zine within this year, Waddacor is all about the quality of his product and only features the highest standard of work. Waddacor has developed a style for both platforms that enhances each other; he meticulously curates DEAD TOWN’s Instagram and blog.

    Photography by Andile Buka

    DEAD TOWN has released their first video interview with Johannesburg based photographer Andile Buka a few days ago. The in-depth video interview looks closely at Buka’s documentary style photo work as they visit his studio. Buka speaks about shooting on film exclusively, his process and what influences him, as well as the city of Johannesburg itself and his passage that led him to where he is now.

    Buka born in Soweto, was raised in Orange Farm. He currently resides and works in Johannesburg. His work comprises of portraiture, street and fashion photography. His client base includes brands such as adidas, Levi’s and Superga. Buka is known for shooting not only in medium format, but 35mm as well. Capturing his subjects with a candid personal air, he has a knack for tone and composition. Crossing Strangers (2015), Buka’s first monograph, was published by MNK Press in Japan and launched at the Tokyo Book Fair. Buka was freshly invited to take part in the New York Times’ 5th Annual Portfolio Review. His work has been exhibited in Europe, Asia and America and Buka plans to introduce a solo exhibition in the near future.

    Waddacor explains that the video interview with Buka consisted of minimal direction. “I wanted it to be natural, and to be born out of conversation. Andile was the perfect candidate because of his amazing body of work, gentle nature, and just the sheer amount of film he goes through.” Waddacor and Buka met for the first time on the day of the shoot. They went up to Buka’s studio and had their interview straight away.

    Waddacor tells me that the interaction between them was not forced, and that they shot an extensive interview in that time. Waddacor and Ryan Jarrett (cinematography and editing) then proceeded to follow Buka around his studio to get to know him more. Afterwards they scouted out the roof captured in the interview and walked around the block in downtown Hillbrow. The filmmakers then proceeded to Buka’s home to view and capture his post-process and discuss his admiration for music and books. Speaking to Waddacor he expresses a desire to explore more video work for his platform. The first video interview with Buka has set the tone for future projects.

  • Olivia Mortimer: Thinking about the female gaze in film

    I feel like I’ve always known Olivia, if knowing her from the age of 7 is counted as always. After not seeing each other for nearly three years, I met up with her for an interview about her photography and work in film. The way that females are portrayed in her work has always been something that I marvel at. When I walked into her apartment I felt as though parts of her character had been spread across the different rooms,  from her assortment of teas and almond milk to the rose quartz in her lounge and her bell jar. Once our water had boiled we sat down and discussed her practice and the female gaze.

    Stills from ‘Suburbia’ film by Olivia Mortimer

    Marcia Elizabeth (ME): Can you tell me more about your background? At what age did you get into photography, and at what point did you get into film?

    Olivia Mortimer (OM): I grew up in Pretoria with an Afrikaans upbringing. The culture is quite conservative in a sense. I’m lucky that my parents allowed me to pursue what I wanted to in life. I started going on to the Internet in grade 7 and I was like, ‘oh photography is fucking cool’. I always wanted to be a fine artist with paint and pencil. Then our scanner at home broke so I couldn’t scan art anymore to put up on DeviantArt. So I was like, ‘Cool let me try photography’. I started off with point and shoot and I just got obsessed with the instant gratification of photography. There was just a spark and I just kept taking photos. The more and more I did it the more people commented on it being ‘ok’ and I was like ‘oh cool, it’s not that shit’.

    I carried on with that. I just wanted to be a photographer. Then I met some friends in Jo’burg who wanted to do a short film and I was like ‘Cool ya I love film’. On our Matric vac we made Teen Creeps. We would film, put it on the computer, edit and film, and so we churned out a film about adolescence.

    Looking at it now I still have such a soft spot for it. At the same time that was the thing that got me really into cinematography, but still I didn’t plan on studying it. I went to Open Window Institute in my first year and took film and photography as my majors. Something just made more sense with film. I wound up failing photography at Open Window. With film I was like, ‘I’m really fucking good at this’. My lecturers told me that I had an eye. Like, ‘yeah, fuck yeah I have an eye, fucking cool’. That’s why I switched over to making film my major.

    ME: I stumbled across an article about 17-year-old Olivia by 10&5 and there you stated, “My photography is mostly about being a teenager and being young and living in the time that is the best days of life to some people. I’m interested in the juxtaposition of innocence, being young, dumb and carefree and the rebellion that comes naturally with being a teenager.” How has your work shifted since then?

    In a sense it has shifted but I also feel like that does still apply to my age group. I don’t think that anyone in my age group really knows what we are doing yet. We are all just really trying to figure out what is going on. We are still fucking dumb and young and carefree and we don’t know what the fuck we are doing. We all felt the same way at 17 and we all thought that at 24 or 25 we were going to have our shit together which is such a delusional fucking idea.

    When I was younger I always had my camera with me so I guess I just took photos of my friends all the time doing whatever, getting drunk, swimming, smoking weed. I was just documenting everything which I do miss doing. At the same time you need to also back away and not take photos and actually be in the moment. You do miss capturing really spectacular moments of youth culture and your friends being in this age of experimentation. I don’t think the subject matter or the feeling of my work has changed much since I was that age.

    ME: Who are the models and people featured in your films?

    OM: My friends or people I am instantly drawn to. I am drawn to women because women have this beautiful energy about them. It’s strong and captivating. Women have the power to not only be feminine but also very masculine at the same time, it’s just electric and fucking beautiful capturing the female form with the female gaze and not sexualizing the body of a woman. Purposefully making them have rolls and stretch marks and pubic hair and arm hair, and that’s how it should be. Women are powerful beings and that needs to be unlocked more.

    ME: Can you tell me what Teen Creeps is about?

    OM: We decided to make a film about this time and this age that we are in right now and we asked all of our friends if they wanted to be in a short film. At that age you are just young and reckless, getting drunk. It’s just a little love note to Jo’burg and being young.

    ME: Was it difficult for you to make the transition from still imagery into moving imagery?

    OM: Not at all, it felt so natural. I developed a sense of framing things and had that eye from all of my years of practicing photography. I sometimes help the Honours students at Open Window film their projects.  The lecturers can instantly see that it is my work and they know my style. I specialize in using only natural lighting. I don’t care if my footage is grainy and noisy.

    ME: I feel like the female presence is significant in your work. Can you expand on its significance?

    OM: There definitely is because I’m female and I want to tell stories of women not just being the protagonist’s love interest. Sadly there is not a big presence of women in the South African film industry, especially behind the scenes. I want to tell stories about women at specific times during their lives.

    Suburbia shows a woman at a time in her life where she’s like, ‘I’m going to fuck some guy in a car and then I’m going to go home. I don’t need him to be interested in me. I don’t need him to take me out for breakfast the next day. I want to have sex and I’m going to have sex. I’m going to get this done and I’m going to have a good time.’

    People aren’t used to seeing women portrayed like that in cinema. It is weird for people to see any kind of females in cinema where it’s like, ‘I’m fucking strong but I’m also fucking weak at the same time.’ The female character is somehow created as this thing to sexualize over with the male gaze. It’s so important for women to get into film to tell more female driven stories.

    ME: Do you feel like you present women differently than men do? In what sense would you say that your gaze is different to a male cinematographer’s gaze?

    OM: Ya, I don’t think that men realize that they sexualize women. Obviously there are male cinematographers who don’t sexualize women but it may also not be noticeable when you first see it. Certain angles and lighting really make a difference.  How we filmed the sex scene in Suburbia is different to how a man would have filmed it. We filmed it where you could only see the back of the man’s head, it was all focused on her and her being like, ‘I’m basically using you as a sex toy and getting out of here.’ She wasn’t heaving and was all like ‘oh my god this is so hot’. She was just like, ‘cool, cool, cool, all done’.

    Stills from ‘Suburbia’ film by Olivia Mortimer

    Check our Olivier’s film Teen Creeps below. To keep up with her work visit her website.

  • ‘I still love you when I’m dreaming’ – a photographic series by Katya Abedian

    Katya Abedian first came to my attention after Rookie Magazine published her work earlier this year. The 18-year-old artist blew me away with her 35mm film imagery that plunged me deep into her dream world. I spoke to her about her new series I still love you when I’m dreaming.

    Abedian was born and raised in South Africa and is a self-taught photographer and film director. She grew up encircled by people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and religions. Katya believes that growing up in South Africa has shaped her sensitivity and awareness as an artist.

    I still love you when I’m dreaming is a story in which Kim (Kimberley Davidson) and Casey’s (Casey Redlinghys) personalities become characters. Kim is depicted as both strong and gentle, and Casey is shown with warmth and vulnerability in his eyes. The models for this series convey reciprocal and harmonizing feminine and masculine attributes, lying at the heart of Katya’s story.

    “I aimed to explore the mutuality of the genders through these images and convey that human emotions are not limited by gender. Both have an equal capacity to feel a spectrum of emotion and both have an equal capacity to support one another in unique and beautiful ways.”

    For Abedian dreaming is one of the most alluring planes of worldly existence. She is in awe of this wonderland and how we are able to exist in one world and another simultaneously. “There is so much to discover concerning the relationship between our subconscious and our conscious realities, both spiritually and scientifically.” Her title for this series touches on these feelings and how people’s spiritual characters are a continuum of this when our eyes are open and closed.

    Relying completely on natural lighting in her projects, this series was shot in low light which led Abedian to use a very slow shutter speed and high aperture. She was aware that the result would be a blurry-dream, but as analogue imagery can’t be reviewed while it is being photographed, she was not able to predict to what extent that decision would present itself.

    “I think there is a quality of out-of-focus imagery that give space for interpretation and imagination. I aimed to create imagery with this story that opens the space between what you are seeing and how it is making you feel. That space is a beautiful one because it surfaces different interpretations and invokes a spectrum of feelings in the human imagination.”

    The veil depicted in Abedian’s series is representative of the thin membrane between being awake and dreaming. In her series tulips are featured as well as other flowers styled on Casey’s face. According to Abedian flowers are symbolic in her work in the way that they are a representative of the contrast of fragility and suppleness, faultlessness and the inevitability of death giving birth to life.

    “As far as I can remember, art and expression was something I turned to when nothing else really made sense. There had to be more… a world in which the depth of my feelings could find home in. Film photography was the first way I could physically get to that world, by training my eye and entering the world of analogue light capturing.”

    Katya was drawn to 35mm film as she feels that digital photography never pushed her to refine her eye or enable her to capture images in a way that was different from the norm. “35mm film has a truthfulness to it. The beautiful thing about film is that it is both irreplaceable and unpredictable. That combination starts becoming ‘art’ to me.”

    Her first camera was an age-old, Russian Zenit received as a gift from a friend. The light meter was broken and Abedian tells me that it aided her in training her eye from the beginning of her photographic experimentation. She would later discover that the Zenit was a film prop and was not meant to be in working condition.

    Abedian reflects on her early work and says that she still remembers her excitement when her parents came home with her printed stills. “I think that feeling nurtured my love of analogue film photography as apposed to digital work.”

    Her excitement by colors and how they act together comes through in her photographs. She switches between working in soft pastels to shooting very saturated colors, and brings in black and white sporadically. “I’m not prescriptive and I definitely try not to limit or control the channel of creativity when it comes to a story I am shooting. If it captures my heart then I will shoot it just like that.”

    Abedian styles her own shoots and photographs either friends, people that she finds genuinely interesting or people that she can relate to on a human or artistic level. She locates her shoots in spaces that enrich her stories and identifies as a sentimentalist. This is evident in her photographic style.

    “Artwork, of any form, has the power to start a conversation… to connect with the facets of the human condition that we have in common: our hearts, emotions, experiences. I can only hope that my work acts as a catalyst for progress because that is always my intention… whether that is explicit or understood is secondary.”

     

    Assistant: Ruby Glass

    Facial Art: Jessica Grammer

  • Seth Pimentel: exploring dark fantasies through experimental illustrations

    22-year-old illustrator Seth Pimentel, aka CAT FAP, sat casually in the winter morning sunlight resting his arms on his legs in the courtyard of One Eloff. His black Thrasher cap with its yellow logo greeted me before his eyes did. I sat down next to him and we discussed his art and vision for exhibition Future 76.

    Marcia Elizabeth (ME): Could you tell me more about your background?

    Seth Pimentel (SP): I was born and raised in Johannesburg. I started drawing when I was 6 and in school we had to draw 9/11. I drew the shittiest piece of art, the worst 6-year-old drawing you can imagine and my teacher actually liked it. She put it up amongst some of the best drawings in the class. From that day it all just made sense. I went to the National School of the Arts (NSA) when I was 14 and after that I went to Open Window Institute [a private higher education institution focusing on visual arts and digital sciences].

    ME: How would you describe your art?

    SP: I’m an illustrator and a visual artist. My art is weird. It’s a lot of dark stuff that comes from me. I’m not a dark person or anything. Sometimes it’s just great to tap into some kind of energy and create something from that. It’s just me being me. Expressing what I can, how I can.

    ME: In thinking about Future 76, do you feel like it fits into the scheme of what the other artists are doing? How are you thinking about creating a visually appealing flow for the exhibition?

    SP: I definitely think I could fit in with everyone that is exhibiting. We all kind of know each other. When you are friends with people it’s easy to pick up on their energies and adapt to their style, and they adapt to yours. I never usually plan when I work, so whatever happens, happens. It’s youth month, so I think I’m going to work keeping youth culture in mind.

    ME: You were saying that you don’t really plan your work. Does your work fall under the idea of automatic drawing?

    SP: It is automatic drawing. It’s like sitting down and saying to myself, ‘ok cool I’m going to doodle something starting with one side of a face’ and 5 or 6 hours later I’ve got a full illustration. Then I look at it and think, ‘Wow, where did that come from?’. I’m never aware of what’s happening. It always just ends up becoming something.

    ME: Do you feel as though the art world is competitive?

    SP: I was oblivious to the creative industry when I started illustrating. It is a dog eat dog industry. If you don’t meet the deadline someone else will, so you have to do your best. Everyone, no matter who you are, compares themselves to everybody else. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing because if you engage with yourself that’s great. You push yourself to do better. Making sure that you as an individual transcend the level that you are at now. I look at other people’s work and for me that’s inspirational.

    ME: Tracking back to the National School of the Arts, do you think it shaped the direction you chose for your art practice?

    SP: I did industrial design at NSA. I went in thinking I was going to draw my whole life. And in a way I did. I made a lot of linocuts and prints, but I made more furniture and design aesthetic stuff. At Open Window I did Game Design and in my first year I picked up a subject called illustration. From there I was hooked. NSA did help me a lot, even in the way that I communicate with people. We didn’t have cliques or gangs. Everyone was friends with everyone. Racism wasn’t really a thing at my school and everyone was free flowing. I started stretching my ears when I was 16. It was great and different.

    ME: Do you have a specific colour scheme that you go back to?

    SP: I kind of stuck with colour for a long time. Colour schemes become their own motif and their own style and identity. I’ve been using the same colour schemes now for the past month, these weird gradients of greens, reds and blues. I stick to a routine and try use the colour I find on Kuler. If I don’t like it I’ll change up the hue and saturation, and tweak it until I’m happy.

    ME: Do you work with titles?

    SP: Sometimes the titles just come to me, but sometimes I have to force a title out because it’s something that someone wants to buy or it’s for an exhibition. 90% of my works are untitled.

    ME: Do you try and create meaning in your work?

    SP: I stray completely away from meaning. Sometimes it’s great for me because people make their own meaning. I had an illustration that someone else titled “Submerge, Emerge”. It’s a face that’s drowning in water.

    ME: Are there any specific artists who influence your work?

    SP: There are hundreds of artists I look up to. A lot of digital artists, and a lot of traditional artists. Sachin Theng, an illustrator, Natalie Foss, John-Michel Basquiat. A lot of local people as well like my friend Dylan Hartland and Elio the Illustrator. It’s a broad spectrum of people that I know and people that I don’t know.

    ME: Has social media provided a platform for you to be recognized?

    SP: It has, for a while I didn’t like it and then I realized that it helps. If you freelance it creates a space where you can be commissioned from. You kill two birds with one stone and you can survive in this really tough city doing what you love. I’m low key on social media but I love what it’s doing and where it’s taking a lot of people.

    ME: Have you been involved with an exhibition before?

    SP: Yeah I have. I had an exhibition with Imile Wepener and a bunch of other great illustrators like Shaun Hill. I’ve had two live paintings, one at the Johannesburg Hive and one at Joziburg Lane.

    ME: Do you feel like you are a good representative of Johannesburg youth?

    SP: Everyone in Johannesburg is so vastly different. I’d like to think that I am a fair representative of the skater, punk, hip hop and street culture scenes. I am a catalyst of all of these smaller subcultures in Johannesburg, so am I a fair representative to a certain extent.

  • Cahil Sankar: making waves with documentary photography

    Cahil Sankar: making waves with documentary photography

    Cahil Sankar has gained popularity with his vivid motion blurring band photography. Sankar shoots interchangeably between digital and analog, and has a particular fondness for Fujifilm. “I think I just picked up my dad’s old camera when I was super young and just never stopped taking photos,” he explained when asked about where his interest in photography came from. As one of the artists selected to exhibit in the AUTONOMY WAVE Future 76 exhibition, I had a conversation with him about his work.

    Marcia Elizabeth (ME): How do you like to describe your art? Which photography style do your images fall under?

    Cahil Sankar (CS): I would describe my art as a way of documenting narratives that aren’t told. I would classify my photography as more documentary photography than anything else.

    ME: What is your background? Where did you grow up? What are you currently doing? Are you working on any current projects?

    CS: I grew up in JHB and went to school at St David’s. I am currently studying creative brand communications at Vega, specializing in multimedia design. I think my photography has always been an ongoing work. I do not necessarily work on specific projects but my work is just a culmination of images. And I think my photography definitely influences what my designs look like.

    ME: Who are the people that you photographed?  

    CS: I worked quite a bit with bands. I have worked with the Tazers, Soul Gems and The Moths. I work with them a lot and the rest is just random people that you see on the streets.

    ME: In a lot of your band photography you play around with shutter speed. Is that something you conceptualize or is it something that just happened and became a thing?

    CS: I think it happened because I refused to use a flash in my band photography. I use natural light. I played with how low you can take your shutter speed while still getting a clear image. When you push that you get movement. So it stemmed from not using a flash.

    ME: What are your views on Future 76 and the artists that are exhibiting? Do you know some of the other artists you will be working with?

    CS: The project itself is such an awesome platform. It is great to be working with Bubblegum Club and I am privileged to be working with some of the best young artists in Johannesburg. I am just so happy to be working with everyone. If I’ve not met them, I have seen most of them online. We are all a part of the same circle.

    Do you think that your art will work well with the other artists exhibiting?

    CS: It will be a challenge to get it to mesh with the other art forms. My approach is to document and not really to create. I think once we get it to work together it will be pretty cool.

    ME: In this month will you be focusing mainly on photography or are you going to bring in other elements of your creativity?

    CS: I think I will be focusing mainly on photography but different to what I normally do because I will be collaborating with the other artists and try to merge the different styles of art.

    ME: What is the future vision you have for your art?

    CS: I am hesitant to pursue photography as a career because I fear falling into the trap of spending my life shooting weddings or commercial photography. I looked at other creative fields and came across multimedia design and fell in love. I will always do photography but it won’t be my main source of income.

    ME: I was having a look at your work on Instagram and came across a project where you took some images in a butchery. I found that very interesting. Can you tell me more about this project?

    CS: The project started as an assignment from Vega. The assignment was to go into a space that makes you feel uncomfortable or a space that you didn’t really ever interact with. We went to a Halaal butchery in Mayfair to see what it was all about. We were also attempting to remove some of the stigma around Halaal meat. We documented everything that happens behind the counters. What happens behind the counters; to show what people don’t see.

    ME: Do you think that you have a visual signature?

    CS: I think over the past 3 years my photography has changed a lot. I went from shooting a lot of black and white to shooting super high contrast colour. In the last few months I have settled on shooting low saturation colour. I think you will be able to tell from my perspective or what I am shooting that it is me. But I am not sure that you will be able to tell specifically from the look of the image that it is mine. So you are getting the same perspective, it is just the style has changed.

    ME:  Are you trying to convey any kind of message with what you are doing?

    CS: I feel like my work is quite subjective. Depending on who looks at it they will see a differently story or feel a different emotion. I don’t need my work to have a meaning. I feel like the viewer will make a meaning. It depends on what I am shooting though. With the project where I was shooting at the butchery there was a clear narrative behind all the images. But if I am shooting band photography I am just trying to capture the emotion.

    ME: Would you say that you have found your voice as a visual artist?

    CS: I would say I have found a voice, not my voice yet. I have been able to tell certain narratives but there is also stuff that I wouldn’t be comfortable putting out there yet. Just because of the social climate in our country you can’t just say whatever you want to say.

    ME: Do you feel like you and your work are a fair representation of South African youth?

    CS: No. My work is a very narrow view of South African youth. I’m from a privileged background so you are not going to see what the majority of South African youth is actually like. You are getting my perspective not an overall perspective of South Africa.

    ME: Are there specific issues that your generation is faced with that are not voiced? And if so would you attempt to voice them during the Future 76 exhibition?

    CS: I think there is a lot that is not spoken about, a lot that is pushed under the carpet. I think if I find the right mode of talking about it then I will.

  • Kristin-Lee Moolman: creating a sublime future with imagery that challenges traditional perceptions of sexuality

    Kristen-Lee Moolman’s work is based in a utopian Africa; a fictional mythology is shaped. Fantastic characters inhabit her colorful world and their stories are narrated with her lens. In her world segregation and sexuality are explored.

    As female South African photographer known for her work that blurs the lines between documentary photography and fashion photography, Kristen-Lee sometimes explores ideas relating to effeminacy. Featured in her constructed utopia are popular faces amongst the South African creative scene such as Joe Turpin, Desire Marea, Nicci Saint Bruce and Fela Gucci to name a few.

    Moolman grew up in what she describes as a backwards-Afrikaans town before the end of apartheid in the Karoo region. She feels as though she still has some political confusion as a result of this. In her constructed world that she presents to her viewer in the form of photographs, she does not strive to make political commentary.

    In 2016 she worked with London stylist, Ibrahim Kamara during his Johannesburg residency on the exhibition 2026. More recently she was the photographer for HBA’s SS17 lookbook.  Moolman’s work has a very defined feeling, and her images cannot be easily mistaken for that of any other photographer.

    An ever-present element in her work is sunshine that fades out the backdrops of her portraits and transforms the costumes of her models to surreal outfits. This characteristic is emphasized by her use of bland and unremarkable locations as the setting for her shoots.

    Her subjects can be seen portrayed outside of car washes and garages, spread out on satin-sheeted beds or reclining on plastic upholstered sofas. Her backdrops and choice of styling can be said to be campy and kitsch yet it retains refinement in the way that her characters are posed.

    Her work, even though refined keeps an element of grime and edge, that is maintained by her choice of subject matter which consists of musicians, dancers, actors and artists.

    Moolman who is not only a photographer but also a video artist, created images in collaboration with Kamara for 2026 that is described in an interview with Dazed as confrontational. This exhibition that was turned into a book examines the fragile relationship between the body of the black African male and his sexuality, masculinity and men’s fashion. The exhibition, now in hard copy, showcases to its viewer the manner in which clothes can be utilized to establish identity.

    Kristin is a member of the New Africa movement consisting of artists from Africa and the diaspora. The aim of New Africa is to create an innovative aesthetic exploring themes surrounding identity and belonging.

    In speaking about her own work Moolman says: “The one thing I will never do is disempower a person in my imagery, I always try to empower people. I will never try to make them look like any stereotype that people may have about us here”.

    Her images give its viewer awareness of her world constructed with subjects that are friends or people she met through social media. Obstructing conservative viewpoints and traditional cultural stereotypes held in South Africa, her subjects demonstrate multifaceted sexual and gender identities.

    Moolman was listed as part of Dazed 100 photographers to look out for. She breaks the restrictive way that femininity and masculinity are defined with imagery that pushes boundaries. Her non-binary subjects are carefully curated in stale landscapes. Everyday imagery is pushed into the surreal with her use of a sun soaked pastel aesthetic. In her world she contests uniformity by striving to make what is regarded as unusual the norm.

  • Vicky Grout – documenting London’s grime scene today

    Grime is a music genre which originated in East London in 2002. During its first wave MCs like Kano, Dizzee Rascal and Wiley shook UK culture to its core. Rejecting very stylized beats, MCs were more drawn to a DIY sound. The music was often made on free computer software such as FruityLoops. Creating a voice and platform for disillusioned youths, grime took to the underground rapidly.

    The name on the UK scene’s lips is the young Vicky Grout who has swiftly become as much of a trademark as the faces documented with her camera. Skepta, the London grime artist who won the Mercury Prize for his fourth studio album “Konnichiwa”, was shot by Grout in 2016 for the cover of Time Out. Skepta made a post on Instagram stating, “Hate photos, love Vicky Grout”.

    Grout’s respect and hunger for the scene combined with her self taught talent has enabled her to embed herself in a scene that is intensely protective of its own. By staying real she has become the go-to documentarian for musicians of grime. She has images of some of the biggest names in the scene featured on her Instagram gallery. Her portraits are clean, cool and show distinctive detail.

    The photographer that fell into the scene by accident has been dabbling in photography since she was a child, taking photographs in her grandmother’s garden with the family DSLR. She got her first camera, a small compact Olympus 35mm, when she was 13 years old.

    Initially documenting her friends and the world around her, when she got older she started taking her camera with her to raves. Her analogue images were put on a small blog she started. Grout got noticed by taking pictures at shows and posting them on social media together with the appropriate tags. The artists she photographed would see her images and say ‘‘these are sick’’ and invite her to their next show.

    Grout did not intend to blow or to become the photographer she is now, at the time she was merely taking photographs for herself. The shows were often held at small venues that allowed her to interact with the MCs and make bonds by networking with her camera. Grout has said that, “I was fangirling really”.

    Now an integral feature of grime she has been at the forefront of what has been called the scene’s round two. A new age of artists has come through in the grime scene since the days of Ewan Spencer and Simon Wheatley, with his ice cream van portraits in 2002 of Roll Deep. Grout has often been associated with Spencer and Wheatley, the first documentarians on the scene.

    Grout’s weighty digital following and acclaim came about in 2014 with her halting portraits of Section Boyz. With her lens she has captured everyone from the young starters to the top boys and it is difficult to name a player from the UK scene Grout has not photographed, except Wiley.

    A regular feature at grime shows, Grout can be found snapping away and spitting every bar, applying the scene and its culture as a second skin. At a Section Boyz show there was a surprise appearance by Drake for which she was the only photographer on stage. It came as a massive surprise to her that he was there and she risked it all to get her shot by climbing onto a speaker.

    In 2014 she met Skepta for the first time who reposted some of the pictures she took of him on social media. The connection that she made there led to her being asked to do the behind the scene’s shoot for his music video “Shutdown” by filmmaker Grace Ladoja. She has also been featured as an expert in Grime photography documentation on BBC Radio1 and has shot Novelist for the cover of Viper.

    “I feel like if you’re not at the front then you’re not involved. Like, if you can’t feel the energy and the sweat on your face, then it’s not worth it. Go home. Do you know what I mean? You need to be in it. You need to be spitting every bar with them” – Vicky Grout.

     

  • Counterspace: deconstructing and renewing space through image and narrative

    The collaborative studio, Counterspace, situated in Fox street, Johannesburg CBD comprises of three architecture graduates who predominantly work on research projects aiming to push rabble-rousing thought around perceptions of the Johannesburg CBD.

    Amina Kaskar, Sarah de Villiers and Sumayya Vally established Counterspace in 2014. Their projects take the form of competition work, public events, urban insurgence and exhibition design. The studio is mainly concerned with notions relating to otherness and the future. Space and ideas about the city are deconstructed and reconstructed with picture and narrative.

    Counterspace was brought into actualization at the end of the team’s Masters year in Architecture school. In Vally’s own words, “we wanted to find a way to keep the creative spirit and energy we shared together without becoming jaded when we went into ‘real’ architectural practice. At first it was a hobby, but after our first few projects we realized we had a fully fledged business idea.’’

    Numerous artistic and spatial modes of exploration were used by De Villiers in her Masters of Architecture thesis, Idea Bank: From Watt Street to Wall Street, Wynberg Johannesburg  (University of the Witwatersrand). In her thesis she travelled around fantastical heterotopias of cash spaces and their supremacy in the city, and offered re-imaginings of forms of social exchange.

    Kaskar gives indispensable swiftness in managing symbolic analyses of urban fabric and decoding. Her interest is rooted in the semantic and textual understanding of a city’s layering. The myths and stories of Doornfontein in Johannesburg are reimagined into digital inner city story narrating. Her thesis completed in 2014 exemplifies this swiftness.

    Vally has a precise fixation with future ruin and fictional future space against arising and disappearing images of Johannesburg that can be seen through her digital collage and forensic methodological approach to space. Unmasking parts of the city, which are mostly invisible with satellite imagery or a microscope is a specific curiosity of hers.

    Image by Lorenzo Nassimbeni and Parts & Labour in collaboration with Counterspace

    In 2015 and 2016 Counterspace worked on the Auret Street Recycling Building Regeneration Project in collaboration with 1to1 Agency for Engagement and Jabulani Khwela. This was a research-based project in which the collaborative studio engaged with re-claimers/recyclers through workshops. The group mapped out the use of the Auret Street building as a space for shuffling through waste as well as a territory in which the re-claimers reside. The idea with this project was to remedy unsafe areas in the building as well as facilitate an arts and culture project engaging with the urban redevelopment of the area. Social media platforms were used as a means of crafting awareness as a mode of land activism thereby bringing over the sensitivity of this experimental project.

    Currently Counterspace is working on research projects for ASM Architects on an Urban Development Framework for Fleurhof in addition to Local Studio – at Wits’ Braamfontein and Parktown campuses. These opportunities came into actualization because of the studio’s keen focus on research in their practice.

    Another focus for the collaborative studio is on projects exploring how children occupy space. These spaces range from exhibitions, furniture, events and installations. This new focus and idea is being explored in collaboration with Play Africa, Skateistan, Museum of Childhood, and the Imbeleko Foundation.

    In addition to the current projects already mentioned, Vally has said that the studio is working on a variety of projects with an Air bnb focus (in South Africa, London and Croatia). The group finds this exceptionally fascinating as it demonstrates the way in which architecture is influenced by that model.