The NJE Collective‘s latest group exhibition opened at Gallery One11 last night and has as its focus its Womxn contributors and the themes intrinsic in their practice incited by the current realities in Namibia on a political, socio-economic and cultural level.
In discussion with a member of the group, Jo Rogge, she expresses that ‘Trauma & Identity’ relates to individual and collective realities that Namibian citizens are faced with in a time when Namibia suffers under immense poverty, rife corruption, gender violence, unemployment and the depletion of national resources amongst other factors. Jo adds that, “…the queer space while dynamic, remains a vulnerable target for random hate-speech and physical assault.”
The participating artists for the exhibition include Jo Rogge, Masiyaleti Mbewe, Tuli Mekondjo, Silke Berens, Tangeni Kauzuu and Hildegard Titus. The artists engage in equivocal concerns founded on personal as well as political experiences. The experiences addressed include gender and cultural identity, nationhood, belonging and recognition. Jo explains, “This exhibition encapsulates the diversity and complexity of individual and collective narratives as witnessed through the lens of each artist, drawing on either historical or current narratives.” Artworks that will be featured will include photographs, paintings, installation, and mixed media works.
The relevance of this discourse within a South African gallery space is elaborated on by Jo as, “Namibia’s history is closely aligned with that of SA with the SADF having fought a bloody war against SWAPO on its northern borders from 1966 until prior to Independence in 1990. The post-colonial space is darkened with the lingering shadows of the apartheid system and racism. Unlike South Africa, Namibia has never seen the need for a process of reconciliation and there is a lot of unresolved trauma and pain in the national consciousness.”
‘Onde ku hole’, oil on canvas, 2018 by Jo Rogge
NJE Collective, formerly known as SoNamibia, decided to change their collective name in order to embrace multilocality as a means to evade issues concerning nationality that is regarded as patriarchal and exclusive.
Members of NJE Collective are either invited to take part in a specific exhibition or approach the collective themselves to become members of the group. The collective’s fluid membership means that members remain active by choice. Currently, the collective has eight practicing members.
* NJE functions under its own management, towards shared goals. It is also a space for mentoring, peer support and sharing resources. Meetings take place individually as well as in a group format in order to discuss topics of common interest, creative practice, and the potential for collaboration.
Come and support the work of these Womxn artists whose show will run at Gallery One11 until the 28th April 2018.
‘Collateral Damage’, oil on canvas, 2018 by Silke Berens
Vividly coloured wardrobe hugs the bodies of models, embracing static, powerful poses. And it is as if the viewer is looking at non-human entities, statues or mannequins perhaps – artworks in their own right. But the 23-year old image maker from New York pushes her already existent art pieces into another medium by photographing her human “colour statues”/ “creatures”.
Moving to South Carolina for high school, Arielle was soon overcome with a depression that lasted for five years. Her release came by chance in the form of a placement in a digital imagery class the high school offered where she was introduced to the various aspects of photography. It is here where Arielle found a form of cathartic release that helped her in her battle against depression.
“…when it comes to photography I’m always looking for photos that make me ask why? Or how?” Arielle prefers to see the subject of her image as a shape. She then takes this shape and forms it to become a part of a larger composition, straying away from the face as a focal point in her work. She expresses in an interview with Its Nice That, that colour is central to her practice as her life was characterized by its absence for a long time. Experimenting with colour is her expression and acceptance of the playfulness she currently experiences in life.
From the conceptualization of a project to its execution and completion, Arielle is open to let her imagination and chance take the steering wheel. Often starting her process by seeking inspiration, she hunts in thrift stores and drives around to find fabrics and landscapes that captivate her mood at that time. The poses her models inhabit generally take place in an improvisational manner and she expresses that the outcome of her work is not always what she expected, but that she embraces it fully.
Photography is a powerful tool that can be used as a therapeutic medium. Arielle’s work which combines brilliant colours and intriguing poses convey a sense of euphoria. The power and psychological impact of colour is displayed in her work. Art for therapy is a beautiful personal experience that can help others realize their own abilities to use artistic mediums for self-love.
In a world of accessibility, erotica of every nature can be found with a keyword search on the internet. Sexual subcultures cannot be simplified and understood in categorical terms as there are endless multiplicities. It is also true that many of them may be yet unheard of. In the decade that we find ourselves in there is more acceptance of different ways of being in the world. More freedom to express and celebrate one’s sexuality, fetishes and inner desires openly. What does this say about us as a human race and what does it say about our innate desires that are explored in a variety of media from various publishing platforms, to academia to documentary work and erotica?
One such form of media dedicated to celebrating sexual diversity from around the world is Phile. In the pages of this erotic platform, you can expect to find drag icons, phallic sculptures and buttholes. This journal investigates sexual subcultures, communities and trends. Platforms such as Phile, act as a reflection on sexuality and the complex nature of human desire, thereby breaking down one-dimensional perspectives.
The founders of the project, Erin Reznick and Mike Feswick, express that it has enabled them to see the connections between larger socio-political, cultural and economic trends. What they find the most intriguing about Phile is unpacking the way in which people reveal their desires. They then attempt to understand the human sociology behind it.
What differentiates Phile in comparison to the vast amount of other disruptive sex platforms such as Working It (a platform where sex workers can discuss their industry openly), is that it invites contributors to write about their personal experiences. The founders of the journal believe that this method avoids sensationalist reporting and aids in creating more significant and authentic narratives.
“We don’t aim to shock people with the issues or fetishes that we publish. We simply want to present our readers with information on what exists in the world and encourage insight, exploration and acceptance,” Erin and Mike state in an interview with Husk magazine.
The provocative spread of their second issue features a photographic series on fetish fans in Michigan, sculptures of handmade prison sex toys called ‘fifis’, an essay that investigates the sexual history of cannibalism in the western world as well as modern art and interviews pertaining to sexuality, fetish and sexual subcultures. The diversity of their latest issue acts as a testament to the diverse nature of human sexuality. It might be conceded that some of these sexual practices are taboo, but in a time of omorashi and adult babies are people truly still shocked by sexual subcultures?
Phile operates between Toronto, NYC and Berlin (cities with rich sexual and queer histories). Mike and Erin research stories from all over the world to guarantee that all contributors are of varying ethnicities, genders and sexual identities, thereby preventing a domination of white western sexuality and experiences, and enabling a diversity of voices.
Phile then acts as an access point into explorations of sexual freedom for its readers. Mike and Erin’s aspirations for their project is that it will act as a tool for their audience to explore and celebrate their sexuality and sexual preferences in a fun and playful manner. Phile is also educational in that it shows its reader which sexual subcultures already exist. Creating a platform for this discourse and normalizing human desire is what makes Phile and other platforms of this nature important. Sexuality and sexual preference are there to be celebrated.
“I want my voice to be harsh, I don’t want it to be beautiful, I don’t want it to be pure.” – Frantz Fanon
* The foundation for this writing was gathered from the writings of George Yancy in his book Black Bodies, White Gazes – The continuing significance of race published in 2008
So what am I, a white womxn, doing writing an article on the white gaze when I am not victim to being viewed by the gaze? The answer to this is because it is my attempt to emphasize the importance of this topic to not just people of colour but to white people; to all people. We need to be aware of what it means to be white, what makes a white person “whitely”. (Yancy, 2008: unknown page) and why the white gaze is still prevalent in an apparently liberated society. A person, a body’s sense of identity, imagined community and emphatic identifications is realigned by anti-black racism, according to Linda Martin Alcoff. This article then is a hope towards a more inclusive society, a more woke society even in a “post-apartheid” culture.
In order to unpack the white gaze in a South African context I will look at the photographic work of Alice Mann, Kyle Weeks and Alexia Webster. I am by no means stating that the white gaze is something that is exclusionary to the photographer’s discussed here, they merely serve as examples to aid in a difficult conversation.
‘Domestic Bliss’ (2014) by Alice Mann
Objectifying Black bodies brings to light issues of Black invisibility and hypervisibility as methods of the erasure of the integrity of Black bodies. “The black body is deemed the quintessential object of the ethnographic gaze, the ‘strange’ exotic, and fascinating object of anthropology.” With anthropology, a comradeship was formed with the photographer – anthropologist and photographer worked in unison to document the “strange exotic”.
The apparent social and political emancipation of people of colour that came about through the end of apartheid is bursting at the seams with the narratives of people of colour still frequently lensed by whites that perform their whiteliness through acting out the white gaze.
Employing moral distancing, many white people attain moral superiority over “white racists”. They obscure their own racism by refuting only a specific form of racism thereby creating cavernous self-deception. Hereby is meant that many white people are not self-reflexive enough and only see extremist white supremacy as racist acts while racism gapes far wider than this selected group.
“The white gaze, given the power of the ocular metaphor in Western culture, is an important site of power and control, a site that is structured by white epistemic orders and that perpetuates such orders in turn.” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page) Here is where my argument lies, not in the ocular as a metaphor, but as a definitive object that objectifies in the hands and with the eyes of many a white photographer – something that has been happening since the invention of the camera and still endures.
‘Domestic Bliss’ (2014) by Alice Mann
White people inherited the privilege of being “lookers”, gazers and the power that comes with this state of being. White people assumed the right to appoint Black bodies as they pleased. White hubris then arrogantly takes it upon itself to define the “reality” of people of colour in categorical terms, conditions, stipulations and appellations that are based on white privilege and power.
Veiling their own whiteness, hiding behind their cameras, commodifying from one-dimensional views of Blackness, many white photographers have assisted in creating and maintaining distorted conceptions of Blackness.
This can be seen in series’ such as Alice Mann’s Domestic Bliss (2014) which was met with public onslaught. The series depicted domestic workers dressed in uniform in the wealthy homes of their employers, not performing their daily tasks working for those homes, but instead in reclining poses on sofas and neatly made beds. They look uncomfortable, most of the time, sometimes even confrontational in their gaze. By creating a juxtaposed scene, that of the helpers in their uniforms on the one hand, and the luxury that surrounds them in their working situations on the other, the idea of an apparent “post” apartheid society is easily questionable. Against abundance and wealth, these women stand out as “other”.
The white gaze continues into her photo essay Drum majorettes of Cape Town that focused on young primary school girls. They are seemingly unaware of how she is firstly, invasive, turning her lens on their family homes, their intimate spaces and changing their lives into a curiosity cabinet, a spectacle for people from all over the world to visually explore. And by extension, she makes their real-life experiences a commodity.
‘Drum majorettes of Cape Town’ by Alice Mann
It might not be as visible in the Drum majorettes photo essay, but in Domestic Bliss it is almost all that stands out. The reason why I say this is because there cannot be anything more problematic than a white employer photographing her and her friends’ domestic workers to start off with. What’s more is that even though the helpers have consented to have these portraits taken of them, one can question how much choice they really had to reject this request.
These bodies of work speak of her subjectivity that she attempts to paint as ambiguity more than anything else. The mystery in Mann’s work lies in what they are suggesting about how her consensual models felt after she had photographed them (Sontag 1977: pg. 28). How did the woman and girls feel after they saw the portrayal of themselves in Mann’s eyes? Did they see themselves that way?
The white gaze is not something that can be spoken about impartially if only one white person’s work is being taken into account for such a discourse. Therefore, I next look at the work of Kyle Weeks. Weeks, born in Namibia, is known for his work that strikes the balance between portraiture and documentary depictions.
The problematic nature of his work lies in the “Asymmetrical power relations between whites and Blacks and the historical expansionist tendencies on the part of whites, and how they make themselves at home even when uninvited.” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page) This is again something that can be drawn to all three of the white photographers discussed in this piece. I am by no means stating that the white gaze is something that is exclusionary to the photographer’s discussed here, they merely serve as examples to aid in a difficult conversation.
‘Palm Wine Collectors’ by Kyle Weeks
Weeks’ series, Palm Wine Collectors, visually explores the working lives and dynamics of the Makalani palm harvesters of northern Namibia in the Kunene Region. According to Week’s biography, this series offers, “a subversive alternative to voyeuristic documentary stylings.” Another body of work that can be put in the same category as the first is his portrait series, Ovahimba Youth Self-Portraits – a body of work that acts as a visual commentary on the longstanding colonial photographic methods used to depict Africans.”
My critique is the gaze of course but more than this the way in which these series’ are described by the visual auteur, and as Yancy states, the non-existent invitation that white people give themselves to lens the narratives of people of colour. To infiltrate their spaces without hesitation and to write narratives for people of colour however they deem fit.
Firstly, Weeks presents his Palm Wine Collectors series as a body of work that is progressive, as an alternative to voyeuristic documentary depictions. In my opinion, this body of work does not reflect objectivities and instead tells us more about Weeks as was the case with Mann. Both of Weeks’ bodies of work discussed here speak of subjectivities.
Ovahimba Youth Self-Portraits is aimed at subverting colonial photographic methods used to depict African people, and again by definition fails in this attempt and always will when lensed by a white individual who cannot acknowledge the effect of their whiteness. Weeks’ whiteness goes unnamed in his work.
‘Ovahimba Youth Self-Portraits’ by Kyle Weeks
The voices of racists declare themselves to be raceless; hidden behind the veneer of white “progressive liberalism”. By many white people, racism is understood in terms of white supremacy and white extremism and they fail to see their own acts of micro racism as they believe that their liberalism lends them as raceless and blameless. The privileged status of normative “absence” is given to the white body.
Alexia Webster’s work cannot be seen apart from the scope of the performers of the white gaze. It can be seen in bodies of work such as The Spread of the South African Supermarket – Portraits of Zambian Shoppers. The photo essay tells the story of the rise of the South African supermarkets in Zambia by photographing shoppers of colour in the act of shopping in a Shoprite chain store. Given, this was an assignment by the Financial Times Weekend magazine I still believe that objectivity is not prevalent and that this is a subjective body of work.
As with Mann’s photographic work, this body of work feels extremely invasive. Webster photographs people in the relatively private act of shopping; shopping is private for me at least and I would not enjoy being lensed while buying my supply of fresh food and other necessities. It is the white person’s assumed right to insert themselves into narratives they don’t understand and then even more than that; to convey the narrative, however, they see fit.
“The production of the Black body is an effect of the discursive and epistemic structuring of white gazing and other white modes of anti-Black performance. And while these performances are not always enacted consciously but the result of years of white racism calcified and habituated within the bodily repertoire of whites, whites are not exempt from taking responsibility for the historical continuation of white racism.” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page)
The Spread of the South African Supermarket – Portraits of Zambian Shoppers by Alexia Webster
White solipsism arranges the world as a white space where “whiteness” is seen as a normal and universal condition. All three of the photographers discussed above fail to employ self-reflexivity with regard to how they positioned themselves as white photographers or how the ideology of whiteness positions them as “race-free”. Their apparent documentary work is simply an act of performing whiteness. What reinforces the status of whiteness is to allow it the power to go unnamed and to accept its status as a natural site of the human condition, thereby stripping people of colour of their humanity. Racialized meaning is re-established through silence.
“Becoming white” is different from being “phenotypically white” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page. Becoming white” then, is an additional layer or classification and refers to more than phenotypic markers. As Marilyn Frye states, being “whitely” is a deeply embedded way of being in the world (Frye, as sited in Yancy, 2008). Whiteness is performing both the phenotypic as well as a subjectivity that is structured by particular white epistemic orientations. Whiteness relates to one’s position in a white racist social structure that grants privilege.
In no way do the above statements negate that white people have different investments in whiteness, nor that there are white people who participate in antiracist forms of praxis. Despite this, however, white people continue to benefit from being phenotypically white irrespective of good intentions. White South Africans reap benefits from a previous hegemonic structure of hate built on white supremacy. I do not deny that white people have privilege by racism while are targets of classism, sexism, homophobia or ageism. I also do not deny that white people are beneficiaries of whiteness in different ways.
“In the process of naming their whiteness, whites must understand their role in a normalizing whiteness and also understand how whiteness is a site that is dutifully maintained.” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page) In the examples of the photographers mentioned leaving their whiteness unnamed and unidentified, has the effect of interposing Blackness as marked and the “real” object of their gaze. Whiteness, however, maintained its unmarked status and provided them with the latitude to create distance between themselves and white racists.
It is important for all people to understand the white gaze. To identify it, to confront it. White people need to be more self-reflexive of the way they are in the world and realize that racism isn’t something that is singular to white extremists but that small acts can as easily be a performance of the white gaze. White people need to stop inserting themselves into narratives that they do not belong in and make way for people of colour to tell their own stories. True objectivity is unattainable, especially with a camera.
“Critical reflections on whiteness should not begin and end with critical reflections on white supremacy. What is important is that the critical project of making seen the unseen of white privilege in mundane contexts is a significant endeavour that transcends unambiguous cases of white supremacy.” (Yancy, 2008: unknown page)
Uncomfortable close-ups of body parts. Eyes, mouths and female genitalia. Netted faces and feet. Blood and blown out imagery. The mysterious photographer simply known as Sasha invites her audience to take pleasure in imagery that is disturbing in its voyeuristic emotion.
Little is known about Sasha. Only that she is an upcoming photographer from St. Petersburg in Russia and that she is relatively new to image creation. Sasha’s images are repulsively beautiful, pulling her viewers in, letting them question why these images were created and who her equally mysterious, nameless models are. Her images remind one of the perverse hidden fantasies of some sadist’s private archive.
Image production and choice of subject matter have evolved since the digital age, and it appears that many artists are narrowing in on the seemingly unseen or untapped aspects of the same subject matter. Approaching the body in different ways. Beauty glazed in blood is definitely an internet trend that has risen in the past year or so. More and more photographers seem to be drawn towards that which is uncomfortable, lensing into existence disturbing imagery that internet kids eat up and regurgitate onto their own social media personas. It’s like the dark age of Tumblr nihilism all over again (for some more creepy content like this check out photographer Sad Avery). Instead of nihilist memes we have nihilist photography.
“I am fond of capturing details because it is what people fail to see. They see the whole picture without paying attention to some little things of great significance. I have an obsession with depersonalization problems as I suppose a face has lost its importance as an art object. I want my pictures to convey that problem of depersonalization in the world where nobody cares about individuals but everybody is obsessed with same looks. In the near future I want to gain real skill and artistry, among other things in fulfilling what I want to say, but as for now my work is much more about idea than performing.”
This new mode of producing faceless work is a shift towards depersonalization of image maker and model in a world of over sharing (also see Ben Zank). Faceless depersonalized work lends anonymity to the parties involved so that they can freely partake in disturbing, sometimes sadistic in its appearance, image creation. Sasha’s imagery is in short, really scary, and a rupture in what can traditionally be considered a subject matter of note. Then again it can be argued that photographing anything is to lend it importance (Sontag 1977).
The Ray-Ban Reinvention on Air performance and opinion platform has been getting together for the past four weeks to celebrate eight South African artists in conjunction with four of Ray-Ban’s iconic frames.
The finale of these events took place last Thursday and Friday at the Milkbar, Keyes Avenue. The round frames were celebrated together with Rouge the Rapper, Menzi Jiyane, and DBN GOGO.
Host Reason spoke to the artists about their own personal reinventions. Listen to the full podcast below.
Traditional framing broken and carefully pieced together. The cutting off of feet in a frame, blowing them up and lending them their own image – making them carry their own worth. Soft hazy, dreamlike images are painted. Jarred Figgins strikes the balance between careful contemplation and haphazard play with his photographic work. With images that often hiss oddities, it must be understood that they are thoughtfully constructed in a simple matter-of-fact way.
The South African photographer has in recent times become increasingly involved in the art of the moving image. Spending his formative years in Johannesburg, he relocated to Cape Town at the age of 18. Theoretical knowledge in the field was built up during the years he spent studying. Reflecting on his craft and childhood, Jarred explains that his desire to create images that were non-conformist was aroused from a need to splinter conventionality.
Questioning the label of fashion photographer that can easily be latched on to him, Jarred tells me that what sets you apart in a world of fast content consumption is the ability to approach the same subject matter in a slightly different way and a determination to stay ahead of the pack.
Discussing his interest in film Jarred states, “I think that film really allows you to manoeuvre an idea in a specific direction that a still sometimes lacks. It’s like being able to grow an idea so much more which so quickly takes shape or exerts a feeling without much effort…” His short film pieces come across as an experimental, visual ode, keeping its refinement in its technicality and precision.
He pinpoints his stylistic edge as something that often times takes place in post-production. “I’m not necessarily doing anything different with photography or composition, it’s just something I perhaps find fun or alarming whilst editing.”
About his process and tendency to work on set, Jarred tells me that careful planning does not always play out the way it is anticipated on set. He emphasises that for him a fine balance needs to be struck between playing by the rule book and letting the shoot take its natural course.
A great deal of his work for a shoot happens in pre and post production. The pre-production work could be seen as the most taxing, perhaps, as Jarred frequently builds his own sets and regards his curated playlists for shoots to be an integral part of his creative process. His photographic work is seen by him as a vehicle that allows him to express what he wants to the world.
Jarred’s work both moving and still are trademarked by his stylistic choices that sets him apart. His play with lighting and colour that results in dreamlike painterly images elevates the concepts of his work. His unusual way of piecing together various images and fragments of images into wholly different layouts creates peculiarity and beauty – the beauty in peculiarity.
Senay Berhe is a self-taught image creator from Stockholm, Sweden predominantly known for his work in the film industry. But what needs to be foregrounded among his other talents, is his still imagery. His creation of visual eye candy. Eye candy coated with deep depth of field, contrasted areas that melt into darkness, natural lighting and settings, traditional composition and rich tones. Silhouetted forms are lent a godlike stature with a magnificent glow around their faces, an appraisal of beauty perhaps? Moving away from his sweeping portraits, you are met with halting documentary images so vivid that they come across as the actual occurrence captured, not just a copy of real life.
His day-to-day profession as a film director has granted him access to the world as a traveler and he has thus been able to create images in New York, across African cities, as well as in the city he grew up in.
Fixated with images ever since he can remember, he was determined to find a career related to their production. Affirming his passion for the still image he expresses, “It was about two years ago that I really fell in love with photography again. I always loved photography and had been shooting occasionally, but now I’m obsessed with it and shoot every day. I set a goal a year ago: to at least take one photo a day that I’m satisfied with.”
The first moments of documentation started taking hold of his creative being as a teenager. He was driven by a desire to document the graffiti and skateboarding culture that influence him. Senay reveals his current image creation tools to me as a Fuji X 2 pro, a 23mm (35mm) f/1.4 lens that he prefers for low lighting conditions and portraiture work.
“I see my own photography as visual poetry and my work often surrounds or reflects my own emotions. It allows me to communicate what I don’t say in words. I’m quite interested in the mundane, ordinary everyday life situations and finding the beauty and surrealism in that. I look for details and tend to shoot a lot of urban life. Maybe because that’s how I live.” Senay’s imagery flows in a painterly fashion and conveys strong heart felt emotions. Emotions that are representative of his ability to identify with the people he portrays with immense dignity.
Reflecting on his practice Senay explains that he regards it as an act of documenting the now for the future. He sees his photographic work as an attempt at understanding himself and the world around him. “It makes me stay curious and takes me places, forces me to interact with people, and allows me to challenge myself, my perceptions and my beliefs.”
Senay highlights the qualities that he looks for in an image to me as beauty and simplicity. He goes on to say that he is speaking about how his subject relates to their surroundings in that moment, as well as the quality of light. “I love shooting documentary because of the element of surprise, and that’s always what I’m trying to recreate when creating an image. The aim has always been to make it feel as natural as possible, with a human touch and sensibility.”
Senay’s photographic work can be regarded as a personal documentation of the world he sees around him. His images are powerful due to the fact that they carry real emotion and a human touch and sensibility. His creation of literal eye candy, makes it difficult to look away from them or forget them. The rich tonal values combined with immense contrast are indicative of his subjective view oozing with emotion. Senay’s work is a feeling.
He will be having an exhibition of his work in the beginning of April in Stockholm.
Muted tones. Desaturated colours. The word kaas on caps and cricket hats. Washing lines carefully coated with white articles of clothing. A youthful face navigating different spaces within Mitchell’s Plein. We are introduced to the setting of a new fashion capsule editorial, zine style.
From the creators of ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ a new project is given form by Aa (Autodidacts & Associates). A headwear capsule created under the brand, kaas is digitally manifested as a zine that seeks to define a space where many narratives go untold “because not many people have a lens into it,” I am told by group member, Keenan Oliver.
Contrived by the apartheid government as a “model township” Mitchell’s Plein was constructed during the 1970s as housing for Coloured people who were forcibly removed as a result of the Group Areas Act. Today the area is largely associated with gangsterism and methamphetamine abuse, which is why the creators of the capsule felt strongly about telling untold narratives within this space.
“I was born and raised in Mitchell’s Plein, which forms a large part of the cape flats. The only time you hear/read about these spaces is on the news. Stories of violence, gangs and drugs but never of the people who live within all of that. All I want to do is tell a different story with the space/resources and access I have.”The capsule lookbook which acts as a photographic essay articulates the current narrative of growing up in Mitchell’s Plein where both Keenan and Thorne, his younger cousin, grew up in the same house. The lookbook then can be regarded as a nuanced expression of a childhood gone by and reflected in Keenan’s younger cousin. The documentation of a space within a specific time forever monumentalises it by means of the physical object – the photograph.
The unconventionality of the fashion zine format was chosen by the group due to the DIY nature and mentality that it carries. “This ties in with the thought behind streetwear itself, which is expressing your thoughts and ideas through the resources available to you.”The headwear capsule is inspired by a childhood growing up playing cricket in the surrounding streets and field, as well as the community that stems from that connection.
“…This is not so much about changing the narrative coming out of Mitchell’s Plein and more so about contributing to it by defining my own narrative.”
The zine had its launch on the 3rd of March in Observatory and was met with positive public review.
*Aa is a collaboration studio focused on democratizing knowledge & education in various fields of art and design. We aim to create art, product & spaces that endorse an open source mentality and encourage the trading of philosophies, ideas, and thought systems, for the greater good of civilization.
adidas Originals have released a brand-new silhouette for 2018, the second drop of Prophere. To support its launch adidas Originals commissioned art director, photographer and stylist, Gabrielle Kannemeyer to create a lookbook.
Gabrielle captured some of her friends and collaborators who are multidisciplinary practitioners. The lookbook features Da Da Shiva, Luh’ra, Siya Andi Biyela, Chester Martinez and Tatenda Wekwatenzi; individuals that resonate with the fierceness of the Prophere silhouette and message.
Gabrielle wanted to take photographs in a town where she grew up feeling quite isolated. Set in areas from Killarney Gardens to Somerset West, the aim for the shoot was the disruption of suburbia. Flames and colourful smoke took over as they navigated these spaces and made them, “our turf”.
“Our Turf is a mindset we take with us wherever we go – a space that enables us to be 100% unapologetic about being who we are. A new generation is at the helm of a march into the future, our turf is boundless and infinite – anything we imagine to be, is.”
On the 22 February 2018, the first Ray-Ban Reinvention on Air performance and opinion platform for the future of South African music took place at Milk Bar, Keyes Avenue in Rosebank. For 4 consecutive weeks 8 artists will be celebrated over Thursdays and Fridays in conjunction with celebrating 4 of Ray-Ban’s iconic frames. The first week celebrated the Aviator.
Hosted by musician Reason, the first artists to join him in conversation and performance were 2Leestark and Langa Mavuso. In thinking about the connection between artists and Ray-Ban Reason expressed that, “Eyewear is just an accessory to some, but to us as artists it speaks a lot about who we are in a particular time or moment.”
To catch up on the first conversation and performance at Milk Bar, have a listen to the podcast below.
The Fantastic Agency first opened its doors in January of this year, baring Capetonians originality and a neoteric array of faces on its tantalizing roster. Fantastic is the brainchild of the prominent casting director and stylist, Fani Segerman. Taking on a variety of positions within the advertising and fashion industries over the past ten years, she identified a gap for a new agency. Her focus with this new venture was, and still is, to find and represent the undiscovered talent hidden within the city of Cape Town. Scouting faces from the Instagram accounts and the streets, Fani aspires to develop models and talent into industry jewels. “I focus on discovering and developing fresh talent, and through my talent selection try to make a shift in the industry that is still very traditional or backwards when it comes to representation.”Reflecting on her journey Fani states, “I was a stylist for many years, doing TV ads, stills campaigns and editorials. I would often source the models for these jobs and started to really enjoy that side of it. I joined an agency at 17 and in my twenties I started working there, learning different sides of the business.”
Fani attributes the trajectory of her career largely to the influence of Candice Hatting who trained her as a casting director. Having worked for both of Candice’s businesses for a number of years, Fani had picked up a great deal of experience that equipped her with the industry know how to start her own agency. “I kind of lost my love for fashion along the way and gained a passion for people, studying psychology in my spare time and falling in love with the world of casting and talent representation.”
Although Fani is no longer as invested in fashion as she had been before, she is “dipping” her toes back into styling and collaborating with photographers to create images for Fantastic.
The agency seeks to grow its talent and model representation in order to progress together with the advertising, modelling and fashion industries in South Africa and abroad. The vision for the agency is outlined by its founder on the website as follows: “We represent the full package- the people you stalk online, the muses, the ambassadors, the visionaries who bring life to brands. Fantastic aims to represent a broad and diverse range of talent.”Fani expresses, “In an industry based largely on image and appearance, I am trying to shift the focus to better represent the people who are often overlooked or excluded. I hope to push the importance of self-love, by supporting and building up my models so that this industry is a source of happiness and excitement for them and not one of anxiety and frustration. I really believe that representation in the modelling world is so vital and I hope that can translate through the work I am doing at Fantastic.”
With self-love, support and heterogeneous casting as the pillars of the agency, Fantastic is well on its way to breaking away from established industry norms, and achieving its objective to make the space one of enrichment and excitement.
Contrived by the apartheid government as a “model township” Mitchell’s Plein was constructed during the 1970s as housing for Coloured people who were forcibly removed as a result of the Group Areas Act. Today the area is largely associated with gangsterism and methamphetamine abuse, which is why the creators of the capsule felt strongly about telling untold narratives within this space.
The capsule lookbook which acts as a photographic essay articulates the current narrative of growing up in Mitchell’s Plein where both Keenan and Thorne, his younger cousin, grew up in the same house. The lookbook then can be regarded as a nuanced expression of a childhood gone by and reflected in Keenan’s younger cousin. The documentation of a space within a specific time forever monumentalises it by means of the physical object – the photograph.
The headwear capsule is inspired by a childhood growing up playing cricket in the surrounding streets and field, as well as the community that stems from that connection.
Reflecting on her journey Fani states, “I was a stylist for many years, doing TV ads, stills campaigns and editorials. I would often source the models for these jobs and started to really enjoy that side of it. I joined an agency at 17 and in my twenties I started working there, learning different sides of the business.”
Although Fani is no longer as invested in fashion as she had been before, she is “dipping” her toes back into styling and collaborating with photographers to create images for Fantastic.
Fani expresses, “In an industry based largely on image and appearance, I am trying to shift the focus to better represent the people who are often overlooked or excluded. I hope to push the importance of self-love, by supporting and building up my models so that this industry is a source of happiness and excitement for them and not one of anxiety and frustration. I really believe that representation in the modelling world is so vital and I hope that can translate through the work I am doing at Fantastic.”
