Tag: art

Black Desire & Femme Rage: Goliath and Mohale’s Encounter at Goodman

This past Saturday, the Poetry Readings and Conversation brought together Gabrielle Goliath and Maneo Mohale in an event organised by the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. Founded in 1966 during a time of unthinkable violence and segregation, seldom has the institution presented us with such profoundly embodied explorations of Black desire, sensuality, and queerness in art. The happening was thanks in part to a collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Race, Gender & Class at the University of Johannesburg and its Global Blackness Summer School, whose theme this year is: For Wholeness. Black Being Well.

Selecting Maneo Mohale as the function’s facilitator was fitting. Not only did the poet and feminist writer have unstoppable chemistry with the guest of honour, but they were also incredibly qualified to take on such delicate subject matter. Mohale has contributed to various publications and served as a contributing editor at i-D Magazine. Their debut poetry collection, Everything is a Deathly Flower (2019), was shortlisted for the Ingrid Jonker Poetry Prize and long-listed twice for the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology Award.

The recipient of the 2019 Standard Bank Young Artist Award, Gabrielle Goliath’s work is featured in numerous public and private collections globally including Constellas Zurich, Tate Modern, and Iziko South African National Gallery. Her new body of work Beloved at Goodman Gallery, features drawings and prints. The exhibition, running from October 28 to November 24, 2023, features representations of radical Femme figures like Gabeba Baderoon, Caster Semenya, Sylvia Wynter, Yoko Ono, Sade, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. While primarily recognised for her sound and performance art, the day was all about Goliath’s autographic practice.

Gabrielle Goliath and Maneo Mohale in conversation. Image captured by Thembeka Heidi Sincuba

Mohale began by inviting the audience to take three grounding breaths. They followed by sharing a poem, The Autobiography of Spring by queer Palestinian poet George Abraham, proceeding thereafter to introduce Goliath’s Beloved. Peering out the coffee table in front of the speakers, one could see Toni Morrison’s own Beloved (1970). This setting and sequence of events set a very specific tone for the day. From the get-go, it was clear that Goliath and Mohale were engaging at the intersection of Blackness, well-being, and creativity, with a soft emphasis on themes of sensuality, and queerness.

The way they spoke to each other was gentle and generous. When asked about her practice, Goliath replied, “I want to first speak about this notion of mark-making as a means of being close…” Echoing the mood in the room, Mohale praised this tactile, material, and more physically engaged process. Goliath continued, “… that really refuses the sort of sanctioned genius of the male artist, who works from a removed distance. And I refuse that. The physicality of the way in which I work and work on the floor. I work really close to these drawings. I relinquish the control of the hand. It’s not about the precious fidelity of the mark … it’s about relinquishing to the miraculous, what comes of that moment.”

Of course, it would be difficult to speak of love and intimacy without mentioning their antitheses. Goliath characterised her past work Elegy (2015), as a lament-driven work that addresses fatal acts of violence against women while avoiding the perpetuation of trauma. She said, “I did not want to return to the scene of subjection, I did not want to repeat the violence.”

At the nexus of art and violence, Mohale skillfully identified space for Femme rage, saying “ … in the wake of so much violence enacted upon my own body, it was really important for me to think it and hook it up to Empire … Not just these giant spectacular eruptions of violence, but legacies of violence.” Drawing inspiration from Glen Coulthard’s concept of “righteous rage,” Mohale invited us to view rage as a tool for Black Femme resistance.

Mohale prompted Goliath to reflect on the implications of portraying Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in this show. For a while, the pair lingered there and we saw something of a rupture in the way the two saw rage, with Mohale remarking, “I enjoy how my understanding of rage differs from you.” Goliath went on, “ … for me, what is really interesting with Madikizela-Mandela’s portrait specifically, is I find it very vulnerable. … it’s magisterial, but there’s a resignation … when I look at her.”

One of the seemingly many roots of the strong intellectual chemistry between Goliath and Mohale was the impact of Christina Sharpe on both of their work. Goliath’s encounter with Sharpe’s Monstrous Intimacies (2010) brought her towards an understanding of violence as both spectacular and insidious. Goliath insists: “We may need to bear our rage, and allow it to be transformed into the possibility of something else.”

In an audience-pleasing turn, Mohale asked Goliath about her portrayal of artist Desire Marea. As Mohale notes, “Desire being an initiated Sangoma is also not a footnote. … so much of their spiritual power is ancestral, is linked to bloodlines. … I think the sense of the sublime is also something that I chase in my own work, but … I’m seeing the clear instances and connections that are happening now between … contemporary queer artists.”

The intimate intellectual interaction between Goliath and Mohale prompts a collective reconsideration of the role of rage in desire and queerness in African artistic practices. It also did the long and thankless work of taking up space in an almost impervious institution. As we looked around the room and saw reflections of ourselves, both in the flesh and on the walls, we allowed ourselves to yearn for, perhaps even celebrate the dynamic and precarious possibilities within Black queer existence. Even amid this briefly beautiful moment of perceived reprieve, we were reminded of the violence that surrounds us as Mohale closed the discussion with a steady citation of Gabeba Baderoon’s War Triptych (2004).

13 November 2023
African Space Travellers Organisation: MaXhosa SS23/24 Collection at Zeitz

For a while now, MaXhosa Africa has been a beacon of luxury that showcases the beauty and versatility of the African continent. The brand’s mission seeks to reposition culture as a prominent and influential thought leader in society, not just for the present, but for generations to come. Of course, as these values align with BubblegumClub’s own, we have kept our eye firmly focused on the inspiring trajectory of this homegrown brand.

A South African knitwear brand founded by Laduma Ngxokolo in 2012, it all started as a thesis project at Nelson Mandela University. Inspired by his Xhosa heritage and the traditional male initiation ceremony, Amakrwala, Ngxokolo’s signature aesthetic is a contemporary interpretation of traditional Xhosa beadwork patterns, symbols, and colours. His collections are known for their geometric patterns and vibrant hues.

Over the years, the brand has expanded to include not only fashion but also accessories and home decor. It has gained worldwide recognition, with Ngxokolo winning prestigious awards such as the Vogue Italia Scouting for Africa prize in 2014. His designs have been worn by celebrities like Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, and John Kani, and a MaXhosa cable-knit sweater was featured in the Museum of Modern Art’s Is Fashion Modern? (2018) exhibition in New York City.

MaXhosa Africa recently launched its SS23/24 collection at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town. The choice of venue was strategic and marked the start of a significant partnership between the fashion brand and the museum, with MaXhosa’s distinctive homeware incorporated into the Zeitz MOCAA member’s lounge. This show was MaXhosa’s debut solo show in Cape Town. Held so close to their V&A Waterfront store, it was bolstered by the museum’s unwavering support for contemporary African creativity and its unique architectural design.

The futuristic extravaganza was nothing short of stunning as models descended the museum’s central glass elevators, which served as a cosmic gateway. Drawing inspiration from African folklore, astrology and spirituality, the collection, aptly named A.S.T.O. (African Space Travellers Organisation), featured an impressive line-up of 80 looks. One of the most notable aspects of the show was the diverse range of models, representing various body types and gender identities found across the African continent.

The show introduced several standout pieces poised to become timeless classics for the brand. Among these were panelled knits and patchwork accents on dresses and suits. The range merged tradition with innovation, introducing new additions such as summer-ready printed t-shirts and swimwear pieces, cutouts and coverups featuring MaXhosa’s signature monogram patterns. By taking the collection to the poolside and oceanside, MaXhosa demonstrated the versatility of its design aesthetic.

At a press conference held ahead of the show, its Founder and Creative Director Ngxokolo said, “MaXhosa Africa is at once a heritage brand and a brand that reflects the Zeitgeist in Africa, bringing the stories of the continent to an international community … We are in the business of pushing boundaries while continuing to honour our African heritage and style. We are part of the group demystifying the aesthetic that African designers cannot compete with the big players in the luxury space.”

The event was a smash hit and saw a snazzy guest list, including media professionals and a whos who of Cape Town’s fashion, design, and art scene. Well conceived and efficiently organised, it was an undeniable testament to MaXhosa Africa’s unstoppable influence and significance within the fashion industry. With such a stellar track record of innovation and excellence, this iconic African fashion house promises a future brimming with even more transformative and neoteric undertakings. We can’t help but be left thirsting for more!

1 November 2023
offsetculture.art launches poster series pictorial nerve

pictorial nerve is an ongoing poster series conceived and published by offsetculture.art. The series connects contemporary art, design, illustration and other visual manifestations of culture. I had a chat with offsetculture.art co-founder Lara Koseff to find out more about the recently launched first iteration of this series.

Please share more about offsetculture.art?

offsetculture.art is a website that I established with a friend of mine, Ricardo da Silva, offering multiples and printed matter, with a focus on collaboration and featuring artists who work independently. We noted how print and digital worlds have experienced a really effective coalescence in recent years. Multiples are often accessible, easy to disseminate, and still maintain an element of value, which segues nicely with how people tend to buy within a certain price range online. However, locally there appeared to be limited established online opportunities for artists who are starting out, or work independently, outside of the gallery arena – and it’s these artists who I felt could really benefit from such a platform. When we came together to establish the website, Ricardo, who has a finance and computer science background, was coming from the angle of a young collector frustrated by what he could find online. I had been working in the commercial gallery world for almost a decade, and observed how both artists and young collectors felt equally alienated from the traditional art circuit. I felt that South Africa was an even more exaggerated version of the art world at large, with a massive disparity, lack of opportunity, yet enormous talent. I also saw how, interestingly, young artists were starting to try and build their own systems and networks, rather than struggling to find a place within exclusionary existing ones, and found this really compelling. A lot of these alternative initiatives manifest in printed form, editions, zines, artist books, posters, and the dissemination of them is starting to happen online, primarily through social media. We were particularly excited to engage with collectives such as Danger Gevaar Ingozi and Title in Transgression, who are functioning independently in vital ways and shifting the cultural landscape.

How does this ongoing poster series fit into the aims and ambitions of offsetculture.art?

It was a meeting of minds between myself and Ricardo, who wanted to focus on creatives coming from a range of perspectives – illustrators, designers, street artists – and I wanted to find a way to bring together image, text and ideas in a hybrid format of a portfolio, a zine, an artist book and an artwork. It’s offering a small curated exploration of diverse talent, and the anatomy of it is simple and pretty open to future expansion or alteration. In a broader sense, it taps into our drive for democratisation, and I’m especially excited about the fact that all of these artists are working outside of traditional spheres, making engaging work, and we’re simply providing another platform for people to know about and access it. Coming from a curatorial background, one of the challenges of working in digital space is how you bring works together in conversation with one another – it’s quite a bit more fragmented and prone to distraction than a physical space – and I was longing to delve into that and explore various solutions to an interesting dilemma. I’m also really interested in exploring how this material can exist within and outside traditional art spaces, both physical and digital.

Why were posters chosen for the series?

I think the key idea behind posters was creating accessibly, but also elements of what they represent symbolically and ideologically. Posters date back centuries, are associated with a variety of fields and contexts, from advertising to propaganda, but also became a really important tool of both creative and ideological expression in the Global South, especially in the 20th century. Poster portfolios in particular are really fascinating to me in that they bring together so much in one small slip case, they can expand and contract, and can in a sense be curated and re-curated in different ways. It’s like holding the components of an exhibition in your hand.

Share with our readers how you came to the name ‘pictorial nerve’ for the series?

In a way I felt that posters are very much associated with the pictorial, but I love how this term has become so very broad and tricky. To illustrate something does not merely mean representing it, and there exists a playfulness in terms of the constructed nature of images. So it was a play on “optic nerve”, and what we see and perceive, and how we depict that. I also loved the double meaning of “nerve”, and that apart from the transmitter of physical feeling, it also points to boldness or audacity. This is important part of art making for me – I think that the best artists have some form of chutzpah.

Please unpack the importance of archiving within a moment in time (particularly visual archiving) as pictorial nerve does?

Again, I feel that there is an important and beautiful nexus between image and text, and that, especially in contemporary art, this is the key component of archiving. I hope that in future series we can work with writers and artists collaboratively, and generate new writing by diverse voices, which I think contributes invaluably to archiving a moment. I do think that the portfolio element offers archival possibility, especially in an exploration of a zeitgeist or a like-minded or comparable ethos. In the build up to this I had come across various historical portfolios, for example Matthew Krouse, a friend, consigned to us a collection of colour posters celebrating both Mozambique’s independence, and the 1st of May Workers day, and Steven Sack revealed to me a portfolio by Taller de Gráfica Popular, an artist’s print collective founded in Mexico in the 1930s, who used art to aid social revolution. These to me are incredible anthologies of collective thoughts and ideas, and I became compelled to try explore this in a contemporary sense with divergent creatives, but not focused on a particular political movement or ideology. On the flip side, having done my MA in heritage studies, I believe that a core component of archiving is having a physical space (as well as a digital one), a “home” or a “safe” space for these materials to live. So obviously we’re not tracking or providing that space, but providing the structure and possibility to continue generating new material.

How did you select the artists, designers and illustrators who are part of the first iteration of the series?

Many of the artists were approached based on a conversation that I had with Ciara Moore, who is a brilliant graphic designer who I had worked with. She was interested in making new prints with us, and I put forward this idea to her of a portfolio that doesn’t necessarily distinguish between artists, designers and creatives, and embraces the confluence of various disciplines and worlds. She came back with some suggestions of artists who she was excited about who she follows on Instagram primarily, and I also explored a bit online and came across artists who I felt were traversing various contexts. I had also been speaking to certain artists about the format of posters, especially Malebona Maphutse, who explores the language of street flyers and popular wisdom in her work. She in turn put me in touch with designers and illustrators who she respected including Musonda Kabwe and Kgabo Mametja.

Growing up in the 1980s and ‘90s, I became obsessed with was loosely known as The Pictures Generation; appropriation and montage all pointing to the way in which images are constructed and reconstructed. Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Lorna Simpson – these names were all mainly foreign to the artists we landed up approaching, which I thought made the parallels even more interesting. I think that the mechanism of appropriation and reconstruction perhaps becomes easier in the digital age, but at the same time more challenging to make something truly powerful. What interested me in these artists was the unexpected diversity of their references, and the lateral way in which they used the digital medium to reformat techniques and ideas. Luca Boni is a digital painter influenced by Italian masters; Lunga Ntila uses collage to digitally reclaim control of identities forced into fragmentation, influenced by the male-dominated movements of cubism and post-expressionism but also radical feminism; Octavia Roodt employs comic strips to tell Namibian Voortrekker myths; r1. combines the language of the street with Mondrain colours and values.

What does offsetculture.art envision for the series?

I hope that we can do at least one portfolio a year, and also play with different mediums, and go in unexpected directions. I’m especially excited to potentially work more extensively in screen-printing and the simplicity, challenges but also surprises it can offer. As mentioned, I also hope to work with a variety of writers, and bring in essays and interview-based text.

Who do you see as the audience for this work?

I think that one of our key initiatives is to emphasise that anyone can be a collector, or an appreciator of art, and with this in mind we’re not targeting a particular audience, but hope to appeal to the culturally conversant public, and people from completely other spheres of interest equally. But something that is important to both myself and Ricardo is that we certainly nurture, but not only focus on a local audience. Participating in the Tijuana Print Fair in Sao Paulo is hopefully the beginning of a quest to embrace the international nature of contemporary art, specifically focussing on the Global South. I feel that this can not only engender a more dynamic conversation, but also opens up significant opportunities for young and independent artists.

Share more about you spending time in Brazil for the Bienal?

I was invited some time ago by a Brazilian friend of mine, Paula Borghi, to curate a video programme, and we’re collaborating with Thelma Vilas Boas who runs an interesting cultural space called Lanchonete<>Lanchonete in Rio de Janeiro on the 1st of September. We’re actually featuring videos by Malebona Maphutse and Lunga Ntila, who are included in the portfolio, as well as several other artists including Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi, Nastio Mosquito, Reza Farkhondeh & Ghada Amer, amongst others. We had always planned it to happen around the time of the Sao Paulo Bienal, so I’ll certainly be going through to that as well.

How can people get access to pictorial nerve?

We’ll be launching it online in September – the portfolio and individual posters will all be available from our website – and we’ll also be doing a series of physical events in various parts of Johannesburg, specifically as part of the Keyes Art Mile Art and Design Saturday in October, which will be focused on editions and alternative platforms and collectives.

Anything else you would like to mention about offsetculture.art or pictorial nerve?

We’re excited about the potential for metamorphosis in the contemporary art sphere, especially what’s possible through collaboration, and being resourceful. I’m hoping to explore more of that in the coming years, and that we can help motivate for a more connected art community.

24 August 2018
Eh!woza – youth-driven media meets art, science and anthropology

The ongoing project Eh!woza sees collaboration and skill sharing between scientists, artists and learners create awareness through filmmaking. The programme has a positive effect on the learners involved in that they are able to be introduced to the world of creating documentaries, while also being given the chance to tell the stories of their communities through their own eyes. I interviewed Phd student Bianca Masuku (Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit, IDM, UCT) who is involved with the programme.

Where did the idea for Eh!woza come from?

Eh!woza was never really intended to be an ongoing project. The idea developed after a conversation at a bar between an artist and biomedical scientists. It started with the production of a short documentary after the scientists held a health workshop with learners from IkamvaYouth and the film described young people’s thoughts and attitudes towards TB, while unknowingly establishing the pilot for the project as it developed. The overall idea behind the project as it started to grow was to find creative ways for communities of scientists to use the biomedical knowledge of infectious diseases and to translate their work to communities of people radically affected by, and having relatively limited access to information about the disease. The scientists, who spend most of their time isolated in the lab, get an opportunity to understand the disease outside of their environment and TB affected communities are invited to understand the disease within the lab. And visual media and art mediate this intersection and create a platform to co-produce knowledge. An important part of this is that instead of artists and film-makers making films, the films are produced by learners themselves, meaning that learners decide on what to represent and how it is represented.

Why do you think that a creative medium, such as filmmaking, will have a larger positive impact with regards to creating awareness and allowing people to share their stories when compared to other channels/mediums?

The use of filmmaking creates an opportunity to translate and communicate with a broad audience of people about a very complex issue. The visual medium creates new forms of social intervention. It’s a compelling and capturing and familiar medium for larger and more diverse populations and age groups to consume, has an educative and activist power to it, and can function as a tool for awareness.

The films produced by the learners document the historical development of social perceptions; highlight stigmatizing and prejudicial images; and make a way of influencing and engaging with public perceptions of infectious diseases. Visual media and methods such as filmmaking are platforms that make the struggles and experiences of other people knowable and visible, challenge conceptions and construct perspectives, and became points of engagement, showing the faces and sharing the stories of everyday people that exist within specific communities.

How did the idea for a collaboration between artists, learners and scientists come about?

The idea emerged after scientists held a health workshop and two artists produced a pilot film consisting of interviews with young people from the township of Khayelitsha. The young people spoke about how they believed in and wanted to initiate some kind of change within their communities, through the addressing the problem of TB and saying that it is a disease that is taken for granted amongst their peers and amongst adults within their communities. This inspired a collaboration, a coming-together of the tools, skills and knowledge that all members of the collaboration could bring to the table to address a problem/disease that significantly shaped their social or academic lives, through a medium that would be accessible to a very diverse population of people outside of the project.

Please share more about IkamvaYouth and why you chose to select learners from this NGO?

The collaboration happened very informally. One of the scientists that was working around TB knew the founder of IkamvaYouth and suggested it would be a good organisation to team up with. Ikamva is an educational NGO that operates in 14 townships in 4 provinces in the country. The NGO works with learners from disadvantaged communities and through their tutoring programme, provides the knowledge, skills, networks, and resources for learners to pursue tertiary education or seek employment and aims to “increase the collective skill level of the population, to grow the national knowledge base, and to replicate success in more communities”.

Learners that participate in the tutoring program are selected not through academic merit, but through their motivation and determination to improve themselves and their communities through education. It is this motivation to change and improve that Eh!woza also works to develop and encourage. So the aims of Ikamva fit with ours and rather we sort of fell into it, we’ve been really happy to continue working with the organisation. IkamvaYouth therefore offers access to a broader and more diverse population of young people who already have the motivation and determination to create some kind of change in their communities through knowledge.

https://vimeo.com/259666665

What are you hoping will be the impact of this collaboration for the learners involved as well as for the people who come across the films?

The learners who participate in the project always highlight how the most rewarding aspect of the project is the fact that they feel empowered by the knowledge and skills that they gain through participation. The films produced become a reflection of that; a product that shows who they are and what they can do as young people in their communities, and the realities of their social worlds.

The audience who come across these films are given access to the realities of people most affected by the disease and an opportunity to engage with the social, historical and economic dimensions of infectious disease through these local stories and what they reveal about the disease in a local context. The films are also starting to expose contextual issues such as poverty, sexual violence, violence affecting LGTBQI+ communities.

The programme also aims to instill a sense of agency in the learners involved. Please unpack the importance of this?

What we hope is through participating in the project, a sense of urgency and the ability to affect change will be developed and nurtured. We hope that learners finish the project with a feeling of being able to change things in whatever way seems needed and suitable. To want to make a difference about issues that they care about in ways that they want. We hope that the learners gain technical skills and knowledge around film production as well as biomedical research, but also softer skills and self-assurance.

Who is the intended audience for these films?

It’s a question we often get asked to be honest I guess the answer is everyone. The films are meant to create an active awareness for the learners’ peers on the impact of TB in their communities, educate, demystify, and destigmatize the disease for adult members of the communities from the perspectives of the learners, so really the learners and their peers and adult connections. But they are also there to reflect the realities of TB and TB affected communities to the greater population locally. Eh!woza also has a fairly active social media presence which attempts to reach a wider audience in other provinces and we are in the process of developing a schools program within the Cape Town area, and expand from there.

Please unpack the importance of interdisciplinary learning and collaboration, as evident in this work? How can this assist with awareness and understanding for issues such as HIV, TB, violence against LGBTQI+ people, sexual violence, poverty, etc?

The different skill sets and training that the team members – art, science, anthropology – bring different perspectives to these issues. There’s often a tension in the different ways that these disciplines think and I think it’s in grappling with that tension and finding ways to bring them together, that new and different ideas come to the fore. The importance of the collaborative nature of the project also really bears fruit in providing a space for the learners involved in the project to investigate and understand, and then create awareness around these issues in ways which learners want, rather in than prescribing issues and specific tools or ways in which to investigate them. The learners have very quickly caught on to the fluidity of the project and ideas and understand that disease is a starting point from where to interrogate associated issues surround disease and have the freedom therefore to explore any associated difficulties affecting communities, and not just a primary focus on the disease itself.

What were the responses to the films?

The films have received extremely positive feedback from communities of learners that view each year’s outcomes at screenings that continuously inspire on-going recruitment from Ikamva. People outside of this learner population are often amazed at the level of work that the learners are able to produce, the content that they create, the inspiring stories that they share, and the artistry throughout the work. Some learners recently presented their films at a symposium at Wits and the audience was really wowed by the films and content, but also a bit stunned at the level of engagement of the films and presentations the high school learners.

How has the programme evolved since its inception?

It started off really small and was meant to be a once off documentary about TB. It has grown a bit into something that runs every year and throughout the year, and while still very focused on TB and health, social concerns like violence and poverty are starting to show up more in the films produced. The learners lead the project and constantly shift it in many different directions through the stories that they have revealed through participation and different aspects of their social worlds. This has inspired opportunities for further collaboration with other organizations and communities of people that were initially outside the scope of the project. One group of learners documented the struggles of ex-mine workers, while two other groups created a film that addressed the experiences and challenges of young teenage lesbians within their neighborhood, and another the realities of sexual abuse through the story of a neighbour. We also have a collaboration with MSF (Doctors Without Borders) and local musicians in Khayelitsha. This is just starting up.

And as for me personally, I am an anthropology PhD student studying the intersection of science, art, media, and youth education within the Eh!woza project and how knowledge (about an infectious disease) is configured and produced within it. This also adds a significant social science dimension to the Eh!woza’s work and is creating academic outputs for the project. In a country where the majority of TB sufferers are black, poor, and vulnerable to ill-health and those wearing lab coats are white, well-off and healthy, a project such as Eh!woza makes it clear that illness is not merely accidental – social context, environment and circumstances shape the bodies we have; and the bodies we have shape our experiences of and in the world.

28 June 2018
Dancer and Choreographer Jeremy Nedd shapes multidisciplinary performative pieces

Choreographer and classically trained dancer Jeremy Nedd lives and practices in Brooklyn, NY. Studying dance from a very young age (8 years old), Jeremy gradually stepped into creating original choreographed pieces after many years of performing the choreography of others.

As a dancer he studied in New York and relied on his own intuition to train himself in choreography. “Choreography for me was always just a continuation or fulfilling of my ideas as a dancer, so I didn’t think to go to program.” In 2016 Jeremy left a position he kept in a theater and began a Masters in ‘Expanded Theater’ at the Hochschule der Künste Bern.

With ‘Expanded Theater’ Jeremy created a stage for himself to experiment. This experimentation is put into action by what Jeremy describes as composing images per-formatively through music, art and dramatic theatre techniques.

In discussion with the multi form artist he unpacks his work and approach to creating.

What is Communal Solo about and can you please unpack the title? How was this work approached and who are the people that are participating in this performance?

It was quite the journey to get it to the point that it is now, at least a years worth of work, if not more. In the very early stages of the work I was very caught up on the idea that theater was considered a communal experience. This ritual that we as a spectating pubic go and watch, while a someone performs.

I always wondered where in this constellation was the communal connection. Was it shared between the members of the public… or was it between the public and the performer(s)? Somehow I felt there was a disconnect, so I wanted to see if there was another way to achieve a sense of community in the theatre space.

After many attempts at creating, majority participatory based, communal acts in the theater, I found the most natural way for me to access a feeling of community was looking to how actual community is built around issues that deeply concern me. So in the end Communal Solo was inspired by experiences of mourning, celebration and protest, and how these collective experiences or communal gatherings correlate and coalesce in connection to a specific narrative – the recurrent violence in the form of Police brutality against the African-American community in the United States. This work made significant developments in this direction with Deborah Hollman.

‘An Homage’ photographed by Ayka Lux and Erwan Schmidt

Can you tell me more about your creative process?

I suppose this is where I could come back to the message in my work, Even though I come from a classical ballet education and history of performing contemporary ballets professionally my practice has had a focus on utilizing movement modes that are not based in codified dance techniques or not associated with the institution size theater idea of trained dance.

I find the constant themes that have informed my work revolve around; utilizing online resources, the process of dissection, demystification and re-contextualization and confronting definitions of validity and contemporaneity specifically in western spaces for art and theater. I am hoping to introduce new ideas of ‘virtuosity’ and where these perceptions land on ideas and narratives around race, gender and economic status (mine own as black male in particular). And in doing so attempting to inject validity into certain narratives and aesthetics.

‘An Homage’

What is the significance of space to your practice?

Space is integral, my girlfriend is an Architect. Through her I’ve really accessed a whole other understanding of the idea of “a body in space”. Especially considering how in a lot of contemporary practices the idea of space, be it physical or virtual is a very present topic.

How does the moving human form relate to space in your work?

As I mentioned before, now that I’m actively incorporating other disciplines in my practice, sculpture and installation for example, these operate very differently when presented in different contexts. Museum, Theater or Public Space/ Site Specific are all very different contexts and influence an audience reception to a work in different ways.

At present Jeremy is developing his next project exploring Sad Boy Rap. The project which is due to premiere at the end of this month is being created in collaboration with Maximilian Hanisch and Laurel Knüsel. The piece titled, ‘Sad Boy Culture’ will be premiering at the Festival Belluard Bollwerk International in Fribourg, Switzerland.

In August the performer will be in Johannesburg for a few months working on a new project with the Pantsula’s of Impilo Mapantsula.

‘An Homage’

‘re(mains)’

‘re(mains)’

6 June 2018
MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A – a documentary about the story behind the star

The documentary MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A was collated from footage taken by Maya Arulpragasm and her closet friends over the past 22 years, documenting her life from an immigrant in London to international stardom. Working with her former art school friend Steve Loveridge to produce the documentary, it gives raw insight into the struggles and joys that culminate into the persona we know as M.I.A. It offers a door into Maya’s thinking about topics related to politics, art, identity and the relationship between these.

Having fled from the Sri Lankan civil war, Maya travelled first to India and finally settled in the UK with her family, specifically a housing estate in southwest London. This journey, her experiences as an immigrant and refugee living in London make up an important part of how she constructed her identity, as well as influenced her approach to music and performance.

Viewers will also see how pop and hip hop music filtered into her life, offering a sense of feeling grounded while growing up.

The documentary presents multiple paces and tones. Moments of pause combined with heightened moments of discomfort, sensitivity, vulnerability and bliss. The viewer is invited into a time capsule to experience the building up of M.I.A as a musician and public figure. However, the most prominent aspects of the documentary share the intimate and delicate details of Maya’s discovery of her personal identity and heritage from her point of view, and the point of view of those closest to her.

“M.I.A. can read sometimes as a project…but actually when you really step back from it, like the film does, I think there is a logic to it, and a sort of consistency in her vision, all the way through, from a long time before she became a musician, just a quest to represent and nail down her identity, and own the positives and negatives about who she was.” – Steve Loveridge.

The film will be shown as part of the 20th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival taking place from 31 May – 10 June 2018 in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

5 June 2018
Azania Forest and her artistic expression

Azania was the alternative name proposed for post-apartheid South Africa. During the racial segregation and discrimination of the era, the name Azania manifested the idea of a people that were emancipated to move the rhythms of freedom, belonging and becoming. Clinging onto the essence of this name, Lesego Seoketsa has made it her own.

Azania, Azania Forest, is the fashion savvy explorer that is a vessel for Lesego’s creative expression. Azania Forest was born in 2012. Uncertain of everything she undertook a hiatus which allowed her to centralise her vision, and in 2015 Azania started her blog where she shared her creative experiences and expressions. In 2016, Azania announced that she would be launching a magazine in February the following year. The hype was an ego-booster and a debilitating reminder of her deadline. Now in 2018, Azania magazine has not launched and is being reimagined.

Azania expresses herself through photography, fashion design, styling and writing. Her exploration and understanding of the experiences of Black Womxn have fuelled the subject of her work, especially her photography. Capturing captivating personal portraits became a crucial part of creative expression and in the time she was meant to be focusing on her magazine, she was consumed by the complexity of photography.

Even though it began with the simple need to “just take pictures”, her photo series are deeply inspired. Azania’s series Woman with the Brown Eyes was inspired by Kees van Dongen’s Woman with Blue Eyes and aimed to counter and challenge European beauty standards. “A black girl with chubby cheeks and a wide nose and short hair is also a subject to be celebrated.”

The muse for her series We Will Rise was the brilliant queer communist painter, Frida Khalo. This series celebrated the persistence of Khalo’s spirit and Azania’s journey of self-celebration and self-empowerment.

Lastly, Mbona Lisa borrows its name and framing from Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. This series spoke to the qualms about land in South Africa and how womxn need to reclaim their bodies from societal constraints for it is their personal land.

Both Woman with the Brown Eyes and We Will Rise were exhibited in a traditional art gallery space and with the constant production of artistic expressions, Azania has been often referred to as an artist. Without any formal training in the fine arts, Azania is still battling with the acceptance of this label. However, from the belief that as a human being created in the likeness of a Creator that creatively expresses, Azania is an artist.

Like a forest, Azania is a dense unpredictable space that manifests without manipulation and houses beautiful, mysterious and sometimes dangerous creations. A forest is where Azania moves towards her highest calling. To this young black curious creator, the climax is internal and with divine intervention she believes her celebratory creative expressions will continue to presents themselves as love and freedom.

27 April 2018
Rights of Admission Reserved // How Gentrification and art washing can destroy the social capital of space

When you are tucked comfortably into Johannesburg’s Northern suburbs, the word of inner city enclaves that accommodate you and your neighbours is enthralling. So you make that journey – it’s towering buildings, that one bridge and with every red light, you cautiously gaze at the dense bustle of unfamiliarity. With one turn, the stark difference of your destination will assure you know that you have arrived. Almost every other person will have a takeaway coffee cup in hand and you will be left to figure out of all the cafes on every corner, which actually serves the best flat white. There will probably be an art gallery or two, maybe even three. Black boys will be skateboarding between cars trying to find a parking spot and you will wonder why they can’t use the empty bicycle lanes instead. The weekend market that you most likely came all this way for sells craft beer, artisans baked goods, cold meats, and overpriced international and local cuisine. Once that gets old, there will be a steak house or a concept store stocking local apparel or a pop up juice or gin bar that you can drop by. As you pose for a photo with the street art, you admire the luxury apartments and hired security guards and imagine a life here. Your visit will probably end in a dimly lit bar with an even darker dance floor. When you arise the day after, you will be certain of the lackluster of suburbia so you decorate your Instagram page with this colourful experience and encourage more of your friends to join next weekend.

Surely, it’s not far fetched to imagine that visits to enclaves in Johannesburg’s inner city are something like that for the people that those spaces have been designed for?

Familiar with suburban life myself, the city was marketed in a way that confused my understanding of gentrification and rendered it simplistic. To be clear, gentrification is basically when people of a higher income or status relocate to or invest in a low income (and typically “urban”) neighbourhood. The aim is to capitalise on the low property values and in doing so the property value is inflated. This results in the original occupants of the neighbourhood being displaced because they cannot afford to live there anymore.

Moreover, this re-development of particular enclaves is culture led. Even though buy-to-leave investors seek to hollow out the neighbourhood through gentrification, there are certain landmarks that are salvageable and add to the authenticity of the space. However, through the curation of the space, the culture and character of the neighbourhood is altered. Everything that made that neighbourhood culturally unique is demolished. Consider it a social cleansing. Despite the occupants that have been economically excluded from the space, original visitors that frequented the space will slowly disappear because the social fabric has been gentrified.

The space now culturally barren uses art as a substitute for culture. Hence the street art and influx of galleries. According to academic art historian, Stephen Pritchard, this “complex deception” is referred to as “Artwashing”. Artwashing is basically art in the service of gentrification, which ultimately destroys the social capital of a space.

The establishment of galleries has become frightening because soon after, the gentrification begins. Think the corner of Bolton road and Jan Smuts, a block parallel to an art gallery, which now houses overpriced international cuisine and a sneaker store. Think Keyes avenue – affordable flats were replaced by a mile of eclectic restaurants, a noteworthy bar, sneaker stores, and luxury boutiques to neighbour the art galleries.

In gentrified enclaves around the world, the prevalence of artwashing has seen the rise to protests by artists themselves. Considering the mainstream rhetoric of the financial status of an artist, how can their work be used to manifest into the spatial expression of economic inequality? Personally, I have not witnessed Johannesburg’s interrogation of arts use in the reconstruction of a space and its culture. One thing that is for sure is that it is happening as the authentic culture of various spaces is being compromised in the name of capitalism.

5 April 2018
Chimurenga // an astonishing African resource

Extracting from the Afrocentrism of Fela Kuti (and more than a hundred creative writers, photographers and illustrators from Africa and its diaspora), Cameroonian journalist Ntone Edjabe’s sensational media platform, Chimurenga, aims to enrich, nuance and stretch the portrayal of the African continent so “who no know go know”.

Meaning “revolutionary struggle” in Zimbabwe’s Shona language, Chimurenga takes various forms in order to present the complexities of African lives and their discourses. Its outputs include: a quarterly gazette called The Chronic; the Chimurenga Library – an independent collection of pan-African periodicals and personal books; the African Cities Reader – a biennial publication on an urban African lifestyle; the Pan African Space Station – an online radio station and pop-up studio; and the award winning publication of culture, art and politics – the Chimurenga Magazine.

Initially published in 2002, the Chimurenga magazine is an enthralling collection of essays, reports, fiction, photography, cartoons, poetry, manifestoes, and art that not only produce new knowledge but intentionally speaks to the intensities of the world.

“[Chimurenga is] an experience”, explained Edjabe. Historically, African life has had a single narrative, which has been deeply rooted in global consciousness. Africa as poor. Africa as the victim. Africa as dependent. “The moment you add a degree of complexity to it, it throws people off”. It is this divergence from the single African story that makes Chimurenga provocative and enticing. With hundreds of brilliant contributors, Chimurenga is able to produce content that is innovative in the creation of African narratives, which are in essence anti-colonial. The publications enlightening content has grabbed a global audience and earned the prestigious Prince Claus Award.

The website has some content but the magazine holds the true pan-African treasures. You can order a copy online and hard copies are distributed throughout Africa, Europe, the USA and India. The Cape-Town based offices are open to submissions from potential contributors that are willing to stimulate pan-African culture by imparting themselves and their experiences through intellect, freedom and diversity.

8 February 2018
Film, music and art events to attend in 2018

Get out your diaries. Here is our list of not to miss film, music and art events for 2018:

Inxeba (The Wound) is on circuit in South Africa

When: From 2 February

Where: Throughout the country

Inxeba (The Wound), South Africa’s official entry to the 2018 Academy Awards for best foreign language film, will be released in South Africa from the 2nd of February. It will be screened at a number of independent movie theatres as well as mainstream movie houses. The film focuses on bringing questions and realities around homosexuality and tradition together. It stars SA musician Nakhane Touré who has received much praise for his performance as initiate Xolani. The movie’s engagement with gender, sexuality and tradition makes it a worthwhile watch.

Gaika performs in South Africa

When: Johannesburg – 8 February

Cape Town – 9 February

All the way from Brixton in the UK, the dystopian style of Gaika will be greeting South Africans for the first time in February. His childhood was surrounded by various forms of tech and scientific innovation. His current mode of production is inspired by the digitization of humanity. You can look forward to a live performance of some of his recently released tracks, including ‘BATTALION’.

Click here for more information about the artist.

Drop in Drawing

When: 10 February

Where: Wits Art Museum

From: 12:00 – 13:00

For their Valentine’s Day Edition WAM will be hosting Drop in Drawing, and just as the title of the event suggests, all that is required from participants is to come by the gallery during the allocated time slot. No experience or booking is required.

If a cheesy Valentine’s Day events such as a film screening or dinner is not quite your thing, we’d recommend giving this one a chance. Let your hand lead your chosen implement of mark making and experiment in a gallery environment. Honestly, what could inspire creativity more?

‘Cape to Tehran: Re-imaging and re-imagining personal history in post-Apartheid South Africa and post-revolutionary Iran’

When: 13 February – 29 March

Where: Gallery MOMO Cape Town

Opening Tuesday, 13 February at 18:00

For this group show a diverse set of artists have been selected largely from South Africa and Iran by the curatorial hand of Sepideh Mehraban. The featured artists engage with complexities surrounding their individual country’s histories and legacies of trauma. Emphasis is placed on personal experiences of both conflict and change through their work resulting in the presentation of a multifaceted discussion. This discussion takes on areas of cohesion and divergence between post-apartheid and post-revolutionary Iran.

‘Cape to Tehran’ does not take the form of a sole narrative but instead acts as full-bodied conversation amongst artists from varying geographies and generations. This show serves to juxtapose personal encounters of socio-political turmoil experienced by the artists in their motherlands. They create art as a way of reflecting instead of simply representing their experiences of change and conflict.

Featured artists:

Kamran Adl | Shagha Ariannia | Patrick Bongoy | Stephanie Conradie | Rory Emmett | Thulile Gamedze | Black Hand | Svea Josephy | Francois Knoetze | Wonder Marthinus | Sepideh Mehraban | Emmanuel de Montbron | Sethembile Msezane | Neda Razavipour | Kathy Robins | Roderick Sauls | Berni Searle | Rowan Smith | Jo Voysey

Petite Noir & Slow Jack perform at Kirstenbosch

When: 21 March

Where: Cape Town

As part of the Kirstenbosch Summer Sunset Concerts, Petite Noir and Slow Jack will be performing on the 21st of March. For those who are feeling a little out of the loop, Petite Noir is a Belgian-born Congolese musician and songwriter now based in South Africa. His EP The King of Anxiety and his album La vie est belle / Life Is Beautiful demonstrate why watching him perform live should be on everyone’s bucket list. Slow Jack was formed in 2015, and has grown to include some of Cape Town’s best musical talent. Be sure to have a listen to their Soundcloud as a warm up for the concert. Access tickets for the concert online. The availability of tickets at the venue is dependent on online ticket sales.

‘Bakhambile, Parktown’, 2016 by Zanele Muholi

Stevenson group show BOTH, AND: commemorating 15 years of the gallery’s existence

When: 7 July – 24 August

Where: Johannesburg and Cape Town

The Stevenson gallery turns 15 this year. A commemorative group exhibition titled BOTH, AND will take place from 7 July to 24 August. This exhibition reflects on the foundations that continue to allow the gallery to stand tall in South Africa’s art scene – being a space that has its finger on the pulse of the art market while remaining dedicated to art history and the development of ideas. Two new directors, Sisipho Ngodwana and Alexander Richards, aim to unpack this through their curation of the show. They will look back and look forward, outlining the history of the gallery, its unique publication programme, local presence and global perspective. The show will include artists who began the journey with Stevenson, namely Zanele Muholi, Deborah Poynton, Nicholas Hlobo, Pieter Hugo, Wim Botha, Guy Tillim and Nandipha Mntambo, and those who joined the gallery’s journey at a later stage, like Robin Rhode, Meschac Gaba, Barthélémy Toguo, Penny Siopis and Moshekwa Langa. New and existing work by these artists will tackle the questions, “How have we, over the past fifteen years, collectively navigated the paradox inherent in the commercial gallery model? And what might the future hold?”

Red Bull Music Festival

When: 3-8 April

Where: Johannesburg

Just when the weather will be getting a little cooler, Red Bull plans to bring the heat to Johannesburg with the Red Bull Music Festival. Trompies, Oskido, Moonchild Sannelly, Moozlie, Stiff Pap and Distruction Boyz are among the musical stars who will be performing at this exciting explosion of sound. The festival has something for everyone, with artists from genres such as jazz, hip hop, electro, gqom and kwaito. Different spots throughout Johannesburg’s inner city will come to life at varying points throughout the festival. These spots include The Orbit, Newtown Music Factory, Republic of 94, Great Dane, and Kitcheners. Be sure to get your tickets online.

2017 Fak’ugesi theme

Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival

When: September

Where: Tshimologong Prescinct, Johannesburg

This year will mark Fak’ugesi’s fifth consecutive run in Johannesburg. The festival is due to take place in September, hosted at the Tshimologong Prescinct in Braamfontein in partnership with British Council ConnectZA. It offers an interactive space to celebrate digital technology, art and culture in Africa. Events and projects that should not be missed at the festival include the Digital Africa Art Exhibition, Market Hack, ColabNowNow, A MAZE and Block party. Dates are subject to change.

2 February 2018
The Wanderer – Stability through Movement

In search of a meaningful way to stay intellectually charged and creatively engaged, Jason Storey said goodbye to his corporate law position in New York and followed his dream of becoming a full-time designer in South Africa. He now explores fashion creatively in its various conceptual forms with the label he started with his sister – Unknown Union.

When the label was launched in 2010, it took root in a retail store on Kloof Street in Cape Town, and it housed a collection of international brands alongside their own small capsule collection. 2014 saw the siblings open a design studio in Salt River. The same year also saw the inception of a larger collection that reflected upon the art, history and culture they encountered on the African continent. And in 2015 their brother Oscar left his job in the US to join the team. In their newest location on Bloem Street in Cape Town’s CBD, Unknown Union blends art, fashion, literature and music as a way to stay a “community of people that dig the arts.”

Their latest offering is a collaboration with photographer Cathrin Schulz titled The Wanderer – Stability through Movement. This body of work is a crisp exhibition of Unknown Union’s garments and Cathrin’s extraordinary command of lighting. An additional layer to this visual treat comes in the form of a short fashion film shot by Anna Schulz. With a behind-the-scenes feel, the film opens with the model getting camera ready accompanied by the soothing tone of James Blake’s voice breaking free as the music starts, bringing one into the Wanderer’s journey. I had an interview with Jason to find out more about the project.

Tell us a bit about The Wanderer – Stability through Movement and how it came into being?

The Wanderer can be seen as a pilot for an upcoming series and a fruitful collaboration between Unknown Union and Cathrin Schulz. A team of creatives sat down and brought in their expertise as a form of creative exchange. The cultural diversity of the creators brought up a colourful mix of ideas, leading to the story of The Wanderer. The result is the art directed and photographed edition by Cathrin Schulz and a complementary film by Anna Schulz.

What was the inspiration behind it?

The source of the collaboration is to merge the creative languages into a synergy. Unknown Union weaves ancestral knowledge into fashion, while Cathrin Schulz infuses spirituality into her visual medium of photography. The red thread is to connect the respective visions and create an effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

The series found inspiration in conveying the concept of Human Design, a science of differentiation. The Wanderer is a primal aspect found on both of the artists’ work, to convey a deeper message – a message of interpreting experience, emotions and stories – into a stimulating form of expression.

What is the message you wanted to convey with this film?

The medium of film visualizes and highlights the project’s aspect of ‘Stability through Movement’. Its purpose was to portray the creative flow of the shoot, as well as giving access to the different angles of the scenes. The intended message is simple: the beauty of creative collaboration.

What sparked the collaboration with Anna-Marie Schulz?

The collaboration was sparked by Unknown Union’s openness to provide Anna Schulz with a creative platform of expression within ‘The Wanderer – Stability through Movement’. It is rooted in creative exchange.

What can we expect to see from Unknown Union in the future?

We are going to dig further into current themes as well as unveil some new themes at this year’s runway show on February 10, at SAMW (AW18). In March, we’ll open our newest location in Johannesburg – in Maboneng.

With The Wanderer – Stability through Movement as the pilot, Unknown Union’s partnership with Cathrin Schulz promises to bring about sheer viewing pleasure. To watch the film go to their Instagram.

The Team:

Clothing: Unknown Union

Photographer: Cathrin Schulz

Stylist: Kshitij Kankaria

Hair & Make-Up: Richard Wilikson

Model: Cristiano Palmerini

Filmmaker: Anna Schulz

1 February 2018
Art’Press Yourself Festival // Back to the Afrofuture

Fashion. Art. Music. These are three creative spheres that are often intertwined with one another. The Art’Press Yourself festival, organized by the agency DARAJA CONCEPT, took place in Paris on 3-4 November, and aptly represented this intersection. Described as an afro-urban festival, designers, filmmakers and artists with roots spreading across Europe and Africa were brought together to share their work which tied into the slogan for this year’s festival, ‘Back to the Afrofuture’. Playing on the cyclical notion of time, this slogan references Afrofuturist thinking.

The backdrop with the words ‘Art’Press Yourself’ surrounded by adinkra symbols greeted guests as they walked through the entrance of the festival’s location, Pan Piper. This was created in collaboration with POSCO. Festival-goers were invited to sit on a hand-woven chair and use various props representative of the festival and different African religious and mythological stories for photographs. However, the use of the backdrop transformed throughout the festival, with people being given pens to write messages and draw on the white spaces between the letters. This is symbolic of the collective production of language, making a connection to the way in which images have played a significant role in the foundation of African lettering and preservation of knowledge. Considering how young the festival is, it moves towards its importance in bringing together artists and designers and making a collective mark on framing fashion, design and music inspired by African and African Diaspora experiences.

The three levels of the venue allowed for a seamless definition of spaces, making it easy for attendees to navigate the festival. The first level included an exhibition space for artists and designers of all kinds to share their work. Gold jewelry, items sourced made from various African countries, accessories customized by artists, and original art pieces.

Ensuring that the festival catered for different interjections and reflections on creative practices, the third level of the venue was used for a fashion show, performances, a film screening as well as a talk on Afrofuturism. A display of the dance style vogue by Matyouz Ladurée and Félicia entertained festival-goers during the day on Saturday. Jean Fall, the founder of Cinewax, shared with audiences a video describing different elements of Afrofuturism and its significance as a school of thought and lens through which to view the experiences of black people. This was followed by the short film by female filmmaker Wanuri Kahiuthat uses Afrofuturist motifs as a way to interrogate environmental issues in Kenya, and the globe more generally. There was also a projection of Alexis Peskine‘s movie ‘Raft of Medusa’.

With the film setting the mood for a conversation which underlines what these motifs are and what they mean, UK-based digital artist Ashley Straker shared the stage with Bubblegum Club’s Editor Christa Dee to have a question and answer session facilitated by Laurie Pezeron (founder of READ! CLUB) about Afrofuturism. The enthusiasm and curiosity expressed through the audience members’ questions highlighted the significance of the conversation and the interpretation of it as a therapy, a methodology, an imaginary, tool for critique as well as a connection to a past, present and future which is expressed through writing, fashion, art and music.

The festival had an open-ended closure, allowing for conversations and networking to continue post the event.

To find out more about the festival visit Art’Press Yourself on Facebook and Instagram.

Below is a list of artists, designers and other participants to get a feel for the kind of collective creative energy that was present at this year’s festival:

Fashion

ASO GLOBAL. HARRIS M. MADEMOISELLE BLE. SOUL and ROOTS. KEIKO. SECRET SAMPLE. L’ATELIER DE BOJEL. ICOM ASSO. EKEEYA. KOROSOL AFRICAN ARMURE. KORY WADE. ALICIA DELYSSIME. ITFA

Accessories

MA COULEUR A SES MERVEILLES. AYIZANA. NOOR ART. OH LA CRANEUSE. NOIR FLUO EVA SAM. BAZAR WAX. OHEA. AFRICAN STYLIA DECO. NUBYA. DE BENGUE. LA FABRIKAWAX. EBENE CHIC. NATTY KONGO MLKREATIONS. NACHO JEWELS.

Visual Arts

LAURIE-ANNE BRACCIANO. ASHLEY STRAKER. HANEEKS. PRINTED SOLES. LEA PALOMA. MARY CREA ART. KIRIIKOO PINEAPPLES.

Beauty and other categories

REAL B COSMETICS. KISSORO TRIBAL GAMES. NYEUSI CREA LOCKS. MELLE LEE ZA. SERGE KPONTON.

My incredible journey at the Art’Press Yourself festival was made possible thanks to the French Institute of South Africa.

21 December 2017