Tag: film

Nakhane Exclusive: Live At The Lyric Theatre and Directorial Debut

On Monday morning, I had a Zoom interview with Nakhane and noticed that it was becoming a happy habit. The artist was generous enough to share new details about their busy schedule, upcoming concert at the Lyric Theatre, and exciting directorial debut.

On the new film, Nakhane shared, “I wrote it about two years ago as an exercise, really. I didn’t think that the story would go anywhere. … And then I couldn’t stop writing it … I adapted the short story into a film. It’s called B(l)ind, the Sacrifice and the ‘L’ is in parentheses …. It’s about a father who … believes that he hears God and he convinces his family and their servants to move, to go live in the wild because he believes that the world is evil. And there comes a point where he believes that God is saying that he should sacrifice his son …

The jumping point of course (is) Abraham (and) Isaac’s story in the Bible … but I wanted to humanise it because I feel like the story is not human enough. It’s all about (the) heroic things that men do. … And I wanted … to ask myself the question of what does it look like when you take away the faith and you’re just left with the actions and consequences of human beings. … And then it becomes a little uglier … it becomes a question of patriarchy; a question of agency, betrayal, love, all the big ones.”

I noted that the film, which Nakhane described as a drama set in the desert, could also be about violence and they responded, “Oh, violence, completely violence. Violence … that is enacted upon one by a person who is supposed to be their protector.”

Nakhane on set for their directorial debut in the film B(l)ind Sacrifice.

Acknowledging the sheer privilege of being able to produce such a project, Nakhane expressed gratitude for the collaborative effort that brought the film to fruition. The film is set for release in the first half of the upcoming year.

Of course, I had to ask Nakhane about the synergy between this, their directorial debut and the highly anticipated upcoming concert at the Lyric Theatre. The artist replied, “Oh, they’re completely different projects, but on some level, everything influences everything, right? Whether you know it or not …

But, the reason I’m playing the show is because I haven’t played a show in South Africa in a year and a half, and I love performing here, and the music on Bastard Jargon (2023) was so influenced by South African music that I thought it would be … remiss for me to have toured like Australia and Canada and played shows in the UK and not play a show in South Africa. … And also because I just love playing live here. The people are very … different to other countries … you don’t need to give them permission to have a good time.”

We talked about the vibrancy of South African performance styles and the use of joyfulness as resistance against despair. Nakhane hinted that their show at the Lyric Theatre would be intentionally minimalistic expressing a preference for spontaneity, vocality, and real-time collaboration; moving away from the Western performance style of complex visual elements. The show will be stripped down and raw. Described as “sweaty, electronic, and percussive,” it takes on a ritualistic quality, focusing on bodily expressions, rhythm, and connection to African spirituality, inviting the audience into a sensory odyssey.

It seems the whole city is pulsating with anticipation for Nakhane’s upcoming Lyric Theatre show, which, it has just been announced, will feature a visual collaboration with the award-winning artist Lady Skollie. This collaboration with Skollie, a self-proclaimed groupie of Nakhane, is a product of their mutual admiration. Reflecting on her work, Nakhane noted, “What Lady Skollie did for me was bring painting to the here and now. It was no longer an older person’s practice, but my generation’s as well.”

Nakhane’s concert will also feature artists from Msaki‘s ALTBLK community such as Gemma Fassie, who will open the show. Muneyi, known for his acclaimed EP For All The Boys I Like (2023), will serve as the Support Act. My esteemed reader would be remiss to miss this homecoming expression of Nakhane’s passion for African storytelling, filmmaking, and performativity on Friday, Nov 24, 2023, at the Lyric Theatre in Gold Reef City, Johannesburg.

Tickets, range from R250 and can be purchased through Computicket

17 November 2023
Theatrum Botanicum // the botanical world as a stage for politics

In a moment where debates about land are at their peak in South Africa, Uriel Orlow‘s Theatrum Botanicum on show at Pool Space in Johannesburg fertilizes ideas around the botanical world as a stage for politics through film, photography, installation and sound. This ongoing project follows the trajectory of most of his work; research-based contemplations with collaborative methodologies, focusing on specific locations and histories, combining various visual evocations with layered narratives.

The beginning of the project was inspired by an accidental visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Struck by the fact that most of the plant labels were in English and Latin, Orlow began to question what this means in South Africa where there are 11 official languages. This connects to a colonial history of exploration and conquest. Through this process botanists from Europe “discovered” new plants, and proceeded to name and classify them according to European systems of organisation. Through forcefully exporting this methodology for categorization and understanding, it displaced indigenous knowledge systems and views on the world. Orlow seeks to question this forced application of taxonomic methods, and in so doing unearths issues around assumed universality, colonialism and its legacies, plant migration, and how examining the botanical offers insight into labour, race relations, pleasures and sustenance within South Africa’s history.

The significance of the work is twofold. Firstly, framing plants as databases, organic stores of information. Juicy, fleshy memory banks that can testify to South Africa’s political past and present, and offer alternative entry points from which we can assess and think about history and politics. Secondly, Orlow’s work ascribes plants a form of agency, presenting them as active participants in the link between nature and humans.

Photography by Austin Malema

The project offers encounters and observations that are gateways to meditations on the above. Grey, Green, Gold forms part of Theatrum Botanicum, and is up in Gallery 1989 at Market Photo Workshop. The Fairest Heritage, a single channel video piece within the exhibition, perfectly exemplifies the larger aims of the project. Here Orlow, through his extensive research in the library of the botanical garden, found films that were commissioned in 1963 to commemorate the anniversary of founding Kirstenbosch by documenting its history.

The film’s main characters – scientists and visitors – are all white, with the only people of colour featured being those who worked on the gardens. Orlow collaborated with artist and performer Lindiwe Matshikiza, who inserts herself in front of these film, viscerally speaking back to their contents. A performative contestation to this archive, placing herself into the frame as a protagonist existing outside of the frameworks of passivity and labour for people of colour created within the archival footage. This work also highlights that plants are not neutral and passive, with flowers attached to ideas around nationhood, segregation and liberation.

To accompany the work, Orlow teamed up with editor Shela Sheikh on a book that catalogues the different works, but also connects with the research that is the seed from which project continues to grow. Writers were invited to contribute essays that do not necessarily respond to the works directly, but contemplate the thematics that come to the fore through their presence. Other artists with work relating to art, nature and history were also invited to share their work in the book.

Both exhibition spaces are pollinated with works that share the entanglements between plants and us across time and space. Go inhale the fragrance of latent histories until 21 October at Gallery 1989, and 3 November at Pool Space.

13 September 2018
Cross Continental Collaboration – A Spontaneous Fashion Lens

Natural beauty accentuated with minimal makeup and loose-fitting silhouettes. Nostalgia evoked through analogue photography. Traditional framing and spontaneous emotion. Free collaboration.

Four creatives shared a mutual goal – to collaborate on a shoot during their time spent in Cape Town. A per chance meeting with Makeup and Hairstylist Patricia Piatke led the stylist for this shoot, Shukrie Joel to get in touch with her while hunting for a good photographer to put heads together with. And so, a collaboration was formed between photographer, hair and makeup artist, stylist and model. Their amalgamated team includes Detlef Honigstein, Shukrie Joel, Lolita Kupper and Patricia Piatke.

The project was approached using analogue photography as the medium to speak through given Detlef’s affinity to the format. Colour and black and white film are employed evoking both a classical feeling and becoming more modern as colour is gradually introduced.

For the team, this shoot was about a spontaneous get together before each of them set out to different countries. An opportunity for collaboration done with more impulse and spontaneity than vigorous planning. Their images come across as raw, beautiful and an impromptu moment captured on the emulsion of a film roll, breathed life into in its positive final form.

Speaking to stylist Shukrie, he explains that his idea was for the clothing to look comfortable on the model’s frame, effortless and easy. Despite there being minimal planning the team made stylistic choices for which thought was given.

Patricia and the team aimed to break away from the high-end street styles that Shukrie is known for with their makeup and hair styling decisions. With an artistic haute couture hairstyle giving off a sense of ease and natural makeup, the team did not want these elements to over shadow the colours of the clothing that Lolita wears. A fun selection of images resulted from their creative collaboration.

Credits:

Photography: Detlef Honigstein

Fashion & styling: Shukrie Joel
Hair & Makeup: Patricia Piatke

Model: Lolita Kupper

7 August 2018
‘Close Encounters’ // A group show exploring the multiplicity of intimacy by SMITH Gallery

“Intimacy is too often confined with matters of love; yet the word belongs more to trust, to faith. It denotes an act of revelation found in the simple gesture of sharing; bringing that which was previously hidden out from the shadows and into the light. In this exhibition, the artworks chosen explore intimacy in both their content and their form. They touch on universal themes – like birth and love and death – but also on other more singular intimacies; personal histories, dreams and desires. The works reflect on self- intimacy, experienced in solitude, and the intimacy shared between us, be it romantic or platonic, familial or fleeting. There is, too, intimacy of familiar spaces, spaces we inhabit in both the world and in our minds. And then, there is the intimacy of objects, and our relationships to them; a cherished photograph, clothes left lying on the floor, a coffee half drunk, now gone cold, a letter hidden in a bottom drawer. And always an implied subject, who has held and touched these objects, so that each becomes a metonym for something, or someone, else.” – reads the introductory paragraph of the essay on the group show titled The Art of Intimacy by Lucienne Bestall.

Curated by SMITH’s own Jana Terblanche, Close Encounters, “…encompasses many intimacies. Intimacy between friends, family and even yourself. An ‘encounter’ extends beyond romantic love, and opens the show up to a certain type of multiplicity…” she tells me in response to the exhibition title.

Terblanche explains further that, “The curatorial strategy seeks to make connections, and guide the audience to experience many versions of intimacy, but not to be too definitive in fixing its meaning.”

‘Looking in’ by Banele Khoza

Interpretation, voyeuristic in its nature, peeks into private scenes in the works of Olivié Keck, Daniel Nel and Banele Khoza. As the viewer uncovers that which is hidden, they are confronted with the image of a sleeping woman with a bloodstain forming between her legs; with figures in a bedroom – dressing or undressing. A nude man cradles his foot in another work. As Bestall points out, the human shapes portrayed on these canvases appear to be unaware of their viewer, unaware of being watched. They are “…absorbed in their own worlds and insensible to ours. From this vantage, we become privileged viewers; seeing yet unseen.”

Boy in Pool and Creepy Noodle by Strauss Louw presents as photographic montages reflecting on ideas surrounding sensuality and sexuality. The images’ quality can be compared to a fever dream, confused, stripped down. A recurring element in both frames is that of water. Water which is fluid and evokes connotations around spiritual cleanliness, the metaphorical washing away of sin; a baptism that promises new life, a new beginning. The images that reflect one another and in turn speak to one another show an intimacy that extends beyond photographic paper. The signifier, pool noodles and topless male torsos, signify more than the visual cues the artist brings to the fore. Bestall writes, “For him, the gesture of photographing is itself an act of intimacy; the silent communion between the subject and artist shared for only the briefest moment.”

‘Creepy Noodle’ by Strauss Louw

Moments of grave intimacy equally take hold in this group show appearing as recollections of space lost, contemplations on censorship, erasure and that which is muffled. A weapon uncovered from the quite recesses of a grandmother’s bed.

Returning to the intimacy of childhood, Thandiwe Msebenzi, Sitaara Stodel and Morné Visagie use film, collage and photographs to convey their meaning. Loss, longing and distance oozing from each pigment.

‘Unoma xabela ngezembe’ by Thanidwe Msebenzi

Tapping into the darker avenues of the twisted mind, Michaela Younge and Stephen Allwright craft peculiar scenes of nightmarish fantasy. Younge’s work made from merino wool and felt, bring together eroticism, violence, sensuality and abjection. In this world of felt imagination nude figures, skulls, a doll’s head, the American Gothic and a lawnmower coexist on the same material plane.

The intimacy of banal objects is considered by artists Gitte Möller and Fanie Buys. Buys’ Unknown Couple at their Wedding (muriel you’re terrible) is a painting of a found image depicting a bride and groom about to cut into their wedding cake. The familiarity of the scene is nostalgic as it is found as such in endless family photo albums.

‘Leda and the Handsome Glück’ by Michaela Younge

Pairing the personal with the universal Amy Lester uses a monotype of a faceless woman that draws parallels with the Venus of Willendorf and other objects and images of fertility. Alongside hangs a photograph of the artist’s birth. This iteration of familial intimacy explores birth and the archetypal Mother figure.

The viewer is moved from private bedroom scenes to depictions of violence, from a clear subject to an underlying layer of meaning, invited to engage with the scale of works, the theme of intimacy follows distinct threads. “Yet the works exhibited all share the same vulnerability. Something previously hidden is revealed; a secret spoken aloud, a memory described, a dark dream recalled. Such is intimacy, a word bound not to love, nor to the erotic. But rather, a word that denotes a certain knowledge, a privileged insight into the private life of another – another figure, another object, another place. Where some intimacies are lasting, others are only momentary; where some are apparent, others are not.” Bestall ends off.

‘Unknown Couple at their Wedding (muriel you’re terrible)’ by Fanie Buys

The interdisciplinary group show Close Encounters will run from the 4 July – 28 July 2018.

Join SMITH Gallery on a walkabout of the show on Saturday the 21^st July at 11h00.

Exhibiting artists include: Stephen Allwright, Fanie Buys, Grace Cross, Claire Johnson, Jeanne Gaigher, Jess Holdengarde, Olivié Keck, Banele Khoza, Amy Lester, Strauss Louw, Sepideh Mehraban, Nabeeha Mohamed, Gitte Möller, Thandiwe Msebenzi, Daniel Nel, Gabrielle Raaff, Brett Charles Seiler, Sitaara Stodel, Marsi van de Heuvel, Anna van der Ploeg, Morné Visagie, Michaela Younge

‘The Birth’ by Amy Lester

‘she looks at you as if looking for herself’ by Jess Holdengarde

‘Tonal Tears’ by Jess Holdengarde

‘But if it doesn’t have a garden we can’t keep the dog?’ by Sitaara Stodel

12 July 2018
Multidisciplinary artist Shikeith presents an arresting vulnerability and honesty

Four years ago Philadelphia-born, multidisciplinary artist Skikeith shared the film #blackmendream, where he presented black men with the question, “when did you discover you were black?”. The directness of this question required the interviewee to give a direct answer. However, it brought to the fore a contemplation on how we perceive ourselves, as well as how and when racial identity and recognition become a bright spotlight in the lives of black men. It also allowed for contemplation around how the people interviewed navigate their blackness and their masculinity, with the people interviewed often expressing that the discovery of their racial identity often came through violence.

The lived and imagined experiences of black men, particularly black queer men, is a common thread in most of Skikeith’s work. Linked to this is the unpacking of violence against, and reclamation of the black body.

“I’m really tapping into the idea of conjuring up images of black men who exist together, whether that be supporting one another, crying, joyful, praying, anything that could disrupt perceptions of self. To open up to a new beginning,” Shikeith states in an interview with Dazed.

His imagery comes across as a snippet of a hazy memory from an early morning dream, bringing out an arresting vulnerability and honesty. His more recent work, such as This was his body / His body finally his also speaks to Skikeith’s desire to present elements of himself and his own journey within his work. “… I have to realise how important it is to showcase my own story in my work, so that it can resonate for other black men – imagining myself in a state of art.”

To view more of Shikeith’s work visit his website.

6 July 2018
Artist Wanja Kimani’s interrogations of private and public power

Kenyan-born artist Wanja Kimani has a visual practice that strings together stories and visual histories which comment on the idea of home, displacement, trauma, memories and imaginations.

While imposing elements of her own life in public spaces, she occupies the positions of both narrator and character. This is evident in the various media she uses to construct her work, including installation, performances, text, film, textiles and sound.

One of her recent works Expectations, a collaboration with Annabel McCourt, is a performance that was presented at Dak’Art 2018 – Biennale of Contemporary African Art. It was performed in response to Annabel McCourt’s Electric Fence. The work dives into the complexities surrounding borders, immigration, race, as well as private and public power, and how these forms of power are constructed. These larger themes are interwoven with explorations of mortality as well as personal and physical boundaries.

In the video of the performance online, the first few seconds create the impression of eyes opening after a long sleep, with shots of lights hanging from the ceiling and wire fencing coming in and out of focus. The voice of the narrator recalls memories from a childhood, presumably the childhood of the character (played by Kimani) that appears on screen. As the narrator goes on to explain how walls will come separate the children mentioned in the recollection of memories, the viewer sees Kimani maneuvering between wire fences and throwing rocks and bricks on top of each other, as if intending to build a wall or to examine what remains of the structure these bricks once constituted.

The poetic narration speaks of silencing, leaving home, crossing borders, and the traumas that accompany this. The interaction between the words and what the viewer sees create a heaviness, the relevance of which becomes apparent as the story of Charles Wootton is told. The narrator shares how Wootton has died as a result of a racially motivated crime in Liverpool in 1919. He was thrown into the water at Kings Dock, and as he swam, trying to lift himself out of the water, he was pelted by bricks until he sank. Kimani writes his name on a blackboard during the performance. She then goes on to write down the names of many other victims of hate crimes. In this way the victims are mourned and celebrated at the same time.

21 June 2018
Photographer and Journalist Rahima Gambo’s ‘Education is Forbidden’ makes a social commentary on the post-colonial education system in north-eastern Nigeria

Rahima Gambo studied Development at the University of Manchester and thereafter completed a Masters in Gender and Social Policy at the London School of Economics. This was followed with her Masters in Journalism at Columbia Graduate School in 2014. Her interdisciplinary practice looks at Nigerian identity, gender, socio-political issues and history. Her series Education Is Forbidden makes use of photography, illustration, text and film to articulate a troubling narrative that remains without end.

With her photo essay, Education is Forbidden, the photographer and journalist challenges the Boko Haram insurrection, the condition of the post-colonial education system in north-eastern Nigeria as well as the status of women in society. Showcased as a part of the curated projects at ART X Lagos art fair, it has been in development since 2015.

The project has been built on and grown due to support given by the International Women’s Media Foundation, propelled forward by “a curiosity to understand what it means to be a student on the front lines.” Rahima, who is from the region and currently residing in Abuja, travelled to schools and universities in various states to meet activists, pupils and teachers. This acted as an entry point for her documentation of the lasting trauma and infrastructural deterioration, beginning decades before and is currently destabilised by conflict.

To create this body of work Rahima’s approach was to show girls from a stylised, prolific point of view. Employing traditional portraiture techniques, the photographer aimed to focus on points of familiarity and visual signifiers that remind her audience of how carefree school days should be. These signifiers include a girl blowing a bubble with chewing gum and other girls calmly look into her lens. The works take a frontal approach created collaboratively with the girls that she photographed.

Rahima tells these girls’ stories as their youth is poisoned by these events of trauma. It is important to note that she does not intend to label them by these circumstances or define them as victims. “The project is not based on trauma because you can find that in any condition, no matter how comfortable…” she expresses in an interview with Nataal. Her series has the twofold effect of being both a visual documentation and captured moments of collective memory. Her work is then a visual narrative speaking of the cruelties of conflict and its effect on the educational framework of the region.

29 May 2018
Visual artist and storyteller Saaiqa unpacks the mind as a theatre in her series ‘The Fourth Wall’

“The day of birth for every human being is the start of a lifelong battle to adapt himself to an ever-changing environment. He is usually victorious and adjusts himself without pain. However, in one case out of 20 he does not adjust himself. In U.S. hospitals, behind walls like [those] shown here, are currently 500 000 men, women and children whose minds have broken in the conflict of life.”

(Excerpt from LIFE Magazine’s 1939 article and photo essay, “Strangers to Reason: LIFE Inside a Psychiatric Hospital. The beginning of Saaiqa’s artist statement)

Saaiqa is a Durban-based visual artist, writer and storyteller expressing herself through film, photography, installation and mixed media works. Plunged into the world of artistic evocation from childhood, her creativity was fuelled by a desire to understand, learn and observe from the world.

From a young age, Saaiqa was involved in theatre and the dramatic arts which she took part in until the end of her high school career.

“It’s interesting in retrospect, acting and learning how to inhabit another character from such a young age; I think you start to get a handle on how human psychology, experience and conditioning is translated and manifested in how we as individuals exist in the world.”

Saaiqa’s fascination with the mind stems from a deep-seated interest in mental health. “I believe we all suffer from some form of neurosis; it’s just an inevitability. Even if you are not mentally ill we all have been marked by life in some way.”

She continues to open up by saying that members of her immediate family are afflicted by mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Her first-hand experience with this has shown her how difficult it is not only for the person afflicted by the illness but for the person’s loved ones to navigate the world living with this illness. She expresses that it is difficult to help someone in this position within a system that is broken and not very forgiving or understanding when it comes to mental health issues.

‘Neurosis’ – Rorschach

In unpacking her series Saaiqa explains that The Fourth Wall acts as a study of the psychological arena of the modern day human being. Through observation she has concluded that we are cognizant beings continuously attuning ourselves to an environment that is characterized by rapid change, causing both feelings of joy and of pain. Her aim with this body of work is to investigate this negation with life. This is achieved by witnessing the human condition as well as states of existentialism.

“I was motivated to explore a project like this because there is still a great amount of stigma, discrimination and a lack of education and discussion regarding mental illness and health in society. This often prevents people from seeking help and, particularly in under-resourced communities, this often leads to unfair criminal incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse and even suicide.”

Saaiqa continues to express that she feels that people have become more aware and are speaking about self-care but that she isn’t sure of the seriousness of people’s convictions. “I mean it can’t be this surface level thing; this romanticised tumblr type shit is not going to help people.”

‘The Tear’

She explains the link that she made between the theatre and the mind by stating that to her it feels like the perfect metaphor. She sees the mind as a space where performances manifest. “It’s this place where we literally stage our fantasies, suppress trauma, where we interpret reality, create and destroy identity – it is a performance in constant flux. The theatre of the mind is where one continually finds and loses oneself over and over again, through the course of life.”

To create this body of work Saaiqa’s process was research heavy. She emphasises the importance of research to her practice regardless of how a project conceptually or visually manifests. She had come to the decision that to approach this subject matter she would use alternative visual approaches that include a variety of mediums such as scans, photomontages, Rorschach prints and an installation work.

“I observed space a lot; I also look at objects and still lives. I think that spaces and objects hold such power within narratives and can often be the centre of the most compelling images. It can also be important to consider, especially when certain ethical decisions need to be made when tackling complex visual stories.”

‘The Mad Scene’

While creating this body of work Saaiqa was volunteering at a psychiatric hospital working in art therapy within the hospital. She regards volunteering as something that was very important for her to do. Although her series does not reflect issues surrounding mental health in a literal way, her experience in volunteering helped her gain a deeper understanding of different people who exist within alternative states.

“And because this also hits so close to home it was both an opportunity for experiential learning and a way for me to give back/ improve the lives (even if in some small way) of these people who are all too often forgotten by society. I worked in quite an intense unit, where a lot of patients had severe cases. It was definitely an eye-opening experience, even for me. The combination of poverty, economic strife, social stigma, lack of education, the exacerbation of some situations created by religion and culture – all form an immense barrier and lead to disastrous outcomes for most individuals. I learnt a great deal about mental health and the state of healthcare in South Africa. I also learnt a lot about myself during this time as well as the lives of women, which was interesting. In that environment, you realise how fragile we all are and how we all undermine our own and each other’s mental health.”

‘Suffer Well’

‘Restless Chafing’

‘Penance I’ & ‘Penance II’

14 May 2018
Abri de Swardt’s Ridder Thirst // Collaging Historiographies of Queer Youth

An anonymity of objects, each with an individual history. Tussled and turned. Transformed by the rhythm of a pulsing river. Caked in the sand of the bank. Reaching the shores of the sea, washed up and waiting. Tentatively collected and contemplated. Repurposed. Filled up in phallic form. Residue. Residual waste reimagined.

Abri de Swardt’s latest solo exhibition at Pool, Ridder Thirst, presents a temporal slice of a queer historiography rooted within the context of Stellenbosch and its university. He describes how this form of research and making integrates histories that are, “closer to the skin and intimacy…introducing a body that is otherwise occluded from that site.” This multi-media body of work spans the complexities of youth and questions of collective agency. Through his practice, Abri investigates notions of disassociation, disidentification and desire as political positions.

The beginning of this project can be traced back five years to Abri’s investigation into how the Stellenbosch Visual Art Department started in 1964. When founded, the department was intended to be rooted in Eurocentrism and an extension of the Western canon through an emulation of the Bauhaus. During this research Abri stumbled across the work of Alice Mertens, who was appointed as the first lecturer in photography. Most well known for her ethnographic photo-book African Elegance (1973), she also published a book, Stellenbosch (1966, republished and expanded 1979), which captured couples in leisure on the banks of the Eerste River in Stellenbosch. As a document of the town under Apartheid, Abri was interested in the depictions of the students in nature, and the representation of heterosexual relationships mimicking the ‘neutrality’ of photography. In Mertens’ photographs, linkages can be made between white entitlement over land in relation to student bodies.

His film, Ridder Thirst (2015-2018) starts in a darkroom depicting one of Abri’s former lecturers, Hentie van der Merwe, who was a key figure in 1990’s South African queer visuality. He appears to be developing and solarizing Mertens’ images. The photographic matter slowly starts to seep into the paper. Through the narration of the scene, the audience is introduced to The Shadow Prince – a fictionalized figure driving the narrative, said to have escaped from a camera and into reality. “A lot of my work deals with the limits of photography and how collage always treats photographic material as sculptural material.” The process of his work draws attention to the physicality of the photograph. Digital collage features in the film as motion-tracked media floats down the river in the form of oak leaves, stock embelms reminiscent of camouflage and university branding.

Settler colonial whiteness is positioned at the intersection between the sea and the river – the site at which people historically landed on the beach. The whole narrative of the film is based on rolling-up the First River and burying it in the mountain- highlighting geographic and historical tensions. The name of the film and exhibition Ridder Thirst was formulated through a combination of Afrikaans and English. Ridder is Afrikaans for ‘knight’ whereas thirst evokes notions of desire (being thirsty), while also, in an onomatopoeic play on ‘river first’, referencing the river which is central to the project. Abri describes how the combination of words articulates a medieval desire for a heroic figure something that he says is displaced and “unfulfilled in the film.”

Eerste Waterval (2018) is a piece that explores the origin of the river. An assortment of objects was carefully collected at the mouth of the river and inserted into an elongated clear plastic bag, a condom of sorts. “It becomes the actual trace of the run of the river.”Organic matter and plastic merges from Stellenbosch and Macassar, where the mouth of the river lies – geographically adjacent but “racially and economically disparate spaces.” Abri described how materials would lose their shape and become entwined with other objects from the river bed. “It’s really sculpted by the river.” He also mentioned how “garbage is also a kind of collaging of usage and time” which relates to other aspects of his work that draw from expanded notions of archeology and mapping.

The double 12” vinyl record Ridder Thirst LP (2016 -18) is another integral element of the exhibition. Abri wanted to generate a platform that included a spectrum of voices which thematically responded to the concepts in his work. The sonic forum also stemmed from a series of reading events that took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town – prefacing and speaking to the historical ruptures of the Fallist Movements. “I invited other people who were with me at Stellenbosch at the time,who were also working with writing and voice in their practice” Abri was interested in creating a broader conversation and shifting the focus to the shared,“closeness of people listening to each other” in various modes of address. The work includes tracks by, Stephané E. Conradie, Metodeen Tegniek, Athi Mongezeleli Joja, Pierre Fouché, Khanyisile Mbongwa, Rachel Collet, Alida Eloff and Abri de Swardt. There will be a listening event playing the 62 minutes of the record next month as part of.the exhibition’s public programming. Ridder Thirst runs until the 17^th of June at POOL in New Doornfontein.

9 May 2018
THE CORNER STORE STORY – A fashion editorial

Memories of the local corner store growing up, and saying to your friend, “meet me at the corner store”. Buying slap chips, fizzy drinks and gum. Playing the unbeatable claw machine in the hopes of procuring a plush toy to take home with you. To some, just fond nostalgia but to Duran Levinson, Hanna Goldfisch, Carla Vermaak and Wiebke Reich, this space holds the possibility for creative expression. The awakening of an editorial photographed inside and around corner stores.

To the team behind the shoot, their aims were simple, to create an editorial in their favourite corner stores and their surroundings. A shoot that would be an enunciation of colour and their creative expression.

Approaching styling in a non-conformist way, Carla opted for colourful styling instead of neutral tones that are often associated with winter styling and dress. Her choice of bright garments interacts with the backgrounds of the images in a near symbolic way, mimicking the brightness behind the model. Another element that adds to the fun vibrancy of the shoot is the marriage of styling with beautiful soft textured hats by Crystal Birch.

In order to elevate the look and feel of the editorial, Duran exposed his film to light after completion of the shoot. This editorial is defined by its spontaneity and experimental nature that visually manifests as a shoot of nostalgic beauty and a celebration of youth and fun fashion combinations.

The creatives behind this shoot were largely influenced by street style culture. Many factors contributed to this such as Duran’s ease and preference to street style photography. The spontaneity of this form of shooting is an aspect that Duran greatly values and seeks in his work.

Credits:

Photography – Duran Levinson

Model – Hanna Goldfisch

Makeup & Hair – Wiebke Reich

Stylist – Carla Vermaak

Hats – Crystal Birch

7 May 2018
The New Kids on the Block

The 21^st century self-portrait by SA young artists

It is more than likely they are on the My Friend Ned database, have been at every hip party thrown in Jeppestown in the past 6 months, have produced a zine, and embrace that Norm-core 90s kid aesthetic (even thought they were still in nappies when spiral chockers, and Fila platforms hit the scene).

What defines this new aesthetic? There seems to be a move towards mixed media artistry, and a return to the body as a site of art. I would argue that these artists are exploring the intersection between photography, film, fashion, the body, music, and the role of technology in their daily lives. This transition back to the body as site could potentially be because Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2012) feel alienated by the elitist gallery spaces – the white cube perhaps cannot contain the lived reality of the tech-savvy teen and young adult.

These young artists are beginning to dismantle the ‘inaccessibility’ of art – taking it to the streets, to the ‘gram, and to your local watering hole.

Psychedelic filters, hip kicks, ironic selfies, no capital letters and techy-glitch collages. If you’ve stalked/follow these cooler than school young artists on Instagram this is an aesthetic you probably recognise. So, then you may ask, “what makes them artists?” and not just teens on Instagram, sharing their life.

It is the curated lifestyle, the carefully considered profile, the meticulous representation of self – that in many ways is the 21^st century self-portrait. The three-square format of Instagram begins to become a canvas, a space to develop a narrative of aesthetic. The ‘story’ feature becomes a space where young artists delve into video art and perform their profile.

There is a possibility many of these artists would read this and think, “No, Rosa you don’t get it at all.” And maybe I don’t, since I just missed the cusp – born in 1994.

But what’s not to love about young people taking over the streets, redefining art, and using the platform of Instagram to express themselves and to subtly invoke the importance of the queer.femme.intersectional youth of tomorrow.

Who to follow RN:

Shanti Cullis @nyaope

Francesco Mbele @franadilla

Kayla Armstrong @kaylas_arm

Zem @mezvn

Mangaliso Ngcobo @blueshorts_

Jemma Rose @jemtherose

Anne-Marie Kalumbu @theotherisyou

Tali Lehr Sachs @talo.walo

@caleb.nkosi

@crunchysweater

Grace Winkler @grace.spinach

Milla Eloise @sexteenmagazine

Dune Tilley @dunetilley

Riley Grant @rilet.pg

Luca Williams @lucaxwilliams

Didi @temporarynewname

Lunga @lunga_ntila

Natalie Paneng @nataliepaneng_

30 April 2018
Afripedia to launch new platform to connect creatives with clients and each other

Africa’s representation has been exhausting – it’s typically about poverty and her friends, disease, unemployment and corruption. From the West, Africa is every NGOs wet dream or just one long sad story. Now being raised in Sweden with strong Ethiopian and Eritrean roots, Teddy Goitom and Senay Berhe knew the pitiful narrative. It all changed when they traveled to the continent in 2009 and witnessed its “hidden” glory for themselves.

This exposure was revolutionary for Teddy and Senay. As seasoned directors, they were compelled to use the power of film to capture how fellow creatives were navigating themselves on the continent and releasing their creative expressions. Behold, the birth of Afripedia, a visual guide for African creatives.

Created by Teddy, Senay, and fellow director of Stocktown Films, Benjamin Taft, the documentation of Afripedia’s content began on that 2009 journey to Ethiopia, Ghana and Burkina Faso. The trio are film heavy weights and have been innovating visual storytelling since the late ‘90s and Afripedia’s gripping and spirited essence is a testament to the mastery the trio have over this medium.

The foundation of Afripedia is to develop the imagining of Africa, hence the determination to share the documented stories with Swedish television, as well as the world. The initial process to gain Swedish co-producers and sponsorship was difficult because these potential partners wanted a European voice to narrate these African stories. However, Afripedia values the voice of the storyteller and the ownership of their narrative so Teddy, Senay and Benjamin financed their own productions.

The project of Afripedia was fuelled by a DIY mentality, with extensive research and nurturing global connections. YouTube and film festivals added to Afripedia’s reach and gained the site some funding in the end. The result being five short films being released in 2014 – Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Senegal, and Angola. Since the launch of these films, Afripedia has been part of more than 80 film festivals, the films have been shown on SABC, BET and Afridocs. Ethiopian Airlines, KLM and Kenya Airways have included the films on their in-flight entertainment.

These insightful films took about five years to complete and with the burning desire to continue the work they have started, Teddy and Senay have begun extending their documentaries into an actual database where the creatives can be found. This idea expands Afripedia into a platform on which African creatives can be recruited by clients and connect with each other in order to build their team.

The platform focuses on African creatives talented in production, so photographers, stylists, art directors, film directors, illustrators, graphic designers and animators. Before the platform is released in May 2018, Teddy and Senay are currently inviting prominent and emerging creative talent from Africa and the diaspora to join. When it is available to the public, the curated platform will be a virtual booking system, way to connect creatives and clients, and a digital portfolio.

To keep up with the innovative ways Afripedia is elevating the exposure of African creativity, subscribe to their site here.

29 March 2018