Bubblegum Club

Tag: graphic designer

  • ‘Tap Your Afro Source Code’ – The Fak’ugesi 2018 Illustration Competition // Where Creativity and Innovation Meet

    ‘Tap Your Afro Source Code’ – The Fak’ugesi 2018 Illustration Competition // Where Creativity and Innovation Meet

    The Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival is generated around collaboration, conversation and projects – for Africans by Africans. An “African celebration of digital technology, art and culture”. Taking place in Johannesburg, the festival is gaged towards encouraging not only people in the city but inhabitants of the continent, to embrace their innovative thoughts and creativity and to gear them towards the digital, African visualizations of their city and future imaginaries. This year’s theme, ‘Afro Source Code’ was introduced by the open call for entries to illustrate the 2018 poster, prompting creatives to “tap [their] Afro Source Code” for inventive Afro futurist, tech and African aesthetics inspired illustration concepts. “Ungaphthelwa Innovation Yako” / “Own Your Innovation”.

    The winner of this year’s illustration competition, Sonwabo Valashiya‘s design took its influence from the popular Marvel Afro futurist release, Black Panther. Connecting the vision of the film with that of the festival, Sonwabo explains that both act to spotlight Africa as an innovation hub and thought leader. African creativity, ingenuity and innovation are articulated in illustration.

    The “Wakanda forever!” salute from the film was the driving force for the visual actualization of Sonwabo’s design, taking this symbol as a means of expressing the theme of the festival this year.

    “This poster also speaks to how Africa is rich in all these “sources” of wealth and how the world feeds off these resources, this notion is also found on Black Panther as they use Vibranium as a “source” to create their weapons and all their innovations but they have to fight to keep their Afro Source Code – (the vibranium) a secret from the world.” Sonwabo expresses.

    Illustration by Sonwabo Valashiya

    Growing up in Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, Sonwabo is a Graphic Designer by profession with a passion for illustration. He completed his studies in Visual Communication at the Tshwane University of Technology. Influenced by his cultural heritage and identity, Sonwabo’s work is a celebration of African aesthetics, Afro Futurism and the diversity of African cultures.

    Sonwabo’s participation in the competition was motivated by the interactivity of the festival and the amalgamation of various disciplines under a single umbrella. He further articulates that collaboration with the intent of sparking innovation and critical thinking around solutions to existing socio-economic issues on the continent, a focus of the festival, is of importance to him.

    Seeing the competition announcement ignited his interest to participate in the challenge. “…the three key words that caught my eye were Futuristic, African aesthetics and illustration.”

    With the already existing direction provided by the brief, such as, “add hands and the traditional lightning bolt icon”– identifiers of the Fak’ugesi brand, Sonwabo set out to create an Afro Futuristic poster design. “I wanted to create something that is relatable and that is a true representation of African beauty and power.” Sonwabo shares.

    With a given colour palette stipulated in the brief, Sonwabo added dark brown outlines to his illustration, representative of the rich melanin skin tone of Africans as well as to provide contrast to his completed design. Iconography inspired by technology. The iconic Fak’ugesi lightning bolt, a symbol of power and light are met with shapes mimicking a circuit board. It is visually expressed as African body art patterns in Sonwabo’s design.

    On his illustrative use of the circuit board and body art markings Sonwabo states that, “I drew inspiration from the armour of Black Panther and added some of the line and dot patterns that I think can be traced from a couple of African Tribes like Mursi Tribe of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia and the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. However, the whole design of the patterns was meant to be like the lines on a circuit board to represent the pathway of energy and to play on the technology and futuristic concept for Fak’ugesi.”

    Illustration by Shayne Capazorio

    Runner-up in this year’s competition, Shayne Capazorio‘s design took its inspiration from science fiction, comic books as well as intricate African patterns – “combining elements from the past and remixing them to move forward into the digital future.”

    Shayne is a Graphic Designer by profession taking on the city of Joburg and its inhabitants as his muse. He completed his studies at TUKS and shares that, “I’m inspired by South African pop culture and I like to incorporate Jozi’s eclectic flavours in my work – bold, colourful, loud, dangerous & strange.”

    Holding the belief that Africa is the future, Shayne has become captivated by Afrofuturism in recent times, inspired by the genre to create his own series of robotic characters that take influence from African aesthetics drawn from a future imagining of Mzansi. Shayne’s motivation to participate in the illustration competition was prompted by the concept of African innovation that he feels aligns with his own Afro futuristic vision.

    A digital line illustration of a robotic rocket hand blasting into the future. A representation of progress and ingenuity. Robotics used as a signifier of the tech festival. Execution implemented with Afrocentric sensibilities. The African continent becomes a background element in the design, shaped through the use of binary code and speaks to the festival theme, Afro Source Code. With the use of overlapping vector layers, Shayne was able to construct a digital imitation (his illustration) of dynamic movement evocative of the early millennium digital wireframe aesthetic of computing.

    Illustration by Lwazi Gwijane

    Runner-up Lwazi Gwijane considers himself to be a Creative Designer and completed his studies at Vega in Durban. Becoming interested in the festival identity and the overall activities of the festival in 2017, he decided to enter the illustration competition this year to take part in an experience and an aesthetic that appealed to his sensibilities.

    Inspired by Africa he looked to the past of the continent in order to shape an illustrative design of a technological future. “I looked into the past e.g ancient Kemetic which was ruled by Africans which is currently called Egypt today because of years of invasions from Rome, Greece, Arabia. I then placed myself in current day South Africa so to tap into my Afro source which allowed me to be able to imagine a creative Afro future.”

    Lwazi’s design takes yellow as it’s overarching colour and he explains that though the colour pallet was provided by the competition brief, he chose to bring yellow to the fore as it is his favourite colour. Unpacking his design, Lwazi states that the hand in his design takes precedence because humans use their hands every day. The heru (horus) eye located on the tip of the third finger is symbolic to the gesture of opening yourself to the use of your Third Eye. Music comes into play with his illustration of a microphone suspended mid-air in the back of the digital illustration. He expresses that the arrow is representative of the Afro pathway which Africans must follow. Lastly, the South African flag is combined with the afore mentioned elements to round off his illustration – a visual marker of where the event is taking place.

    Clean, minimalist, eye-catching digital illustrations were created by all three of these creatives bringing African innovation, African aesthetics and the voice of the festival to the fore.

  • Delphine Diallo’s ‘Women of New York’ – empowering women

    Delphine Diallo’s ‘Women of New York’ – empowering women

    Delphine Diallo, currently based in Brooklyn, New York, is a French Senegalese photographer and visual artist. Completing her studies at the Académie Charpentier School of Visual Art in Paris she worked in the music industry as a graphic designer, special effect motion artist and video editor before moving to New York to explore her own practice.

    Combining her artistry with activism Delphine momentums various possibilities for the empowerment of women, cultural minorities and youth forward. The mediums in which she practices include both analogue and digital photography, illustration and collage, virtual reality and 3D printing.

    Her arresting imagery acts to challenge societal norms and champion women with mythological, anthropological, sexuality, identity and race explorations.

    Delphine’s project Women of New York makes use of classic portraiture to create visibility. For this project, she photographed women and girls of New York which was compiled into a book format and featured 111 females (a symbol of oneness).

    For this project, the artist used the method of blind casting via Instagram posts and having her assistant handle the model calls in order to rule out discrimination and limiting women and girls who want to participate from forming a part of the project.

    “I feel like if I select women, then I’m discriminating against other women who want to participate. I’m not going to do that. So, my assistant handles the model calls I post on Instagram, and 30 women might reply, and because they’ve expressed interest, they are part of this project.

    I want to give each woman who has felt defeated, unprotected, ignored or degraded, a new light to shine on her brilliance and beauty. And, for the women who have always felt empowered, despite society dismissing her in the workplace, educational institutions, media outlets, and even in her home, I want Women of New York to illuminate her strength in ways she may never have imagined.” she expressed in an interview with 99u.

    Delphine’s images are strong and show these women and girls in a confident, powerful light. Her project has created visibility and a face that speaks to what it means to be a female in New York today. Her work holds power in that it celebrates beauty and is a clear indication that womanhood cannot be seen as an embodiment of one way of being.

  • Maxim Vakhovskiy – Celebrating the raw beauty women of colour possess through photography

    Maxim Vakhovskiy – Celebrating the raw beauty women of colour possess through photography

    Maxim Vakhovskiy is a self-taught photographer based in Charlotte, North Carolina (USA). Growing up in Kiev, Ukraine, her family immigrated to the United States when she was 13 years old. Her father’s hobbyist photography instilled a passion for the art form within her.

    “He would create a makeshift darkroom in the small bathroom of our house. I sat with him watching the images emerge on paper under red light. It was one of my favourite things to do and I think that’s when the passion for photography, or at least a small dormant seed, was planted.” – on her father’s photographic practice and influence.

    Maxim tells me in our email interview that the process of finding herself in the photographic landscape was extensive. Initially studying Psychology and Philosophy she switched over to graphic design and concluded with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. It was during her formal training that she rekindled her friendship with the medium of the lens.

    After graduation, Maxim began working at MODE (a branding agency in Charlotte, North Carolina) as a graphic designer. Later she inhabited the part of an art director and transitioned into photography.

    Central to Maxim’s personal practice is portraiture through which she aims to emphasize the raw beauty of the people she photographs. Her work acts as a celebration of womanhood, the human body and women of colour.

    Her work generally plays out within a studio set up and she explains that the reason for this is because of the control that the studio space lends to her. She elaborates on this point by stating that her obsession with precise lighting can be satisfied within the studio space. Another aspect that draws her to the studio is its privacy as she is drawn to nude portraiture. Within the studio the people she photographs can feel more at ease.

    “I think of it as a love affair. I’m in love with my craft and fall a little bit in love with everyone I photograph. To me, it’s one of the few ways to capture a bit of someone’s essence. I focus on visual simplicity that evokes complexity. My work is an exercise of trust and untraditional ideals beauty basked in classic light.”

    Muted tonal backdrops, soft becoming lighting, simplified backgrounds and beautiful women of colour act together to unify Maxim’s vision. With her work, she elevates the beauty of women of colour, womanhood and the human body. Her simplified backgrounds make her work more arresting as attention is brought to the people that she photographs.

  • Vincent Michéa // celebrating black consciousness with the use of photomontage and pop art

    The artist within Vincent Michéa emerged when he moved from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal in 1986. Dakar, which has been called “the Paris of West Africa”, became heavily influenced by the Negritude movement after the nation obtained independence from France. Negritude was a black consciousness movement that aimed to counterbalance European colonial thinking by asserting pride in African cultural values. Paris became a meeting point for the African intellectuals that started the Negritude movement. The French educational system alienated them from their heritage so they united in the creation of a contemporary African identity through literature and politics. Senegal’s sovereignty was an organic moment for Negritude’s framework to permeate and heavily influence the physical and cultural architecture of the surrounds.

    Just once glimpse at Michéa’s works and it is obvious how deeply he was moved by the cultural rhythm that Paris and Dakar share. As Michéa said, “I paint the things that surround me, close to me, the within my sight: point of view in existential surroundings, consciously lived in but also consciously experienced.”

    After training as a graphic designer at the university of graphic arts and interior architecture (ESAG) in Paris, Michéa’s intent was to practice in Dakar. A year later and he had his first exhibition at the National Gallery of Senegal. Following this exhibition, Michéa assisted renowned graphic artist and photographer, Roman Cieślewicz for four years. Cieślewicz encouraged Michéa to pursue his career as a painter.

    Michéa’s works are riddled by Pop Art and feature the vibrant colours and hard edges of traditional West African textiles. He makes use of Ben-Day dots like Roy Lichtenstein in order to make his figures stand out from their surroundings. His works contain large areas of flat, unmoderated colour reminiscent of Ed Ruscha and early David Hockney and takes images of celebrities, like Andy Warhol.

    Michéa also makes use of photomontage. “I cut, I slick, I make incisions, I snip, I slash, I hack off, behead, I dismember…A table, scissors, some glue and images in shambles – Voila! The arsenal of a photomontage artist…Conceiving and manually producing photomontages with simple and common tools is a meaningful act that allows create sensitive images, charged with extreme tensions.”

    The glorification of Dakar’s past and the city’s contemporary allure is evident in all Michéa’s works and his closeness to the place, the people and the history may attribute to the effectiveness in which he captures the Senegalese. Despite his use of multimedia and his white gaze, Michéa manages to celebrate black consciousness and leave the vibrancy of blackness intact.