Tag: heritage

Confections X Collections: Tasty Treats & Slow Fashion at the Mount Nelson

The annual Confections x Collections (CxC) event returned to the Mount Nelson this month in a five-day celebration featuring intimate salon-style fashion shows curated by Twyg. The happening showcased local brands including Wanda Lephoto, VIVIERS Studio, Sindiso Khumalo, Mantsho, and Chulaap. It also blended fashion shows with bespoke confectioneries inspired by the slow fashion labels.

The theme of the collections on show was “African Luxury Lore”, which highlighted the richness of African cultures and customs. Nellie’s Lounge was filled with renowned designers including VIVIERS Studio by Lezanne Viviers, an avant-garde, androgynous brand, and Sindiso Khumalo, the 2020 LVMH Prize winner, both making their second appearance at CxC. Joining them were Wanda Lephoto, known for sartorial storytelling, and Mantsho by Palesa Mokubung, celebrated for her bold and bountiful designs. The closing act featured the “Prince of Print,” 0, a Cape Town-based designer of Thai descent.

CxC not only showcased these designers’ talents but also paid homage to Cape Town‘s prominent pink hotel and its tradition of supporting local artisanal skills. Following its famed 50-year afternoon tea tradition, the event highlighted the convergence of fashion and confectionery, with Mount Nelson’s Executive Pastry Chef Vicky Gurovich crafting bespoke treats inspired by the designer collections for the two daily fashion shows.

During the event, Master of Ceremonies Seth Shezi led intimate talks with the designers, revealing the common thread of collaboration and community. In the thought-provoking conversations, the designers discussed their creative achievements, both in South Africa and on the international stage.

Wanda Lephoto, for instance, shared insights into his Me Fie collection, which revisits African stories through contemporary style, weaving subcultures and influences into tailored garments that embody the spirit of friendship and community. He recalled his observation of the migration of communities towards Johannesburg‘s city centre, and how as a result the Ghana Must Go bags, with that iconic crosshatched pattern, became central to his work.

Lezanne Viviers of VIVIERS Studio went into the notion of origin, both of our existence and of the clothes we wear. Using Japanese printing techniques on reclaimed silk, Viviers adds a new dimension to South African silk. Her emphasis was on the collaborative efforts that ensure the survival of the design community, saying: “There is one designer with the idea, but it takes 50 people working together to make the vision clear.”

Sindiso Khumalo, in her return to CxC, not only showcased her whimsical dresses but also provided a sneak peek into her latest collaboration with the European retailer & Other Stories. The recently introduced children’s and swimwear featured embellishments such as ribbons, narrative prints, and collars reminiscent of the Peter Pan style. Khumalo’s collection continued its plastic-free principle, featuring clay jewellery by renowned South African sculptor Githan Coopoo.

Founded in 2004, Mantsho by Palesa Mokubung is a brand that embodies the spirit of building a legacy through community. Mokubung, an inspiring Black Femme practitioner in the industry, expressed how her community serves as a driving force behind her creative work. By employing a distinctive range of vibrant prints and elaborate silhouettes, the designer presented a collection that spoke to the great legacy of African-inspired patterns.

When it came to Chuulap by Chu Suwannapha, attendees were taken on a global journey with the Sea Explorer collection for Spring/Summer 2024. Suwannapha’s intriguing blend of colours, patterns, and maps across trench coats, knitwear, and aquatic accessories. The collection as a whole paid homage to African culture and drew inspiration from ocean exploration and Cape Town’s wild environment.

From historic threads to a cosmopolitan array, Confections x Collections showcased the enduring significance of Mount Nelson, which is now nearing its 125th anniversary. The luxury hotel is an iconic cornerstone of the Cape Town scene and the event reminded us of the hotel’s commitment to preserving heritage and fostering a vibrant community in the arts.

22 November 2023
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
WE ARE ONE Music Festival // connecting people through music

WE ARE ONE Music Festival is framed as an experience of “heritage, music and inevitably oneness”. Founders Tokoloho Booysen and Tshepang Mabizela explain that basing the festival on this idea came through reflecting on the fact that there are so many barriers in Johannesburg that divide people. Their intention was to create a platform that will allow people to engage with one another through music and other cultural experiences. “…the only way for us to [be] progressive and create the future we want is to band together, we need to develop a strong sense of community and we believe that comes by unity through diversity,” Tokoloho explains. He goes on to say that, “We [the festival] use music as a connecter because regardless of who you are, the music you like makes you feel a certain emotion and those emotions transcend genre.”

WE ARE ONE also intends to provide a space where emerging artists can share the stage with well-known musicians. “We represent a bubbling underground, so this festival needs to showcase an unknown industry made of blood, sweat and tears,” Tshepang explains. By doing this they are hoping to contribute to the expansion of the South African music industry and introduce audiences to new faces and new sounds. With the aim of giving artists the recognition they deserve, the festival presents opportunities for future headliners and shifts in the music scene while still appreciating artists who have been in the game for a while. Artists included in the lineup are FAKA, DJ Doowap, Gyre, Langa Mavuso, Nonku Phiri and Rhea Blek, just to name a few.

Outside of the music, there will also be food stalls, clothing stalls and a pop-up photographic exhibition to give attendees a well-rounded cultural experience. “We resonate with music but we know that music is not the only impactful art form, so fashion, visual artistry and food are art forms that can also help progressively push the artistic culture forward,” Tshepang states.

WE ARE ONE will be taking place at 1 Fox on 31 March 2018. To find out more about who will be performing and how to buy tickets visit their Facebook page.

20 March 2018
Robyn Kater: the intersection between history, identity and the city as a living organism

Robyn Kater is a bold, passionate and multifaceted artist who is deeply inspired by the city of Johannesburg and all those who live within it. She views her home city, Johannesburg as the compelling and rich space that has greatly influenced her personal identity as well as artwork. The 23-year-old freelance artist, who recently graduated from WITS University with her Fine Art degree, relates her journey as that of self-discovery, learning and unlearning as well as one of trial and error.

The use of Johannesburg as Robyn’s leading inspiration has motivated her to produce a powerful body of work titled, ‘Toxic Playground’. Robyn describes ‘Toxic Playground’ as a mixed media installation that comprises of photography, video and found objects through which she examines how the Johannesburg mine dumps become palimpsests of personal memory and toxicity. The ‘Toxic Playground’ installation consists of 100kg of sand which was collected over three months from the Riverlea mine dump – this is of significant sentiment to Robyn as she grew up in the community situated right next to the dump.

‘Toxic Playground’ is emblematic of the socio-economic and environmental issues currently facing the residents of the area, and essentially speaks to the community’s concerns. This is because the city’s mine dumps have been normalized to be included in the community’s everyday landscape, yet they are severely toxic. They symbolize the exploitative deep-rooted nature of the city. Robyn’s body of artwork raises important questions that require effective answers such as: “what should be done with remnants of the city’s division post-conflict, post-apartheid state? What influence do memory and remembrance of these places have on transformation of the city’s spatial morphology (formation), identity and flows of everyday urban life?”.

In all aspects of this work Robyn does the job of detecting the intersection between history, heritage, identity, displacement and space. Robyn eloquently expresses how she is “interested in the city as a living organism and how the tangible and intangible fragments meet and overlap to form a lived experience”. An in-depth interpretation of Robyn’s artwork demonstrates that she thinks of Johannesburg in various ways. She sees the city as a complex living organism in which certain spaces act as remnants of personal memory and of an overlapping history. In addition to this, her unique artwork illustrates a vivid relationship that the city of Johannesburg presents between space and identity.

Robyn is open to collaborate with people outside of the art industry such as historians, architects and urban planners. She would also like to have to the opportunity to exhibit her work at more experimental spaces. Having showcased at Wits Art Museum, The Point of Order as well as Nothing Gets Organised and with the hopes of showcasing at Zeitz MOCAA someday, Robyn is truly one fearless trailblazer who is more than ready to get her message across.

26 January 2018
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.

2 November 2017