Coloniality describes the hidden process of erasure, devaluation, and disavowing of certain human beings, ways of thinking, ways of living, and of doing in the world – that is, coloniality as a process of inventing identifications – then for identification to be decolonial it needs to be articulated as “des-identification” and “re-identification, which means it is a process of delinking
This statement by Walter Mignolo during a 2014 interview with Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández describes the pervasive nature of coloniality. Certain parallels can be drawn between the tragic events of June 16th, 1976 and the recent Fallist Movement. These historical moments have enacted ruptures of resistance. Recognizing moments of erasure is crucial to redefining historical narratives and addressing systemic disparities of power. However, ‘the voice’ of youth is not merely a homogenized entity. Issues of representation require a nuanced and considered approach – allowing passage to spaces that have been previously inaccessible. Within the context of contemporary art in South Africa, opportunities for self-representation and exploration are often scarce.
It is in response to this, that Bubblegum Club has created an annual micro-residency to cultivate the talent of young artists. A group of four womxn have been selected for this years programme – to participate in a series of workshops, close conversation and ultimately exhibit a new body of work at the end of June. The programme has been conceptually framed around decolonial options – to tentatively consider and critique this notion beyond the buzzword.
Jemma Rose, a self-identified visual activist and Gemini, uses her camera to capture daily realities. She also uses it as a mutual point of contact – a device to generate encounters with people. Photographic work is in part a family tradition, it has always had an element of familiarity to it, as both her father and grandfather have engaged with the medium.
Through her work she often works with themes of queerness and queer identity as well as drawing attention to mental health issues. Jemma notes that there are some performative qualities to her photographic work and usually focuses on using her images to convey a message relevant to her experiences. She is interested in locating herself and her work within a larger context based on her personal subjectivities.
“I initially thought of ‘decolonisation’ in relation to breaking things down. I’m starting to realize that it’s much more than that. There are so many things behind it that you have to unravel…masculinity, heteronormativity and sexism are also all part of it. You need to slowly start unraveling it so that you can see the bigger picture.”
This sentiment echoed by Mignolo “Patriarchy and racism are two pillars of Eurocentric knowing, sensing, and believing. These pillars sustain a structure of knowledge.” (2014). Thus through untangling the history of colonization, racisim and the patriarchy must also be addressed.
Boipelo Khunou is currently in her final year of Fine Arts at Wits. “It’s been an interesting journey trying to find out what this so-called-fine-art-world is – what it means to be making art and making work.” This process can often be dissolusioning, especially once you realise how the elements of capital and nepotism are entertwined in the system.
As a multi-diciplinary artist, Boipelo focuses her practice on photography, print and digital media. Thematically she works through ideas of personal power. “I use to reflect about the things that I experience. Experience is one of the most important parts of my work.” Through her work she investigates the kinds of spaces it is possible to find and claim power. She describes how oftentimes it’s within the walls of the institution that power is forcibly relinquished and autonomy is lost.
“I didn’t know anything about decolonization until Fees Must Fall.” During the movement, the concept gained an immense amount of traction. Pedigogical systems and western epistemology within the university and beyond were challenged. “After the protests, so many people I know went through this weird depression because they realized that institutions have so much power, but what does that mean for people who want to dedicate their lives to decolonial practices?.”
“The interesting thing is to actually see how you can put decolonization into practice. You can do all the readings, go to the talks, go to all these places that advocate for it, but what does it mean to practice it every day? I think that it is a very complex thing, it’s something that challenges me. You realise that there are so many aspects of your being and how you operate in life that you need to figure out how to prevent institutions and conditioned ideas to creep back into your life – it’s a constant battle.”
Natalie Paneng is a 21-year-old artist and student. Her background in set design gives her a unique application of her use of space. Her work is often located virtually as she explores what it means to engage with the internet as a black womxn. The mode in which she does this is often through the use of alter egos. Hello Nice is a character she created on youtube and utilizes the ‘vape wave’ aesthetic.
Recently Natalie created a zine called Internet Babies, it chronicals the profiles of five girls: TrendyToffy @107_, Black Linux otherwise known as the Mother of Malware, Silverlining CPU, Fuchsia Raspberry Pi and Coco Techno Butter. It explores their relationship to digital space and how they’re the “fiber of the internet.”
She decribes how, “trying to find myself is like the decolonization of myself. Learning how to push those boundries and be more radical as well as owning the need for decolonization and acknowledging that it’s going to have to start with me.”
Tash Brown is a young painter who approaches the concept of White Suburbia as well as investigating her place and participation within that space. While working through the lens of decolonization she describes how “white suburbia becomes a distortion of reality”, one which is also often still racially segregated. Her distorted paintings are often a grotesque depiction of the suburbs.
As a white artist, she is critical of her own voice. Noting that, “it’s a time and a space in South Africa where black artists should be prioritized. So I guess I’ve struggled to find myself relevance in the art world, but through the critique of my own cultural issues and the problematics is a way that I can approach it, without having my voice crowding out other voices.”
If you’re looking for young womxn who personify the young, creative spirit lingering in Johannesburg, you don’t need to look much further than multidisciplinary artists Jemma Rose and Anne-Marie Kalumbu. They are able to transfer this personification into their work, demonstrating the sense of evolutionary motion that Joburg invokes in creative practitioners.
Anne-Marie is a well-traveled creative born in Zimbabwe and currently calls Johannesburg her home. Her practice has revolved around mysticism and more recently she has become invested in the memory as an integral theme. Her memories of personal experiences take the physical form of negative film that she burns in order to suggest the power time has to alter memories. She expresses that Johannesburg cannot be removed from her practice as all things are holistic.
Jemma grew up in the suburbs of Johannesburg and as a result she was sheltered from the harsher realities of South Africa. She takes photographs in an attempt to understand the world around her and to understand herself. Her work often speaks about queer identity and mental health. She aims to make people question certain realities of living within the city and the world as a whole.
With the streets as a backdrop, we chatted to them about their city, their work and their plans for 2018.
Johannesburg has always been associated with a vibrancy, hustle and creative spirit that is kinetic. A city that moves in ways that pay homage to its past lives, while simultaneously rebuilding and redefining its own foundations. A large majority of this can be attributed to the young creatives who follow their raw ambitions. There is a new creative energy in the city that is making its presence known in the streets and online. An energy that permeates as a kind of renaissance that is plugged into an entrepreneurial, “I don’t need your approval” attitude. We have identified four young creatives who embody this creative energy.
Ketu Malesa is an artist and designer, and these creative practices bleed into one other. “My artistic viewpoint influences how I see clothing design. In essence, I view clothing as fine art.” Emphasizing the importance of fluidity in creative practice, particularly at such a young age, Ketu mentioned that he is still honing his artistic style or identity. However, in reference to this answer he mentioned his interests revolve around the fusion between art and fashion.
Making sure that his work speaks to the South African context, his designs take note from local style subcultures and codes. After expressing his focus is more on style rather than fashion and fashion direction rather than styling, Ketu unpacked his sources of stylistic inspiration. “I’m inspired by style eras, subcultures and style codes as well as everyday mundane style and beauty. I’m also inspired by the past and how it influences the future. Urban youth are also inspiring and how they express themselves.”
Acknowledging a new creative energy in Johannesburg, Ketu shared that this is visible in the way that young people are taking ownership of their ideas. Mentioning his membership of the collective Bushkoppies, he sees their DIY ethos as a nod to this shift brought in by young creatives. His designs for Bushkoppies are an extension of the larger framework within which he positions his work – the questioning and reworking of sartorial and artistic norms and foundations.
Bradley Sekiti is a dancer who feels that movement is an expansion of emotions and energetic alignments. In grade 10 he realized that he wanted to be a part of the creative industry in Johannesburg. “After doing a couple of shows for the Johannesburg Youth Ballet (the company that I am under) and for the school [NSA] I realised that it was going better than I expected , and I thought why not.” Channeling the positive sonic vibrations of FAKA and Solange, Bradley continues to invest time and effort into improving his skills.
Having featured in Mykki Blanco’s film Out of this World his confidence about openly expressing his identity has exploded, and this filters into his approach to dance. “The queer culture is supportive to a certain extent because of the platforms that are presented for us to be ourselves, such as Cunty Power and others which gives us a sense of belonging. Those have been the places I’ve been feeding off from because I get to see other people’s success which is inspiring.”
At the moment he is working on how to use dance in a way that has never been explored before, which he plans to share later this year.
Anne-Marie is a young multi-disciplinary artist born in Zimbabwe and currently calls Johannesburg her home. Her mediums of self-expression span from ink, pen and print making to photographic documentation. Having lived in various parts of the world she expresses that her formative years were distinguished by an ever-changing environment and a characteristic thrill of uncertainty.
Many of Anne-Marie’s artworks reflect on childhood memories influenced by the various places and spaces she has inhabited over the years. Using memories as the backbone to her practice, she examines the role that they play in the formation of personal identity.
Photography by Anne-Marie Kalumbu
This has manifested into an experimental film project at present, involving the burning of negative images and relates to the wear and tear time inflicts upon memory. The negatives she explains, are symbolic to these memories and her forced intervention signifies the ease with which memories can be altered with the passing of time. Thereby regarding time as a powerful destructive force capable of altering our understanding of the past. “I aim to make artworks that contemplate the past whilst facing the brevity of the future. What you forget is as important as what you remember.” Anne-Marie is concerned with pushing the limits of what can be considered as a photograph. An ideal aspiration that she is already starting to conquer.
Jemma Rose is a young creative predominantly known for her photographic expression. A suburban childhood had isolated her from the harsher realities of South Africa. Her realization of this sheltered-ness transpired into the objectives of her practice. “I started taking photos to try and understand everything around me.”
Her message encapsulates topics such as mental health and queer identity. Recently she has started looking at another point of interest, photographing confusing subject matter. “My aim is to make people question why things are the way they are.”
Describing herself as an image recorder navigated by gut, Jemma regards photography as a therapeutic practice that eases her experiences of anxiety. Johannesburg has influenced the way in which she thinks about her projects. Currently she is interested in public space and definitions of “safe space” for various womxn from varying milieus.
Jemma’s work features her friends, dog Lula and anyone she can persuade to pose for her. Aspiring to become more self-focused this year, the young image maker has a promising future ahead of her. In short Jemma’s work indicates a mastering of her own photographic style and can only be described as a feeling.
The word ‘zine’ is derived from the term fanzine, referring to a publication form that first started circulating in the 1930s. During the 1970s fanzines translated into a more developed type of publishing with the then popular punk fanzines and later the upsurge of queer and feminist driven zines in the late 1980s. This was the result of the fanzine form moving away from fan culture and clearing a space for zinesters who felt misrepresented by mainstream media to have their opinions expressed in print. Zines have been described as “non-commercial, nonprofessional, small-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish, and distribute by themselves”. With developments in technology, zines have shown growth by incorporating more diverse content such as personal reflections, special interest, literary zines, and fanzines. The unifying elements of zines are their independent production, writing, and design, existing outside of the fringes of mainstream publishing. Zines explore topics that are frequently ignored and overlooked by mainstream media and play a pivotal role in representing the possibilities for counter-hegemonic transformation. Being independent of commercial contemplations and viability, zines address a smaller audience of like-minded individuals and can act as a safe outlet for self-expression (Bold 2017).
We are living in a time where there has been a large-scale resurgence of older forms of content creation and storing. This can be seen when looking at the popularity of film photography in recent times and the ‘coolness’ that is associated with vinyl, tape and the early ’00s aesthetic. We are currently living in the golden age of paper and there is an increasing interest by creative sugar babies to voice themselves through self-publishing. To find out more about this phenomenon I spoke to the creators of two new South-African zines, ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ and ‘This is What Makes Us Girls’.
Image from ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ zine
‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ is a zine created by Capetonian creatives Keenan Oliver, Mzonke Maloney and Dumi Mparutsa. This zine uses the act of waiting for someone to arrive, specifically Joshy Pascoe, as its basis. These zinesters are looking at defining image use as a colloquial language combining the images used with news headlines from the day that they were waiting for Joshy’s arrival. This combination of news headlines as image labels is intended to mimic the way that text is added to imagery in meme creation. They explain in our interview that this union is imposed as an emphasis on the disparity of news image reception in contrast with socially constructed images and how they are received.
The idea for the self-published piece was brought to life after Joshua Pascoe saw an image of Keenan on an insta story which led to Joshua’s instant engagement. Evidently liking what he saw, he jumped on the DM train and asked Keenan for an impromptu shoot in which he planned to finish the remainder of the frames left on his roll of film. The images that made it into the zine were captured while the act of waiting on Joshua took place. When asked why they believe the act of waiting for someone’s arrival was significant enough to base an entire zine on they tell me that their self-published content is aimed at challenging the entire concept of significance in relation to the fundamental elements of image creation.
Image from ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ zine
“The democratization of image making as an industry and a practice, has rendered all images equally significant, specifically within the cultural/social space. Our deliberate use of suburban tedium and non-activity looks to further emphasize the fact that there is no longer an accurate barometer, used to gauge the importance or non-importance of an image.” This statement holds a considerable amount of weight as we are living in a time where there is content on nearly every subject imaginable. We are bombarded by content whenever we open our web browsers. From small pop up adds advertising weight loss products, to celebrity scandals, food recipes, people dyeing their hair with Nutella spread and artistic short films of girls smashing their faces into food (yes I’ve actually watched this). The list is never-ending. Curating your content is a rather new idea and the first time I stumbled upon it was in the book by Michael Bhaskar titled ‘Curation – The Power of Selection in a World of Excess’, published in 2016. This book is a rather useful guide to removing actual bullshit content from your cyberspace experience.
The team behind ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ explain that this zine was a way for them to express their views on the consumption of news imagery, and what people’s reactions are to them at present. “The rapid technological development of the various image generating mediums has prompted the reimagining of images, as more than just ‘artifacts of technology’ but rather as what Hans Belting has termed as being ‘the boundary between physical and mental existence’”. The inquiry addressed within this zine attempts to create a discernment between images within mental existence and images that move into a physical space within our current social context. “What becomes urgent and what remains trivial.”
Image from ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ zine
“I could somehow watch the news and instantly disconnect from the images and their implications (these images would not transcend past mental existence), yet Joshy could watch an insta story and respond immediately, bringing the image to the fore of his physical existence.” This zine thus questions the relevance of news imagery and its significance in modern day society. This is done by almost saying that their social media interactions that led to a photo shoot and zine were more significant and impactful than news headlines were. They were more inclined to interact with a social post than they were to read the news of that particular day. And let’s be honest, I don’t engage with the news much, I can, however, tell you what my insta connections were doing this weekend in excruciating detail.
News headlines were used as a form of tagging in this zine which is explained by the team as follows, “In attempting to synthesize those two thoughts; we realized that whilst we were waiting, absorbed by our own daily tedium and taking pictures of mundane suburbia (which is significant to us), much more “significant” events were taking place around the country, and the reconciliation of these two events occurring simultaneously would create the significance of the moment.”
Utilizing screenshots from the DM thread between Joshua and Keenan, a timeline is visually built to create a context for the imagery that rests on the opposing pages. This timeline provides a temporal space in which the events were taking place and aided in establishing the overriding narrative of the zine. This zine is in my opinion, a storage space for a ‘live’ event taking place and is almost a self-published insta story/documentary piece of work addressing a complex question. All the content within the zine questions the idea of significance. The team tells me that these images are significant because of the mere fact that they exist.
Image from ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ zine
Explaining the connections made between social media, the act of image creation, texting and newspapers the creators tell me, “Whether it is the form of a meme, post or photo sharing, social media has made photographing a part of colloquial dialect for our generation. News making (documentary photography) was the most impactful form of image production from the past couple generations, but no longer holds the same weight, due to the rate at which images are being produced. The news now exists in synthesis with this colloquial/new language. The news of the day includes personal images, memes and other forms of social imagery.”
This zine considers itself an anthropological study. It is explained as, “Regardless, the mass production of art means that all of art has dissolved into life or more accurately all of life has dissolved into art and therefore an inquiry into the use of medium must be considered anthropological.”
Image from ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ zine
Following my discussion with the creators of ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ I spoke to the young interracial queer couple behind ‘This is What Makes Us Girls’ zine, Boni Mnisi, and Leal after the launch of their zine on the 30th October in Cape Town. Boni expresses that the zine came about rather unexpectedly, “I wasn’t even entirely sure how to create one when I decided to announce to my Instagram followers that I was going to do it. I wrote and shared a painfully mediocre poem on my Instagram story and quickly explained it away as a sample of writing from a bigger body of work that I was trying to put together. I got DMs from so many people who were interested in getting involved and kinda got trapped into doing what I said I was going to do.”
Cover image for ‘This is What Makes Us Girls’ zine by Gina Hendrickse
The zine’s name was inspired by Lana Del Rey’s 2012 single that shares the same title. Boni regrets this title and explains that at the time she did not consider the exclusion that is linked to the word ‘girl’. “While we do actively recognize that trans and non-binary people who identify with our message may not themselves identify as ‘girls’, the word should have no place in our work from now on. As an intersectional feminist zine, we have an obligation to protect our trans and non-binary family, which includes eliminating the violent language that we have ourselves mistakenly employed. We want to rebrand and come back with something more representative of the community we hope to create. As of 2018, this working title is dead.”
‘This is What Makes Us Girls’ is made up of mostly contributed content from South African creative womxn that is bound together by Leal’s illustrations. This zine which consists of an online and print version made use of social media to promote itself.
Photography by Alessia Dossantos
Speaking about the launch of the first issue Boni tells me that they were overwhelmed by the response they received. Only expecting roughly 50 people, about 250 – 300 attended the event. “We began with an exhibition of our Cape Town based contributors’ work and shortly after began our entirely womxn DJ line-up featuring the insane DJ-duo ‘No Diggity‘. It was an incredibly sweaty night of grinding and vogue-ing. People expressed their gratitude for having a predominately womxn space where they were able to be themselves and feel safe. So we had lots of titties! Lots of girl-on-girl action and not a voyeuristic penis in sight! It was unlike anything I’ve experienced at any party.” Looking at the response that this zine has received as well as the intention of creating a safe and inclusive space for all womxn it can be said that this zine gives a voice to an underrepresented community and a safe space for self-expression.
‘This is What Makes Us Girls’ features content created by Afrah Mayet, Jemma Rose, Alice de Beer, Lianne O’Donnell, Claire & Abi Meekel, Amu Mnisi, Keo Borjeszo, Sandra Wilken, Marcia Elizabeth, Kayo Fay, Jesmin, Sasha de la Rey, Phoenix Falconer +30 more. In order to get their vision going, Boni and Leal raised funds in the months leading up to the launch. “This project was made possible by our generous friends and family whom we are so grateful for.” The zine will be available in Johannesburg soon and a digital free version is in the works.
Photography by Gina Hendrickse
Zines are a powerful tool for self-expression and can relate to literally anything as there are no rules to making a zine and they do not need to be commercially viable. A zine can be an experimental exploration and can be about something that the creators feel are relevant which is the case with ‘Still Not Joshy Pascoe’ or they can address concerns or grant a voice to a community of likeminded often underrepresented individuals as is the case with ‘This is What Makes Us Girls’. The act of zine making has been described as the “mass amateurisation of publishing” (Bold 2017). With the rise of digital folk culture over the decades, zines can be executed in a different way and do not necessarily have to be a physical print. Zines’ audiences are engaging differently today than they would have a number of years ago and zinesters are employing all the tools they have to voice themselves, such as social media. With the internet, there are more options for affordable cultural production with the ability of a global audience (Bold 2017). I believe that today, more so than ever it is easier to create a zine. Amateur creators have a space to explore a different type of cultural production with zines. So to zine or not? – yeah, if mainstream media won’t hear you out then please do zine! However, I do believe that there are many topics that were once considered experimental or non-commercial that have received attention from mainstream media in recent times. I like to think that people today are more connected, and aware of the narratives of some misrepresented and underrepresented communities which I attribute to internet culture. Zines do however still hold a place and creative sugar babies seem to love the heck out of them.
Jemma Rose is an 18-year-old photographer based in Johannesburg. I met up with Jemma about two weeks ago to photograph her for a series I am currently working on. The session took on the tone of a social visit and we chatted about a variety of topics ranging from boys, girls, high school and our individual practices. It slowly took on an interview tone and we discussed her latest body of work, Boys.
Still being in high school, Jemma does not have formal training but her eagerness to learn urged her to ask photographers she knew questions about photography. In addition to this she attended free workshops and lectures that helped her groom her photographic eye and technique.
When asked about analogue vs. digital she responds, “I can hear the hipster mob outside right now, screaming ‘film is not dead!’ Like, yeah man, it never was, chill.” Jemma tells me that she started playing around with film a number of years ago just for fun but more recently she is making an active decision to work in the format as it pushes her to be a better photographer.
I do agree with Jemma on this matter as I have in recent months also started working more and more with my trusty Canon film camera. The mayor challenge therein lies for photographers who started creating images digitally, is that there is no LCD display (liquid crystal display) in the analogue format, meaning that you literally do not know what you are getting when you photograph. This forces you to know your film camera better than any other form of equipment you will ever own.
Knowing exposure combinations and understanding lighting conditions as well as how your ISO, shutter speed and aperture play together is crucial. So yes Jemma, analogue does push you to be a better photographer. In addition to this, the fact that you only have 36 frames means that you need to take more calculated shots.
Jemma’s recent body of work is a series titled simply as Boys. The series is a collection of photographs taken of young males dressed in feminine underwear and attire all photographed in black and white. Jemma tells me that this project is an exploration into the destructive nature of the way in which hypermasculinity is idealized, as well as the importance of gender expression and identification in an individual.
Explaining the process that was followed to create this body of work, Jemma states that she asked some of her friends who identified as males to model for her. On the shoot day she showed each one of them a collection of her grandmother’s old lingerie and they were asked to select pieces from the collection that they liked. They were permitted to choose their own accessories if they wanted such as fur, pearls and glitter. “As they put the items on, I tried to photograph their emotional reactions – I wanted to capture how their gender expression changed in the presence of hyper-feminine clothing.”
Jemma expresses that this project is extremely personal for her, “Growing up in South African society, in which a strict gender binary is still very much embedded in our collective consciousness, I found it difficult to explore my sexuality and gender fluidity.” As she grew older, however, she started questioning the reasons behind why people are still stuck in out-dated gender roles, and why it’s difficult to break away from them.
Her aim with this series was to subvert commonly held ideas surrounding masculinity and gender expression as the models’ emotional reactions were captured. “Some of them were clearly uncomfortable wearing hyper-feminine clothing, while others seemed more fluid, and more powerful.” Jemma explains that the most important aspect of the process lay in the different emotional reactions of the models and form a part of their gender expression.
When asked why she opted to photograph this series in black and white, Jemma explains that for her, black and white represents the gender binary. “In the images, instead of just pure white and black, the viewer can see so many shades of grey, and this is a metaphor for the spectrum of genders and sexualities that actually exist within people.”
Boys, Jemma’s ongoing body of work is an example of a series that has achieved what she as an artist was striving for. It shares with its viewer in striking black and white and grey tonal range imagery a very real, non-constructed intimacy. Jemma’s Boys asks questions about normal conceptions of what it means to be male today and is all together a powerful body of work. Many photographers have approached this subject before but I believe what makes Jemma’s Boys stand out and have it’s own voice is the meaning behind her black and white images and the authenticity of the emotions that she was able to capture in this series. Boys will be on display at the Joburg Fringe, an independent annual art fair from the 6th to the 10th of September at 24 Victoria Road corner Viljoen, Lorentzville.
