Bubblegum Club

Tag: johannesburg

  • “That Tuesday Funk” Will Never Die!

    That Tuesday Funk takes place every last Tuesday of the month at The Plug on 7th Avenue in Melville, Johannesburg. Originally, it was held at Hell’s Kitchen on the same street until that place shut down. Established by the boys of The Brother Moves On and co, the iconic jam session has been known to host some of the best musicians in the country and the vibe is always good. If you haven’t experienced it yet—you’re a tourist.

    That Tuesday Funk

    That Tuesday Funk

    That Tuesday Funk
    That Tuesday Funk October 2023 Edition | Images courtesy of @hymn_self (via Instagram)

    But last night was a little different. On one hand, it showed just how far the project had come since its inception. It has not only survived the shift from Hell’s Kitchen to The Plug, but it is thriving. It has attracted a whole new audience! As I walked in, I noticed how much younger the attendees were. This was a beautiful, put-together bunch; dressed to the nines; and a good mix between the genders. Also, it was absolutely packed, like you didn’t even have space to stand, even outside. 

    Surprisingly, the crowd also seemed much more into music. There was less of that reserved head-bopping of hoity-toity jazz cats. These folks were out to play and they didn’t care who was watching. Back in the day, I used to be one of the first to rush in and try to secure my spot close to the stage so that I could soak up every ounce of music. I would even forego the vibe outside to be upfront. This time that wasn’t the case. There were quite a lot of people already seated trying to secure their seats long before any music started playing.

    And when the music did start playing, it was fun to see a lot of young musicians get on the stage. THAT Tuesday Funk is a jam session after all, so the point is to see people bust their chops. At the same time, one couldn’t help but spot the difference. Firstly, it seemed less curated. The stage was as packed as the audience. There were so many chefs in the kitchen. You barely got to see anyone from The Brother Moves On or, the original group of, I would say, older musicians that have made the event so phenomenal.

    That Tuesday Funk
    When I say it was packed, I mean it was PACKED! | Image captured by Thembeka Heidi Sincuba

    While the big boys did not necessarily come out to play, the young cats were hungry for that spotlight. Everybody wanted a solo. You could see the tension between musicians fighting to get their place on the stage, partly because it was such a good, plump audience. Again, knowing the right moment for a solo, and where to take it, is something only a seasoned musician would respect.

    The whole thing was an incredible reflection on the original musicians who founded That Tuesday Funk. Not only was their absence sorely felt, but it also showed their generosity in allowing the new crop of musicians to take up so much space. But that same kindness and generosity also robbed the audience of the really good music that they had come to associate with That Tuesday Funk.

    So, it’s a double-edged sword where, yes, it is time for young musicians to get their training wheels off; get the miles in and get to play in front of live audiences. And it’s just magical to see. But it’s also quite clear that they’re just not as good. Not yet. And it’s bittersweet to see the OGs perhaps getting older and more humble. Realising that they have to compete with musicians who are so green. Perhaps they’d rather not. Rightly so.

    That Tuesday Funk
    Gontse Makhene; That Tuesday Funk October 2023 Edition | Images courtesy of @hymn_self (via Instagram)

    That being said, there were glimmers. Like last night, when Gontse Makhene squeezed his way to the front and took a solo on his talking drum. The man is a magician. The moment was sublime. It was spiritual. Like flying, or rather levitating into some unknown realm. But it was fleeting and he was soon overtaken by another musician trying to get his solo in and accidentally killing a bloody beautiful beat. 

    The musicians who put this event together with the sweat off their backs did it because they love music and it gave them an opportunity to play together and get better. To be fair, they have succeeded and they’ve all done so well for themselves, that they probably don’t need the jam session any longer, but clearly, the young musicians coming up do and no one can deny that this thriving musical community will live on in the evolving narrative of this golden city. That Tuesday Funk will simply never ever die!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Goodman

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

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

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

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

    Goodman

    Goodman

    Goodman



  • Nongqawuse Through the Sonic Lens of uKhoiKhoi

    uKhoiKhoi is a live-looping duo that blends opera, indigenous chants, and praise poetry. Their sound, which they describe as “indigenous electro” is a fusion of traditional and contemporary instruments. uKhoiKhoi’s name pays homage to the KhoiSan tribe that once thrived in Southern Africa, but it is the vibrant city of Johannesburg that inspires the duo’s sound.

    This band consists of musician and composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist and performing artist Anelisa Stuurman, also known as Annalyzer. Since 2019 their partnership has resulted in two EPs and a series of performances across South Africa and Europe. Not to mention that uKhoiKhoi performed at the BubblegumClub-produced Spotify X Thebe Magugu event at the Nirox Foundation earlier this year.

    uKhoiKhoi
    Image courtesy of CityLife Arts

    Anelisa Stuurman came up in the rural setting of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Raised in a family steeped in musical traditions within the village of Sterkspruit, Anelisa’s childhood introduced her to choral, classical, and indigenous music. Her passion for the arts led her to Durban, where she honed her skills on the stage, hosting events, and producing music under her pseudonym, Annalyzer.

    Yogin Sullaphen is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, holding a degree in Jazz Composition from the University of Witwatersrand. His musical dexterity encompasses guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, flute, and an array of traditional African instruments. As a music producer with such a palette of instruments at his fingertips, Yogin found his true calling in live looping when he joined forces with Anelisa, resulting in the popular sound that defines uKhoiKhoi.

    uKhoiKhoi
    Nongqawuse (right) with fellow prophetess, Nonkosi, Image courtesy of South African History Online

    Appearing on their EPK of the same name, uKhoiKhoi’s latest track is named after Nongqawuse. Born around 1841 in Gxarha, Cape Colony (modern-day Centane, South Africa), the controversial Xhosa prophet Nongqawuse is known for her role in the significant historical event of the Xhosa cattle-killing movement and the ensuing famine of 1856–1857 in the Eastern Cape.

    Largely known through colonial and oral traditions, Nongqawuse’s early life remains a mystery. What we do know is that she was thought to be an orphan and was raised near the border of the British Kaffraria, formerly a British colony or subordinate administrative region in what is now known as Qonce and East London. She is said to have been brought up by her uncle Mhlakaza, who had been heavily influenced by Christianity during his time in the Cape Colony. Mhlakaza was known to interpret and organise Nongqawuse’s prophecies.

    In April 1856, Nongqawuse, then 15 years old, claimed to have met the spirits of her ancestors near the Gxarha River. The spirits promised that the dead would return, and the European settlers would be swept into the sea, restoring prosperity to the Xhosa people if the Xhosa people destroyed their crops and cattle, their source of wealth and sustenance, in exchange for divine salvation.

    Initially, when she relayed her message, not all Xhosa people believed in her prophecies. While a minority refused to obey her instructions, leading to the failure of her predictions over fifteen months, over time, many became inclined to believe her as her visions emerged during a period of prolonged Xhosa resistance against British colonialism. In addition, many Xhosa people had been afflicted by “lung sickness”, likely introduced by European cattle. She gained a large following and people began following her instructions.

    Nongqawuse predicted that the prophecies would come true by February 18, 1857, and that the sun would turn red as a sign. Once her predictions proved to be inaccurate, her following dwindled and the prophetess was handed over to colonial authorities. Her later life remains shrouded in uncertainty and she passed away in 1898.

    Widespread famine was the unfortunate consequence of her prophecies and subsequently, the population in the British Kaffraria decreased significantly. Despite this, Nongqawuse is often heralded as a hero by many. Today, the location where she claimed to have encountered the spirits is known as Intlambo kaNongqawuse, which translates to “Valley of Nongqawuse” in isiXhosa.

    uKhoiKhoi
    Image courtesy of Bandcamp

    So it comes as no surprise that the band uKhoiKhoi chose to name their latest song after this confounding figure. Nongqawuse blends traditional African musical elements with afrobeat, resulting in a distinctively uKhoiKhoi sound. Nongqawuse is a ballad with earnest lyrics that pose the age-old question: “What became of the Xhosa people’s land and wealth?” Through this track, uKhoiKhoi offers their own account of the legend that is Nongqawuse.

    Watch the Nongqawuse video here.

     

  • “The Greatest of A-Town”: Khenji Releases His Debut Album “Notes”

    Lately, I’ve been getting so tired of my own music. My friends and I came to the conclusion that TikTok, and all its slowed and reverb versions of mainstream (often good) songs that are used in viral trends, is the reason that new music doesn’t hit the same anymore. So, naturally, I’m always interested when I come across an underground artist that mimics mainstream music genres, but in some way, adds their own ‘character’ or ‘interpretation’ to the generic to create something that will stand out more- and it’s even better when it’s a South African artist!

    In my pursuit of discovering new music, I came across a Twitter account owned by Thato Mashigo (Khenji) a Musician, Writer and Producer from Alexandra, Gauteng. He recently released his debut album “Notes”, a 12-track celebration, which he describes in an article as “a brief record of points or ideas written down as an aid to memory.”

    More times than others, I think we fail to call out musicians for creating albums that sometimes fall short of manifesting clear purpose or intent. I find it so enlightening listening to an album that sounds like a clear lived experience of someone- and I think this is where this album wins and makes it a project worth listening to. 

    Khenji

    Along with the announcement of the album on X, Mashigo unironically shared a couple of key takeaways from the album; notes of what the album is made of, what it represents and how it should be received by listeners. 

    “Notes is more than a story, it’s my perspective of Life”- Khenji/@SolarKhenji 

    Along with the Khenji, the album was produced by Lucas Mathule, an Alexandra-based producer. 

    As much as I do appreciate a solo album, featured artists on a tracklist always take an already good project to the next level, and that’s what happened here. I can hear from songs such as Plenty and Too Long that this album evokes so many feelings about community and the essence of one’s upbringing. In terms of its production value and artistic appeal, the album is an impressive way of characterising Alexandra’s music scene.

    There’s all those present elements for the album to qualify as an alternative R&B album, but there’s also so many elements that make it a perfect blend of R&B, Hip-Hop and Jazz- Oh and those beats of drums just enhance the overall vibrancy that the music in this album reflects. 

    While I will admit that prior to this, I had never listened to local musicians’ albums from front to back (without skips), this was really fun to listen to. The album stands as a type of homage to the rawness of youth, but within that rawness, Khenji’s use of lyrics implies faith in one’s present state and hopes for one’s future. 

    You know what I like about @SolarKhenji music? You can hear the fun in his music. I can tell broer was having the time of his life in the studio. 

    A tweet by @master_rxph 

    Quite excited to see how far this emerging South African artist goes! 

    Khenji

  • ‘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.

  • Sabelo Mlangeni’s ‘Umlindelo wamaKholwa’ // exploring faith and friendship

    Sabelo Mlangeni’s ‘Umlindelo wamaKholwa’ // exploring faith and friendship

    The exhibition Umlindelo wamaKholwa features the work of multiple prize-winning and internationally exhibited Johannesburg-based photographer Sabelo Mlangeni. The exhibition is a collaboration between Mlangeni and Dr Joel Cabrita, a historian based at the University of Cambridge, and is accompanied by a 128 page catalogue. Having shown at Cambridge, the exhibition is at WAM, curated by Kabelo Malatsie. I interviewed Mlangeni to find out more about his collaboration with Cabrita and the images selected for the show.

    Could you please share more about the cover for the catalogue and the symbol that appears on it?

    For a long time I’ve been interested in the other world that we access through the visions of healers, prophetesses and prophets. Some years ago a vision came to me through them about a great ancestral spirit that had something like a ‘gift’ for me. But whenever the spirit was ready to give it to me, it found me not in the right ‘place’. So the symbol on the cover of the catalogue is that gift. We also find this symbol in the entrance to the exhibition space at WAM, presented as part of iLadi (a Zionist altar cloth). This iLadi was erected as my own personal response to this vision.

    The title of the exhibition and your own spiritual awakening are tied together. The people and the spaces you photograph are also well known to you. Please unpack the importance of the insider perspective you present, particularly for subject matter that has often been explored and represented by people from the outside?

    Many of my bodies of work are produced through long periods of spending time with people. For example, in my work Country Girls as well as Men Only I built up really close relationships of trust, for example, living in the all-mens’ hostel of George Goch for stretches of time. And when makingCountry Girls I spent a lot of time in the town of Ermelo where many of the pictures were taken. When I would visit Ermelo for the weekend I would stay with the same people I was taking photographs of.  And with UmlindelowamaKholwa, it was a very similar process. This body of work presents the intimacy that comes through a long process of building up trust with people. And an example of this kind of intimate moment is seen in photographs like Nhlapho, Mama Thebu, Mama Ndlovu, SweetmamaKwamabundu, Fernie (2009).

    Some of the photographs appear to be candid shots, while others capture posed moments. Please unpack your decisions around these choices while photographing, and how you combined these in the image selection for the show?

    There are many images where you get a direct and close access to the face of the person I’m photographing. And these are important in giving people a strong sense of identity, and they are the moment when the people I’m photographing engage with me directly. But there are other moment when people forget that the photographer is there, and that you’re part of them, moving among them. These are the moments when the photographer becomes invisible, you’re no longer this guy with the camera. They know that you’re there, but they’re not worried about the camera.

    Viewers become aware of the camera through effects that blot out faces, etc. Why do you think it was important for you to include such images? And how do they connect to the overall vision for the show?

    Many of these images weren’t deliberate, they happened by accident. I was processing in the darkroom and sometimes at the end of the process, you find you have that kind of image where the heads or faces aren’t visible like In Time. A Morning After Umlindelo and UmlindelowamaKholwa. Initially I overlooked these images, and didn’t include them in the body of work. But over time as I thought and questioned the meaning of this body of work, I felt that these photographs fitted into my whole way of thinking about the work. So the importance of them is that I didn’t choose them in an instant. And then at a later time I brought them in because I felt they spoke to these personal questions that I have, thinking around identity and loss of identity in the church.

    How did you and Joel Cabrita come to find out about each other’s work? And how did the idea for this collaboration come to be?

    In fact, Joel found out about me first, she’d known my work for a while (particularly my series Country Girls) and asked if we could meet. Her work focuses on the history of Zionism in South Africa and she was interested in collaborating with a photographer working on the same topic, but from their own different perspective. We had a coffee in Joburg and chatted, and she found out that I was also myself a Zionist, which she found very interesting, and also that I was from Driefontein, which was a very important place in the early history of Zionism in South Africa. She then sent me an article of some of her research on Zionism, which I found very important and interesting, and made me think about how a collaboration could emerge. When we grow up in Christian families, as I did, often we don’t question things. Going into the history of our church is something we hardly do. So the history that I knew of the Zion church didn’t go that deep, and I really found it important to hear more about this from Joel.

    How has Kabelo Malatsie’s curatorial input added to the original presentation of the show which was seen in Cambridge?

    I feel that there wasn’t really an ‘original’ presentation of the show in Cambridge and a ‘second’ one in Joburg, but rather that there have been two very different expressions of this body of work in two different places. Any show exhibited in a new space will be a very different exhibition. In Cambridge, the space where we showed the work was much smaller and it was in the context of a museum filled with ethnographic objects from around the world, including South Africa. So I felt there was this strong need for my images to really take up space and assert themselves. I didn’t want the images to die in that space. I wanted them to have a strong presence. And even at that stage, Kabelo was someone I spoke to a lot about the work. She was one of the first people to see this work when I started engaging with this topic, and really she has been involved in the process from the beginning. In fact, our long-term working relationship goes beyond this project, and beyond this body of work. Our discussions over a long period of time have impacted my ideas.

    Why did you feel the need to rename the exhibition when bringing it to WAM?

    The title of this exhibition is something that I’ve thought about and questioned over a long period of time. Initially it was going to be called ‘Born Again’, and then ‘Amakholwa’, and then ‘Kholwa’ (which it was in Cambridge), and finally ‘UmlindelowamaKholwa’, as it is in WAM. Bringing this work home to South Africa I felt I needed to emphasize the importance of landscape in the South African countryside (something which many of the images portray). And when I think about land, then I also think about the process of waiting for land, and the way in which many South Africans are still waiting for the land to return to them. So ukulinda, or umlindelo, are very important ideas here. And umlindelo, or the night vigil, is one of the most important moments for Zionist communities. During this process of waiting together throughout the night and praying together we find that new relationships and new families are created. It’s a time when community is forged through the experience of waiting together.

    Why do you think that WAM offers the best space for this project to be presented?

    It really fits because the work has moved from a university museum in Cambridge (The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) to a university museum in Johannesburg, at WAM. I find universities to be spaces of critical thinking and questioning, so it felt right to have this kind of work exhibited here. And Joel is an academic and works at a university, so it was quite natural for us to build contacts and get to know people here.

    The exhibition will be at WAM until 28 October 2018.

  • Reflecting on queer experiences through movement and imagery

    Reflecting on queer experiences through movement and imagery

    UK photographer Angela Dennis teamed up with dancer and choreographer Llewelyn Mnguni, the result of which is a series of images that aim to visually represent their lived understandings of gender and sexuality as a spectrum. Zoo Lake was their chosen location, attracted to the vibrant colours that were brought to the basketball courts near the lake by local artists.

    Their collaboration became a moment of exchange and a moment of solidarity, sharing more than just the sound of the shutter and angelic poses. Angela and Llewelyn shared with one another their experiences as queer people of colour, coming from different sides of the world. This intimacy comes across in Llewelyn’s openness in the images, and Angela’s treatment of each image.

    For Angela, photography offers an avenue for identity exploration, focusing particularly on the “black body, black aesthetics and queer identities – that of my own and those I encounter.” She does this by presenting the every day, the intimate, individual self-care practices, style, social groups and home life. “My general approach has been an attempt to subvert beauty standards in the west that favour whiteness by producing work that celebrates and beautifies black people, as well as work that looks for visual signifiers of common cultural practices,” Angela adds.

    Angela’s interest in Johannesburg sparked from attending AFROPUNK in the city in December. Curious about the possibilities the festival offers for black transnational exchange, Angela met a number of creatives, including Llewelyn while staying in Johannesburg, and was keen to accelerate the momentum of creative engagement.

    As a dancer and choreographer working for Dance Factory, Llewelyn uses this medium as a way to share the untold stories of the LGBTI+ community, “because I find that in dance there is a lack of representation for the stories and lives of this community.”

    Reflecting on the series, Llewelyn states that, “As a black queer artist I think it is imperative to capture moments of one’s existence in the social climate we find ourselves in. Self representation, self love and pride are what these photos should inspire and evoke. It is also important to me to continue to document our lives as this inspires generations to come.”

    This process was not simply about Angela taking photographs of Llewelyn, but a partnership of making images, a kind of co-creation that mixed together their exploration of identity.

    Continuing Llewelyn’s train of thought, Angela concluded by offering this reflection, “Being queer I am part of a community that resides in a liminal space on the margins of society, something Llewellyn and I can identify with. Our work here, in its various mediums seems to generally be about understanding the communal spaces we reside in and forging new connections. Blackness itself encompasses a multitude of experiences, politics and cultural production globally. And as we continue to rise and take up space, it is imperative that we keep fostering this learning and understanding, so that as authors we create ourselves from a position of strength. I think this translates in the images through the grace and strength of Llewelyn’s free movement, he literally uses his body to take up public space. The bold colours in the court flooring become abstract flashes of colour and light, nodding to the ‘colour’ of queerness. Transnational exchange means strengthened collective power and an infinite network of peers to learn from, to lift up and celebrate.”

  • Seize The City Season 2 // Reflecting youth and subcultural moods

    Seize The City Season 2 // Reflecting youth and subcultural moods

    Strobe lights cut through the crowd with shades of blue, red and white. Sweaty bodies are dictated to by the vibrations moving from the speakers through the floor. A rundown building in the middle of Johannesburg’s city centre is transformed into a sonic experience with the invitation to queer space through one’s presence. Yellow cups float between the people on the dance floor with the name of the party translated into a declaration of intentions – Seize The City.

    Jose Cuervo‘s Seize The City Season 2 was a moment to fully embrace the now, expanding on their motto, Tomorrow is Overrated. As a kind of call-to-arms for every rebel and nightlife activist, the party served as a platform to celebrate young people in Johannesburg and the energy they inject into the city through their cultural production and subcultural expressions. Taking place in a functioning recycling depo in Selby, the space echoed this sentiment, with fragments of the underground 90s rave scene flying in and out of memory.

    Well known as well as up-and-coming artists, designers and other creatives were present, indicating the significance of the space for young creatives. “It felt like an Instagram feed coming to life. A lot of people you see on the internet were there and a lot of internet friends able to connect,” states Natalie Paneng, artists and Seize The City attendee.

    Fashion mirrors cultural moods, and subcultural foundations, and this had a strong presence. Fashion played an important role as a signifier of taking the spirit of the party to heart, while also reflecting the spirit of the people who attended. Oversized pinstriped blazers, stockings used as tops, the bra as a shirt, platform shoes, fanny packs trapped across chests, combined with pins, fishnet stockings and pale pink sunglasses. DIY aesthetics engulfed in the flames of unapologetic self expression. An experiment in styling and self-making, on an individual and collective level.

  • Infinity Studio at Kampnagel – reflections on privatization, militarization & escapism

    Infinity Studio at Kampnagel – reflections on privatization, militarization & escapism

    Following on from the 5 day residency in Johannesburg at the end of April, Bubblegum Club along with the artists selected to be part of the Infinity Studio programme are in Hamburg for the final stage, their participation in the Live Art Festival #8: SUPERSPACES. Within this frame the work produced will see an expansion on their exploration of privatization, militarism and escapism in Johannesburg – the foundational concepts for the programme.

    Creative Director of Bubblegum Club, Jamal Nxedlana had an interview with Caroline Spellenberg from Kampnagel to chat about our platform, CUSS and the Infinity Studio programme taking place in the space.

    On your website you describe yourself as a “cultural intelligence agency” – what do you mean by that?

    It means that research is at the heart of our practice. Cultural insight or intelligence informs everything we do, from the type of content we publish to our curatorial projects and the visuals we produce.

    Bubblegum Club is commercial image campaigns & promotion, publishing & journalistic writing, artistic and curatorial work. What is the core interest connecting all these practices?

    Although we do connect these practices it was never our main intention. It was more about  creating a space, building a network and developing an operating model for ourselves and other cultural practitioners. And in order to do so we felt that centering our practice around digital publishing made the most sense, especially in Johannesburg where there aren’t many opportunities, particularly for explorative practices.

    You are also almost the same group of people who works under the name CUSS as a curators collective. I saw a programme you did at the KW in Berlin in the frame of the 9th Berlin Biennial. After this we started to talk and we invited you to curate a programme at Kampnagel for the Live Art Festival #8. How did you develop the concept for “Infinity Studio”?

    The idea has developed quite a lot from when we first started speaking. Initially we were interested in creating a space or studio for independent cultural producers. We imagined the space as a time capsule, organised and conceived in a way that would recreate the creative energy or mood that we felt and that was so stimulating for our practice between 2010 & 2012. In that moment we felt a sense of infinite possibilities, and that where the name Infinity Studio comes from.

    Over time we identified a focus for the studio, which was to look at privatisation, militarisation and escapism in Johannesburg’s urban landscape. We organised a residency comprised of a 5 day immersive cultural tour. This allowed us to expose and immerse the invited artists to the spaces that we were looking at as the curatorial team. The programme we will present at Kampnagel in June will be based on the experiences from this residency.

    Coming from the curatorial perspective of a theatre some things strike me about the way you work: For one, you invite a lot of quite different artists to participate with individual contributions, maybe extending the idea of a “group exhibition” into live art? How did you choose the line-up of 13 artists for the “Infinity Studio”?

    Yes, but from group exhibition to group work to live art. We looked for people with particular skill sets. For example, writers, vocalists, music producers, digital artists and fashion designers. People with skills that could be combined to produce components for a one group work. The other thing that was very important to us was the way people practice, for example, are they able to work in a group and practice across their area of interest or discipline?

    Also, what strikes me is that you think a lot about the space, the framing and communication around the project. The ways of presenting the artists – which is part of the work as curators – becomes artistically itself. Can you describe your working methods for this?

    Curation has always been an artistic practice for us and it’s no different with this project. Our role has been to create the platform and quite literally the stage on which the work is set and will play out.

    The title of the Live Art Festival this year is SUPERSPACES and is presenting artistic and curatorial ways of creating specific set ups of space, art experiences and ‘users’. Can you connect the “Infinity Studio” to this?

    I think it connects to this in the way we are approaching the relationship between the audience and the performers, as well as the relationship between the audiences space and the performers space (the stage). We will use curation to reorientate these relationships.

    As content you choose to present insights into the urban cosmos of Johannesburg: your key words for this are “privatization, militarization & escapism”. Can you give us a little background on this?

    It was really when we started thinking about the residency and what our plans were for it. We were thinking about the artists and the aspects of their work that we were interested in and how we could use the residency to focus in on those specific areas of their practices. As we identified spaces and mapped out activities for the residency or cultural tour, we started noticing themes and tropes which we distilled to “privatization, militarization & escapism”.

    Your background is in visual arts and, I think, this is the first time you work in the context of a theatre institution, right? What differences between the two systems do you notice?

    Yes it is. I haven’t noticed too much difference, especially because we are approaching this as we normally would. The only difference is the framework within which we had to work, that being the theater and the theater production. We had to slightly alter our thinking when it came to how we think about audience and how we programme the shows.

    The Infinity Studio performances will be taking place from the 7th – 9th June. Check out the Facebook event for more details.

    INFINITY STUDIO is produced by Kampnagel and Bubblegum Club, with the support of TURN – Fund of the Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany as well as the Goethe Institute.

  • M.I.A comes to South Africa in June

    M.I.A comes to South Africa in June

    Black Major Selects is partnering with the 20th Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival to bring M.I.A to South Africa for the first time this June.

    M.I.A fans will be happy to know that the visit includes the screenings of the critically acclaimed documentary MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. Following its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in January, South African audiences will be able to be the first on the continent to engage with the documentary that offers colourful insight into the origins of M.I.A., from her journey as an immigrant teenager in London to becoming a global star. Directed by her former art school friend Steve Loveridge, it includes personal clips shot by M.I.A and her closest friends over the last 22 years. Fans will appreciate this raw, intimate invite into M.I.A’s world.

    In addition to the screenings, M.I.A will have two live shows in Cape Town and Johannesburg on the 7th and 8th of June respectively. She will be teaming up with some of South Africa’s own musical and performance gems. This specially curated selection of South African dancers, artists and DJs radiate the same feeling of fearlessness and presence that Maya Arulpragasm has presented throughout her life. The Cape Town collaborators include Angel-Ho, K-$, and Jakinda. The Johannesburg artists are DJ Doowap, Phatstoki and Dear Ribane. This selection of artists represents various genres and perspectives on performance.

    Tickets and more information for M.I.A.’s live shows are available on the Black Major Selects site.

    Cape Town

    Date: Thursday 7th June 2018

    Venue: Old Biscuit Mill, 375 Albert Road, Woodstock

    Johannesburg

    Date: Friday 8th June 2018

    Venue: Newtown Music Factory, 10 Henry Nxumalo Street, Newtown

  • Electro-soul duo Kami Awori wants you to interrogate your reality

    Electro-soul duo Kami Awori wants you to interrogate your reality

    Having met in high school, the duo now known as Kami Awori began their creative pursuits together performing in front of their school which led to the birth of their first band CaramelBrown. A classical pianist by training, producer Karami [Juline] grew up in a musical household thanks to a grandmother that was a piano professor. Similarly, singer & songwriter Awori’s maternal grandfather also had a passion for music which led to a music-filled home and her pursuing singing and songwriting from the age of 8, and studying classical and jazz in high school. They continued their musical education post high school, with Awori going to Montreal to study live performance and Karami going to Cuba to play music in a collective.

    As CaramelBrown the duo released 3 EPs including a collaboration with Karami’s former collective in Cuba. “That was the first time we were [in Cuba] together…We went there separately and this was the first time the both of us were there to work on the music collabos with musicians that we’d met from when Juline was there for a year,” explains Awori.

    2016 saw the duo drop CaramelBrown in favour of Kami Awori. “We felt like we weren’t linked to that name anymore,” says Awori. The debut release as Kami Awori was the politically charged ‘Lunation’ which was a tribute and contribution to the Black Lives Matter movement. However, Awori explains that the aim of Kami Awori isn’t necessarily to make political music, although politics have always been important to them. “Not to say that all of our music from now on is going to be super political, but I think it’s important to have a message and think about what people are going to take from the music. Our future projects, like say the album that we’re working on, isn’t 100% political, you know. There [are] still love songs in there, there [are] still songs about heartache.”

    While the album is in its final stages there isn’t a set release date yet. “I’d say we’re in the final stages so hopefully 2018,” says Awori. The album has been created around the world including Berlin, New York, Paris and Johannesburg, and features collaborations with a number of traditional musicians. The album documents their experiences making and playing music around the world over the last few years. “The theme is life and evolution through life as women working in the music industry, and the different stages [we have gone through]: good, bad & ugly.” Karami notes that in terms of the sound they used a lot of percussion combined with electronic effects, something she had explored on ‘Lunation’ but is being pushed even further in the upcoming album.

    Speaking of what she wants her listeners to take from their music, Awori simply states: “I’d like our music to change people’s views on things or question what they hold as true. I’d like people to think more of the world, and also really feel things.“

  • Pussy on a Plinth // elevating the personal as political through paper-based prints and zines

    Hearing about young, womxn-only collectives in Johannesburg is always a moment of excitement and encouragement for me. It speaks to the importance of collaborative work as well as the necessity for womxn to provide creative and emotional support to one another when learning to navigate art spaces in the city. Pussy On A Plinth (POP) is one such collective. The collective includes the artists Yolanda Mtombeni, Boipelo Khunou, Lebogang “Mogul” Mabusela, Allyssa Herman, Cheriese Maharaj, Lara Bekker, Zinhle E. Gule, Penny Muduvhadzi, Nthabeleng Masudubele, Didi Allie and Janine Bezuidenhout.

    When asked about where the name for the collective came from, they shared that it emerged out of conversations about an image from a nude shoot that involved two of the members. “In one of these images, one of them was seated on a plinth. That is when we began discussions around what that image could possibly mean.” Wanting to unpack this further, I asked about what kind of ideological weight they are hoping their name will have, particularly when combined with their creative practice.

    “The name attempts to disrupt the patriarchal structures both in society and the white cube gallery spaces. Putting a pussy on a plinth speaks of uplifting, bringing attention to, as well as monumentalizing the work of womxn artists. ‘Pussy’ in this instance, is used as a reclamation of power by attempting to normalize the use and essence of the word as a term that is not derogatory or belittling.”

    Since the inception of POP their work has manifest in the form of paper-based prints and zines. These are often guided by reflections on their experiences and thoughts as womxn. “Our work is interrogative, illustrative, engaging for the public and thought provoking,” they express.

    The most recent display of their work was at the Lephephe print gathering towards the end of 2017, which was hosted and organized by Keleketla Library! in collaboration with the collective Title in Transgression. For this they created an image-focused zine to introduce  POP and its members. In addition to this they hosted a zine workshop that zoomed in on the question ‘What is your personal politics?’ Reflecting on this, they shared that “the experience was inspiring and affirming; [it allowed us to] communicate our processes, thoughts as well as our goals with the public and other artists in the space as a collective.

    The work of the collective and of each member ties into the ideas shared by the 70s feminist slogan ‘The personal is political’ which was adopted from Carol Hanisch’s essay by the same name. Individually, under this larger umbrella, they each have specific areas of focus, which sometimes overlap. These include patriarchal culture, post-colonial or gendered culture; the gaze, human consumption, black womxnhood and its experiences; mental health and associated topics; as well as the effects of post-colonial, patriarchal and gendered cultures. When listing these themes, it is quite easy to see how their collective has become an extension of their individual thematic foci.

    When asked about what they have in the works for 2018, they shared that, “We are working on hosting more zine jams at various spots in Johannesburg where people can engage and contribute to the zine archive that has started building up. There is also a plan to have a womxn takeover at the DGI studio as a type of physical alteration of the male-dominated space. The result of this will be a print show which we have been organizing for a while now.  The prints we will be producing will mostly consist of relief prints, ‘relief’ being in the form of printmaking, but also as a literal form of relief for us as womxn, as a collective and as individuals.”

    POP hopes to continue to grow as a collective by getting involved in work and art spaces beyond paper-based prints and zines. To keep up with their growth and the possibility of new artistic directions, check them out on Instagram.