Tag: johannesburg

Kristin-Lee Moolman: creating a sublime future with imagery that challenges traditional perceptions of sexuality

Kristen-Lee Moolman’s work is based in a utopian Africa; a fictional mythology is shaped. Fantastic characters inhabit her colorful world and their stories are narrated with her lens. In her world segregation and sexuality are explored.

As female South African photographer known for her work that blurs the lines between documentary photography and fashion photography, Kristen-Lee sometimes explores ideas relating to effeminacy. Featured in her constructed utopia are popular faces amongst the South African creative scene such as Joe Turpin, Desire Marea, Nicci Saint Bruce and Fela Gucci to name a few.

Moolman grew up in what she describes as a backwards-Afrikaans town before the end of apartheid in the Karoo region. She feels as though she still has some political confusion as a result of this. In her constructed world that she presents to her viewer in the form of photographs, she does not strive to make political commentary.

In 2016 she worked with London stylist, Ibrahim Kamara during his Johannesburg residency on the exhibition 2026. More recently she was the photographer for HBA’s SS17 lookbook. Moolman’s work has a very defined feeling, and her images cannot be easily mistaken for that of any other photographer.

An ever-present element in her work is sunshine that fades out the backdrops of her portraits and transforms the costumes of her models to surreal outfits. This characteristic is emphasized by her use of bland and unremarkable locations as the setting for her shoots.

Her subjects can be seen portrayed outside of car washes and garages, spread out on satin-sheeted beds or reclining on plastic upholstered sofas. Her backdrops and choice of styling can be said to be campy and kitsch yet it retains refinement in the way that her characters are posed.

Her work, even though refined keeps an element of grime and edge, that is maintained by her choice of subject matter which consists of musicians, dancers, actors and artists.

Moolman who is not only a photographer but also a video artist, created images in collaboration with Kamara for 2026 that is described in an interview with Dazed as confrontational. This exhibition that was turned into a book examines the fragile relationship between the body of the black African male and his sexuality, masculinity and men’s fashion. The exhibition, now in hard copy, showcases to its viewer the manner in which clothes can be utilized to establish identity.

Kristin is a member of the New Africa movement consisting of artists from Africa and the diaspora. The aim of New Africa is to create an innovative aesthetic exploring themes surrounding identity and belonging.

In speaking about her own work Moolman says: “The one thing I will never do is disempower a person in my imagery, I always try to empower people. I will never try to make them look like any stereotype that people may have about us here”.

Her images give its viewer awareness of her world constructed with subjects that are friends or people she met through social media. Obstructing conservative viewpoints and traditional cultural stereotypes held in South Africa, her subjects demonstrate multifaceted sexual and gender identities.

Moolman was listed as part of Dazed 100 photographers to look out for. She breaks the restrictive way that femininity and masculinity are defined with imagery that pushes boundaries. Her non-binary subjects are carefully curated in stale landscapes. Everyday imagery is pushed into the surreal with her use of a sun soaked pastel aesthetic. In her world she contests uniformity by striving to make what is regarded as unusual the norm.

6 June 2017
AUTONOMY WAVE: a new platform for production and presentation of work by emerging artists

The month of June memorialises a historical moment. A fracture. Immortalised in the national narrative. A crucial rupture of resistance. June 16 1976 is the day that the youth rose up, and a massacre ensued. Innocence charged with brutal violence. The protest of an oppressive regime was met with a cascade of bullets. Blood was shed when the youth dared to speak.

Decades later, dismissal of youth continues. Opportunities for self-representation are often scarce. In response to the lack of support, funding programmes and residencies for young artists, Bubblegum Club would like to introduce AUTONOMY WAVE; a new platform for the conceptualization, production and presentation of work by young local artists.

This micro residency will span the month of June, following a series of collaborative workshops and will conclude in the form of an exhibition. The artists will be able to occupy the space through various modes of production. This project will allow for the exploration of self-narration and articulation within a collaborative experience. Artists drawing from different backgrounds and modes of work will engage with the creative processes together.

With a complex history of migratory patterns, Johannesburg continues to exist in a state of bustling flux. A fluidity marked by regeneration and decay saturates stone and mortar. A city captured by pain and pleasure. This project spaces serves as a creative incubator for reflection and fresh understandings of cultural production among young artists. These individuals will engage with the site specificity of the project at 1 Eloff Street, in the centre of the city – navigating self-narration in relation to Johannesburg. The culmination of this creative freedom and collaborative effort will be an exhibition titled Future 76 at the end of June.

“Each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it, in relative opacity.”

– Fanon

5 June 2017
ZIBAYO – capturing transient moments

I interviewed Valentino Zondi and Lilli Bagradyans who make up the creative duo ZIBAYO.

Durban-born Valentino solidified his call for creative expression when he attended film school, which has contributed to his current work as a photographer and art director. Through trial and error he now finds himself in possession of a CV with work for some of the coolest brands and a few awards. Lilli has found her creative expression within the triangle of architecture, art and music. Having grown up in Germany and being of Armenian origin, she described South Africa as providing a turning point in her creative journey. Having found each other while Lilli was working on an urban project in South Africa, she describes their joint artistic endeavors as reminders of who she is.

Valentino explained that the name ZIBAYO stands for transience. “Everything is transient,” he adds, “moments, encounters, experiences. Everything is transient besides the art we create.”. Through their work they try to conserve the momentary occurrences they experience and witness around them.

Exhibition in Munich

Together they intend to create a new space for art by combining their differences. “We come from nations which have been divided by differences in religion and race. We feel it is our responsibility to usher in a new way of looking at our differences as human beings, the idea of a black man and a white woman working together as a duo is foreign to some minds. It is in that space that we want to create, in a space that confronts and questions our basic frame of thinking,” Valentino explains.

Their joint art practice involves Lilli transforming an element of photographs taken by Valentino into a painting. “We go back [to where the photograph was taken] with the painted element to reframe it into a situation that is identical to the original captured image. In the reframing, the painting is given new life in a newly shot photograph,” Valentino explains. This is all done without the use of post production editing platforms.

Their first series of exhibitions titled HIDDEN IDENTITIES looks at the aftermath of gentrification in parts of Johannesburg. Exploring the lives of the people who once occupied the streets where they are no longer welcome, the first chapter of this series of exhibitions took place in Maboneng where the streets were used as an exhibition space. “This gave the individuals [who were photographed] a chance to see themselves…In our conversations with them when we were creating this body of work, most of them expressed feelings of being isolated and secluded from Maboneng…By exhibiting in the streets of Maboneng and inviting them, we closed that void of being excluded,” Valentino explained.

HIDDEN IDENTITIES then went to London and was presented at the Armenian Symposium: Armenians in a Global Context in April. In London they built the bridge between HIDDEN IDENTITIES and their next project which is going to be produced in Armenia later this year. They then moved on to exhibit at Kosk Gallery in Munich alongside sculptor Max Boström’s project, EXIT THROUGH CONSUMPTION. The exhibition is moving to Rome, and will make its final appearance in Johannesburg again. “We will be adding a few more pieces in the collection. That is how we do it for every city. So when it returns to Johannesburg, it will have more work than when we left.”.

Lilli and Valentino have got plans to expand their joint creative practice by releasing a fashion project that will include photographs taken from different places in Africa.

Check out ZIBAYO on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with their work.

9 May 2017
16 shots – a testament to Musa Nxumalo’s distinctive visual vocabulary

Musa N. Nxumalo previously known for Alternative Kids is showcasing 16 Shots at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. His latest body of work consists of 16 photographic prints, a continuation of his current project The Anthology of Youth.

Nxumalo defies the stark divide between social documentary and fine arts photography with his exhibition 16 Shots. His focuses on the black youth of South Africa and their experiences, which he documents with calculated ease.

The artist plays a double role within his own practice, acting as both the author and the witness to the scenes he portrays with a perspective that cannot be matched.

When looking at Anthology of Youth you realize that Nxumalo is in fact a part of this youth he portrays. Quite masterfully he moves the viewer from his or her private home into the spaces that form a part of his world. These places are spaces where the contemporary youths, his peers, reign.

With his clever lens he shows the viewer how he perceives the contemporary youth often depicted as disinterested or youth activists. His work and process suggests an overlying of the personas etched by society.

16 Shots is a carefully curated collection of photographic prints unified as a vision of the alteration in context and concerns that the contemporary youth in South Africa is faced with.

The images selected for the exhibition include photographs captured during the recent #feesmustfall protests and are included in the body of work as Nxumalo identifies himself as mediator, carrying over the voice of young South Africans with his intimate and honest photographic observation.

The protests are something that affected young people significantly, and for that reason he felt like it spoke to him. He saw the opportunity to carry over the voice for this generation with his lens.

The images recorded during the protests do not display detachment and are definitely not for pure documentation purposes. These images are not the kind of images you would see on the cover of any South African newspaper. They are loaded with emotion and a visual vocabulary distinctive to Nxumalo’s work.

16 Shots is thus not only a photographic witness to the protest, but is joined in the same space with imagery that presents club life in Johannesburg. Unlike the party imagery you would see from places like Kitcheners, a new intimacy is at play here.

A rawness and honesty that form a part of Nxumalo’s point of reference as a Sowetan born artist engrossed in the kasi punk scene.

A rhythmic pattern is evident in the curation of the exhibited images by Tshegofatso Mabaso, curator at Smac Gallery Johannesburg. Meticulously she choreographed the combined series consisting of still life, portraiture and moving bodies to create what can only be described as a dance of imagery.

The idea of movement is further emphasized by the use of sound installation and a disco ball. The images seem to come alive as light from the disco ball playfully teases over areas of the gicleéprint.

Mabaso and Nxumalo have created a space where the images and scenes come alive with an interactive exhibition. The viewer is taken into the party scene portrayed with the use of white balloons; a universal element often found at a party. Here the artist encourages the viewer to kick his balloons and to become a part of the world he captures.

The title 16 Shots refers to a song title by the American rapper Vic Mensa that had the police brutality debate in the United States as its focal point. References from the song are used as a collage together with noises from the protest as a sound installation in this exhibition. Nxumalo makes a link between the suffering of American youths with that of his South African peers in the #feesmustfall police confrontation.

The Anthology of Youth is a showcase of imagery documenting moments in the lives of South African youths that are immensely personal and border on secluded. Nxumalo’s records open a world to his audience that they might never otherwise encounter. This ongoing project is now an online multimedia archive depicting South Africa’s contemporary youth.

8 May 2017
DJ Doowap // The soulful BASS queen

“Every road is a catwalk”

Embracing the power of this quote has made Khetsiwe Morgan aka DJ Doowap one of the most recognizable babes in the South African music space. I had a conversation with the live mix DJ and queen of bass about where it all began.

After high school Doowap went over to the UK as a South African springboard diver, but soon found herself falling in love with the sonic energies and freedom that came from the underground club scene. She used to dance all night at gay rave parties with her friends, which had a great influence on the direction she chose to go with her own music. “They [the parties] were the best because everyone would just let loose…You were completely free. You could dress however you want. No one judges you coz everyone is just dressing crazy and skimpy.”. With the vibrations of dancehall, jungle, garage and bass music moving through her body, she found an escape from the tough life that London presented to her. During this time she started studying sound engineering, but was feeling lost. So she came to back to South Africa in 2012.

“I think the culture and the energy in South Africa got me back on my feet and got me seeing colour again, because I think I had just forgotten what colour looked like,” Doowap expressed. She continued her studies at the Academy of Sound Engineering in Auckland Park. Telling me about the times she would hang out with childhood friend Da L.E.S, she recalls saying to him “I think I want to do DJing, because I need some money right now and there is nothing else I like doing”. It was not long before she was introduced the DJ and producer Ian Credible at DJ for Life. During her lessons with him Doowap was able to bring together the sonic energies she had absorbed while in London and develop a sound that amalgamates hip hop, gqom and bass. Before she knew it she had her first gig at Roxy’s in Melville.

“I remember it perfectly!” Doowap exclaimed. She recalls the only person dancing during her set was the friend she had invited. “I wasn’t nervous because I already knew no one would know what I am doing…I felt a bit shit obviously because you want people to be dancing. But at the same time I know I got to teach everyone in the crowd something”. The next day she received a call from Yfm. Excited by the new sounds she was playing, they wanted her on their team. “It was a blessing in disguise having a whole different genre.”.

While she was at Yfm she wanted to discover music from home. Young bass producers were sending her their music, and she became a catalyst for many of them to get played on radio. At the time bass music was a relatively new genre in South Africa and was not getting that much air time on radio stations. Her show became the centre for introducing this new sound to the airwaves. “It was an amazing time to discover fresh talent when they did not have a platform to put out their music. They had all this bass sound and they didn’t even know where they were getting it from. It was just coming from their soul,” Doowap explained, “And I liked the freedom that Yfm gave me. It was great that I could choose anyone I wanted and put their songs on.”.

Taking a moment to reflect on how her music has evolved since 2012, Doowap feels as though the main element which has changed is that her music has more soul. “I think in the beginning I was just playing songs I liked back to back… Before I was playing bass but it was really hard electronic bass. It didn’t feel soulful. And now I really make sure that every song I play has a positive message in it, and it hits you deep inside, you know, with the vibrations.”. When armed with good bass speakers, she has seen how this soulful element in her music has allowed her to captivate a crowd and guide them to what she described as a “trance of bass”.

Doowap’s love for the genre deepened when she started reading about how bass music is powerful for women and the womb. “Bass is all for you bottom chakras, and that is really good for women. It soothes your womb.”.

Thinking about how bass music has grown in South Africa, Doowap pointed out that people do not realize how much the genre has infiltrated their lives. “Everyone wonders why they are all raging and losing their minds but it is because of the bass. That bass that makes your legs shake and makes you want to lose your mind. It is there the whole time and it’s very rare that you will get songs without it”. Having been on the scene in South Africa since its infancy, Doowap has enjoyed watching people dive into it and experiment with that they can do with the sound.

A highlight for Doowap at the moment is being the presenter for a new hip hop rap battle show dropping on SABC 1 next week called One Mic. She will also be going to Berlin on the 19th of May to play at a club called SchwuZ. Having found the love for bass at gay raves in London, and to now being booked to play a 3 hour set at one of the biggest gay clubs in Europe, Doowap has come full circle.

5 May 2017
Bubblegum Club Top Picks for European Film Festival

Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria will be host to some exciting cinematic productions as part of this year’s European Film Festival. With films addressing topics such as animal rights, family dynamics, experiences of war and heartbreak, audiences will be entertained as well as offered moments of contemplation. Having looked through their diverse programme, we selected four must-see films.

The High Sun

The High Sun directed by Dalibor Matanić addresses feelings of loss, displacement, love and pain caused by the Serbo-Croatian conflict over three decades through the magnifying glass of love. Three love stories played by the same actors at three different moments reveals how love tries to survive across ethnic lines. The first story takes place in pre-war 1991 while fear and hatred grows, with the tension culminating in an unexpected display of violence in reaction to two lovers from opposing sides. We fast forward to 2001 where we are introduced to a moody teenager who returns to her ruined home with her mother. Her mother is determined to rebuild their home with the help of a man from the other side. Unable to let go of the memory of her brother’s death, the hints of romance between the teenager and the builder have little chance to blossom. We fast forward again to 2011, to what appears to be a happier atmosphere, but as the story unfolds we are privy to wounds and heartbreak that have been masked and fermenting for years. With each story taking place during the height of Summer, the sun takes on a symbol of the burning tension between both sides, as well as a container for memories of love and pain.

Strike a Pose

This documentary directed by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan revisits the lives of seven dancers who were part of Madonna’s controversial 1990 tour, Blond Ambition. During the tour and through a documentary about the tour, Madonna made very clear statements about gay rights and the need for more attention to be given to HIV/Aids prevention. Through Strike a Pose we seen how her main group of back up dancers, made of mostly gay men, paid the price for her outspokenness in multiple ways. We see them reflect on their inner battles and secrets they had to keep from each other and the world, as well as their pride from being able to be part of such a powerful tour, both from a musical and social sense. In between conversations with the dancers and their family members, we see snippets of their current lives, and witness moments of pause and reflection through the dance pieces they perform.

Game of Checkers

Portuguese director Patricia Sequeira allows us to spend a night with five best friends in a spacious secluded home that was owned by their dead friend, Marta.

There is arguing, crying, cooking, eating, drinking, smoking and painful laughter as the friends reopen wounds and share secrets. We feel their ache of growing old as they are learning how to deal with endings.

All seated at the dining table, the friends explain how a female life is a game of checkers, although it may be filled with great joys, a tireless list of burdens is an inevitable part of womanhood.

Sequeira beautifully captures the vulnerability and pain of each character with invasive frames. It is almost as if the audience is an intruder as we learn about the diverse dynamics among them.

Poignant discussions about the changes experienced in lifelong relationships suggest an uncertain future for the group of friends.

American Honey

Andrea Arnold’s latest film American Honey (2016) captures the carefree recklessness of youth. In the British directors drama road film, we follow the life of a captivating teenage girl named Star (Sasha Lane).

Originally from Texas, the American Honey, Star dumpster dives to sustain the livelihood of two young children who live with her in a troubled home. It is evident that Star longs for a starkly different life. From the minute that she catches a glimpse of Jake’s (Shia LaBeouf) eye, Star sees a hope for her future.

Star ventures into the unknown with a group of wildly fun individuals who are led by a fierce woman named Krystal (Riley Keough). They travel across America’s Midwest to sell an endless list of magazine subscriptions. Star the rookie of the group is paired with veteran and phenomenal salesman, Jake. They naturally make a cosmic connection which is interfered with by curiosity, deception and the misadventures of survival.

Arnold uses intimate frames with vibrant colours, electric characters, clamorous hip-hop, introspective dialogue, flirting and sexual energy which make the mundane plot stimulating. American Honey is a long, messy, organic observation of youthful passion and the pursuit for purpose.

3 May 2017
Spoek Mathambo – Mzansi Beat Code

Spoek Mathambo’s fifth solo album, ‘Mzansi Beat Code’, is both a culmination of years spent trying to find his own voice and sound, as well as a celebration of collaboration. Of the thirteen tracks on the album only two feature Spoek on his own. “Music right now is a bit more individualistic in an egotistical sense. I think some of the best music that I’ve enjoyed from the last hundred years is always based on a group. Be it how amazing hip hop releases are, they’re always collaborations. To the great rock, jazz, punk, funk it’s all based on really great groups. So for me it’s natural.” By collaborating with others he is able to tap into human skills that he or a machine does not posses, “I can reach them the best not through MIDI but through a human being who’s got their own rich concept based on a lifetime of playing that instrument”.

Rather than curating the sounds of South Africa, Spoek takes elements from the diverse sound spectrum and reinterprets them through his own lens, hence the name ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “They’re ideas, concepts, codes, ways of doing things, but for the most part I’m deconstructing it and reconstructing it in a different way.”

While the album is Spoek’s solo production he does not view his role as that of a conductor leading an orchestra. “It’s lowkey just friendships and chill sessions for the most part. Demos that we share and just playing around and experimenting with some friends and some strangers that have become friends.” Still the album has Spoek’s energy. “I guess because I’m there from the beginning up until the end it leans towards what I want out of it.”

When asked if he sees himself as a rapper or producer first his answer is unequivocal. “I really hate rapping right now. I see myself as a beatmaker at the beginning of their career. I see myself as a producer.” From his Future Sound of Mzansi Mixes to the documentary of the same title and Fantasma’s ‘Free Love’ there is a clear path that leads to the release of ‘Mzansi Beat Code’. “It has taken me a long time to get to this point. It has taken me a really long time to get this ability of putting things together. I’ve been doing things since 2006, even before that with different stuff, trying to articulate certain ideas and just not having the required skill set . So this is the first project, well I’d say Fantasma ‘Free Love’ is the first project where things came together”.

By deconstructing and rebuilding the ‘Beat Codes’ of South Africa, Spoek is creating a sound and aesthetic that is familiarly South African but excitingly innovative.

25 April 2017
Hanneke van Leeuwen // A sculptural approach to photography

I had a conversation with Dutch photographer Hanneke van Leeuwen about her work and the time she spent visiting Johannesburg.

Growing up with a mother who is a sculptor, Hanneke always knew she was going to take on some kind of creative practice. When she was 15 she received her first analogue camera as a gift from her mother, and began shooting portraits of her friends and other parts of her everyday life. She converted part of her room into a dark room to be able to develop the images herself. From these images she put together a portfolio and went to art school.

Unsure of how to move forward with her passion after school, Hanneke began assisting other photographers which allowed her to fulfill her love for travelling. Five years ago she met photographer Viviane Sassen and was given the opportunity to become her first assistant. She expressed with gratitude that working with Viviane has helped her push passed the initial creative barrier she faced and has enabled her to find a direction for her own work.

For Hanneke photography is like telling a story in short lines, like a poem. In explaining how she lets these stories unfolds she stated that, “I don’t think of a concept before I take them [photographs]. I just create them in the camera or afterwards in collages.”. Taking influence from her mother’s way of looking at human bodies, Hanneke creates her photographs in a sculptural way. With 20th century Surrealism as another point of reference, she constructs collages with her photographs, allowing her work to transcend the 2D surface. “I love the texture of skin. I love the texture of fabric, of the paper,” Hanneke expressed. The viewer is able to see the tape she uses the piece her collages together, creating more layers.

She enjoys working collaboratively with other artists. “I want to share things. I want to create with other people,” she expresses. With a desire for creatives to help each other more, Hanneke was encouraged by the collaborative energy that she witnessed while spending time in Johannesburg. “It is so special that people here are aware of their backgrounds and they can create something together.”.

Among other things Hanneke is going to be working with Parisian artist Caroline Denervaud on a collaborative project that will be coming out in May/June.

To check out more of Hanneke’s work look her up on Instagram or on her website.

24 April 2017
Internet kids with the lyrical fire – Rap duo Champagne69

Champagne69 is a rap duo comprised of two very versatile artists namely, “Willestillios” Nkuna and “Siyangena69” Mdlele. The two multi-talented artists have found yet another way to express themselves and their artistic vision through enthralling and energetic music. Champagne69 only began making and releasing music in 2016, but have been able to gain more traction than others in the thirst-driven environment that upcoming artists find within the Internet music realm. Their first Single ‘Booty Sweat‘ managed to reach a high of 32k streams on Soundcloud. They then made it very clear that they are here to stay when they released their hit single ‘Wrong One‘ featuring producer and songwriter PatrickxxLee. This really put them on the map, with an accompanying video beautifully shot by Alternative Visuals.

Champagne69 has promised a good year going forward in terms of their music, as well as other artistic projects. They are set to drop more singles featuring more people. They have also dropped hints about an EP, following the intoxicating single ‘Champain (For The Pain)’ and being featured by PatrickxxLee on his track ‘Punk Shit’.

The South African music industry is slowly being forced to pay more attention to the “Internet Kids”, and is beginning to join the wave, because once it crashes it’s definitely going to be something as powerful as a natural disaster. This is definitely the time for new and independent artists to bring the heat that will keep people on their toes by releasing more music, more visual content and finding different ways to engage with their audiences. Champagne69 have set the tone and are definitely one of many to look out for in the near future.

10 April 2017
The Lesser-known Girls of Jozi

You meet interesting people everywhere. Some of the most intriguing womxn I have come across come from Johannesburg. It is with them, through taking their images, that I found raw beauty and authenticity. Here is a look at three lesser-known females.

Tash Brown

My first interactions with Tash were over social media after she had commented on some photography I did with her friends. I loved how sassy, witty and original her thoughts were. As we progressed to PM messaging she asked me to start a Burn Book with her over a cup of tea. I enjoyed this sassy film reference to the 00’s teen film Mean Girls directed by Mark Waters.

I met up with Tash on a Sunday morning at her home to photograph her. As I entered the door her mother offered me a cup of tea while she was busy preparing food in the green colored kitchen.

After my warm cup of tea was prepared, Tash and I moved to her room to select outfits for our shoot. We started working in her room and moved to the garden where I photographed her blending in with the greenery. We progressed to the spare room of the house where Tash pushed herself up against the window and hid behind the side curtain. Tash changed from her vintage floral shirt to a bralette and panties. It was amazing for me to see how comfortable Tash is with her body.

Tash is the kind of girl who can send you a perfectly articulated voice note while brushing her teeth. She changes her hair color sporadically this is done during bonding sessions with her boyfriend. She calls it “messing with her identity”. Her personality can only be described as vibrant. Everything about Tash is fascinating, from the way that she dresses in pale yellow thrift store dresses to the way that she speaks and the way that she paints. Tash even tap dances. She is currently a third year Fine Arts student at the University of the Witwatersrand and is inspired by artists like Tracey Rose, Dineo Bopape and Ryan Trecartin. Growing up with a mother who is an artist, Tash found her love for art as a child.

Tash describes her work as slipping between fantasy and tragedy. Her practice brings that which is hidden to the surface. The aesthetic value of her work is pink and over-stimulating which brings out the grotesqueness of her style. She relies on kitsch to symbolize the bad taste underlying in pop culture and the imagination. Her created fantasy becomes overbearing at times.

Her work strokes childhood innocence that is tainted. She relies on a balance of intimacy and isolation, depicting violence in a beautiful scene. Her work does not have a single message but holds on to a suggestive idea. Tash says in her artist’s statement that “A face doesn’t want to look like a face”. Have a look at her creations online.

Karen Du Bois

I first met Karen towards the end of last year when she started dating my best friend John. Initially I didn’t know what to make of her, as she was not very talkative. As time passed I got to know her, and her openness revealed itself. She can often be caught walking around singing to herself, as if she is creating a sound track to her day-to-day life. This is what I enjoy most about her.

I spent an evening at John’s place and the next morning I spontaneously decided to shoot Karen because I had my camera on me from a shoot the previous day. I applied some M.A.C Retro Matte lip colour on her full-formed lips and asked her to get into the tub with a white Adidas tee shirt.

As soon as Karen got into the water she immediately went into model mode and transformed from the quiet, pretty girl I had got to know. She was alive, embracing her womanhood and beauty. She was on fire, in her element and comfortable in her surroundings. Looking over my images the magnetism of her eyes is what grabbed me.

Karen has a beautifully raw yet soft childlike voice that echoes pure talent. She has recently completed her BCom Accounting at the University of Johannesburg. Her main focus right now is on making music, taking inspiration comes from Rihanna, A$APRocky, The Pixies and Amy Winehouse. She describes herself as experimenting with her limitations and has recently formed a band called The Black Panties with musician John Shepherd. She found her calling as a vocalist at church and was a part of the school choir growing up. The Black Panties’ musical style can be defined as edgy, and sometimes eerie, and falls within the death trap genre.

Give them a listen on soundcloud.

Rosa Elk

I met Rosa for the first time at a picnic in the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens when she was about 16 years old. From my first interaction with her, I was intrigued by how academically sound she was. Her knowledge on world history surpassed her age.

Meeting up with Rosa again years later was everything I thought it would be. As she walked up to my car to greet me she had a little dust on her because she had been working with archival material from the Wits Art Museum. Entering her room I saw a beautiful collection of artworks, and in her closet carefully hand-picked designer items that were minimal, striking and beautiful. While Rosa was selecting her wardrobe for our shoot I perused the titles of her books. All in mint condition, with titles such as On Photography by Susan Sontag.

Photographing Rosa was an interesting experience. We moved from her bedroom, that I felt said so much about her personality and attention to detail, to her garden that looks like a miniature version of the botanical garden where we first met. I was confronted the wildness of her garden and, as per usual not dressed for the occasion. I was climbing rocks in sandals in order to get the right angles for the shots.

Rosa has a spunkiness about her that I find refreshing. We brushed over many topics while shooting but the one that stuck out for me was our conversation about how children perceive the world. She mentioned that her younger cousin calls her garden “the jungle”. We indulged ourselves all afternoon with interesting conversations, an amazing collection of books and a cat called Madeline, flying up and down the scene of the shoot trying to catch tiny insects only she took notice of.

Rosa has a passion for art and although she can’t be considered a Fine Artist, she sure knows how to write about it. She has a BA degree in English and History of Art from the University of the Witwatersrand. Rosa can be found drinking cups of tea, reading books or crocheting. Her favorite artist is Lady Skollie. She loves collecting South African jewelry and is building an art collection that consists of student artist pieces.

7 April 2017
adidas Originals EQT | Born in the 90s

Referencing the EQT from the 90s, adidas Originals brought back the design in January this year with innovative material and technology. As part of celebrating the re-birth of the EQT, an open invite went out to South Africans born in the ’90s to be photographed at different locations in Johannesburg.

The open casting started off at ShelfLife in Rosebank on Friday 24 March. With Sam Turpin taking charge of the decks, people came through in their adidas gear to check out the updated EQT and do their part to represent ’90s babies. With a truck converted into a mobile photography studio, young photographer and digital artist Aart Verrips took portraits of South Africans born in the ’90s. The mobile studio headed off to AREA3 in Braamfontein on the Saturday, and ended on Sunday at Thesis in Soweto.

The portraits will form part of a series of short films. More than that, they document a generation that lives by the words, “Everything that is essential. Nothing that is not”.

31 March 2017
Flipping the Lens with Fausto Becatti and The Bioscope’s Camera Club

Last week, The Bioscope Theatre, in collaboration with The College of Digital Photography, hosted its second installment of The Camera Club. The talk series aims both to showcase and inspire up-and-coming photographers, through intimate discussions between artists and audiences. In dialogue with a series of images, photographers unmask stories from the other side of the lens. It’s an account of the creative minutia: the seconds before the light hit that spot, the happenings outside the frame, the moments before a subject looked up at the lens just so.

This week showcased Johannesburg director and photographer, Fausto Becatti. Many will know his work from the Hunters Dry advert, ‘Global Love’, which featured artist AKA and was shot in multiple locations throughout the world. Becatti has also directed music videos, including Spoek Mathambo’s ‘Awufuni’, and more recently Alice Phoebe Lowe’s ‘Society’.

When describing the making of ‘Society’, Becatti articulates a rare moment of untampered creative freedom. It was as though he was adding motion to his stills: his photographic eye brought to the video image. It’s an example, he told us, of the ways in which creative practices feed one another. In developing his artistic identity, Becatti has discovered a seeping of one creative life into the next. A book, in dialogue with a drawing, in dialogue with music, in dialogue with an image.

Another piece of wisdom, drawn from Becatti’s creative practice, is to photograph daily. He speaks about his stylistic growth as a matter of habit: forcing himself to capture one image every day and upload it to Instagram, regardless of whether he deemed it perfect or not. Embedded in this practice has been a mantra to ‘do’ and ‘not think’. Indeed, in articulating how he works, Becatti seemed to be describing a meditative process, in which he learnt to set aside all preconceptions about ‘the good photo’. His own aesthetic expectations, as well as those of others, were presented as the biggest obstacle to his photography, which sought to move, uninhibited, with his inner intuition. “Honesty is original”, he told us.

Initially, Becatti found himself regularly photographing his subjects from behind, alone, in moments of reflection. It was a compositional pattern that developed organically, born of his intention to capture candid moments of stillness, when people were unaware they are being watched. More recently, he has been drawn to images with a story: the sort of shots that prompt viewers to ask questions about the scenes depicted, or to speculate about the lives and relationships of the subjects. Having travelled extensively around the world (the US, Germany, India, Mauritius, Japan, the UK), Becatti’s images also tell a human story — both of diversity and connection. It’s ordinary people, captured cinematically, with enough depth and colour, to reveal their (and our) extraordinariness.

Stay tuned for the next Camera Club. It offers a rare glimpse into a photographer’s worldview, through the people, colours, places, and juxtapositions that capture their attention. These conversations not only allow us to explore an image, beyond what is captured in the frame. They also shatter the boundaries between artist and audience, which so often inhibit us from making our first creative move.

20 March 2017