Tag: masculinity and femininity

  • Real Madrid – searching for empathy and unpacking emotionality

    Real Madrid – searching for empathy and unpacking emotionality

    When visiting the Real Madrid website, one is introduced to their work through a background video of adolescents hanging out on a beach, and a still image of a white flower layered onto the video. Black text in the top left corner of the page provides another gateway to experiencing their work. Welcome to their world of ambiguity.

    Founded in 2015 by Bianca Benenti Oriol and Marco Pezzotta, and currently based in Switzerland, Real Madrid’s focus is on collective conditions, sexual development, and their emotionalities. The name plays on that of the Spanish football team, and this choice speaks directly to ideas around branding, authorship and the insurrection of subjugated knowledges or ways of existing. Perhaps one day someone will be searching online for images of a soccer team and among the results will be queer art.

    Photography by BAK

    In an interview, the duo explained to me that their choice to work together came out of casual collaboration. After taking part in an exhibition together in Italy, and feeling how they were able to sync organically, they took on the collective name.

    “With our identity, we question authorship by claiming our status as an imitation of an overpriced brand, basing our practice where politics crash with intimacy. The spectacle of sport is often connected with nationalism by media systems, extending a symbolic competition between nations. The interest in miscommunication led to a name that makes it problematic to spread and track images of the work on any search engine,” they state in a text introducing their work.

    Photography by James Bantone

    Glass, wood, silver wool, ink, bicycles, and fruit. Their chosen mediums vary, with the selection inserting an additional layer of the work to peel open. There is a sense of ambiguity in some of their work, and this empowers viewers to be active in their engagement with Real Madrid’s art.

    Earlier this year the duo spent a month in Johannesburg, interacting with the Gay and Lesbian Archive (GALA). The process of sifting through the research becomes a form of art in itself, searching for the personal, the emotional and entry points of empathy, tying into the fact that their work is mostly narrative-based. Reflecting on their interaction with the archive, they mention that, “You try to create empathy with the document, which is a very important tool for research.”

    Photography by James Bantone

    They spent most of their time inside the Cooper-Sparks Queer Community Library and Resource Centre, which was started over 25 years ago in a community member’s closet. Back then only those who knew about it were able to access it. In their word, the history behind the library brings to the fore questions around what the political aspects are of shifting between a public and a private context, making GALA an archive that transcends these classifications.

    They also expressed that there is a kind of familiarity when traveling to big cities, even though the languages, experiences and, references are different. It could be a kind of familiarity that comes from a sense of being people who live within an urban space and could act as a contributor to their desire to visit the gallery at GALA. Therein recognizing that certain sensibilities or outlooks may be influenced by where a person is from, but there is some sort of overlap in stories. Familiarity in thinking through and possibly struggling to untangle signifiers for femininity and masculinity, and the forced division between these. There is also finding ways of thinking about the emotionality of sexual development, and what it means to be a sexual being.

    To keep up with Real Madrid’s work follow them on Instagram or check out their website.

    Photography by James Bantone
  • IKsasa Lami by Siyababa Mtshali // Conscious Design and Time-travelling Narratives

    The technological time-traveler, appears brazenly in this dimension. Donned in silver chains and tassels. The imposing presence is revealed through a semi-fictioned narrative. Young designer, Siyababa Mtshali explores the space between the past, present and future. The figure that appears in this series of images is conceptualized as a Zulu prince. This prince “was banished into the future after the assassination of his father (King Shaka Zulu) in 1828. His jealous family knew African royalty would have no power over the land in the year 4087. His ancestors captured his body in the portal as he flew through time.”

    “This editorial explores the contrast between robotics and culture where black magic and modern technology fuse together to create a new dimension”. The visual articulation of this prince stemmed from Siyababa’s design process. “My design process begins with written words, where I develop characters and personalities. This includes names, social backgrounds and the time where my character is placed – going as far as to highlighting insecurities and hardships. Thereafter, I pick up a pencil and sketch what I believe best describes the essence of my character.”

    Originally from Kwa-Zulu Natal, “Johannesburg has shed a different light on my views on the fashion industry. The competition so is real! In most I’ve gained support from people that I highly respect, who insure the quality of the work and originality of my craft. A special shout out to Didi Nsthudisane.” Siyababa’s work is also steeped in politics, as a firm proponent of the Pro-Black Movement. His writing often explores issues around Homophobia and Afrophobia. “These are acts of hate. I believe as a nation that was previously oppressed we have no right to oppress others, let alone burn them.”

    The space and articulation of gender is also one that Siyababa explores, “there is a thin between masculinity and femininity in fashion. I explore different silhouettes and fabrics assigned to a specific gender during my design process; I intersect them to make genderless clothing.” It is always refreshing to see personal politics translated into process and conscious design.

    “Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed” – Judith Butler

    Creative Director/Photography: Khensani Mohlatlole

    Make-up: Jessica Goldberg and Rebecca Mofokeng

    Styling: Siyabonga Mtshali