Bubblegum Club

Tag: support

  • The Fantastic Agency – Cape Town’s New Model and Talent Agency is all about self-love, support and heterogeneous casting

    The Fantastic Agency – Cape Town’s New Model and Talent Agency is all about self-love, support and heterogeneous casting

    The Fantastic Agency first opened its doors in January of this year, baring Capetonians originality and a neoteric array of faces on its tantalizing roster. Fantastic is the brainchild of the prominent casting director and stylist, Fani Segerman. Taking on a variety of positions within the advertising and fashion industries over the past ten years, she identified a gap for a new agency. Her focus with this new venture was, and still is, to find and represent the undiscovered talent hidden within the city of Cape Town. Scouting faces from the Instagram accounts and the streets, Fani aspires to develop models and talent into industry jewels. “I focus on discovering and developing fresh talent, and through my talent selection try to make a shift in the industry that is still very traditional or backwards when it comes to representation.”Reflecting on her journey Fani states, “I was a stylist for many years, doing TV ads, stills campaigns and editorials. I would often source the models for these jobs and started to really enjoy that side of it. I joined an agency at 17 and in my twenties I started working there, learning different sides of the business.”

    Fani attributes the trajectory of her career largely to the influence of Candice Hatting who trained her as a casting director. Having worked for both of Candice’s businesses for a number of years, Fani had picked up a great deal of experience that equipped her with the industry know how to start her own agency. “I kind of lost my love for fashion along the way and gained a passion for people, studying psychology in my spare time and falling in love with the world of casting and talent representation.”

    Although Fani is no longer as invested in fashion as she had been before, she is “dipping” her toes back into styling and collaborating with photographers to create images for Fantastic.

    The agency seeks to grow its talent and model representation in order to progress together with the advertising, modelling and fashion industries in South Africa and abroad. The vision for the agency is outlined by its founder on the website as follows: “We represent the full package- the people you stalk online, the muses, the ambassadors, the visionaries who bring life to brands. Fantastic aims to represent a broad and diverse range of talent.”Fani expresses, “In an industry based largely on image and appearance, I am trying to shift the focus to better represent the people who are often overlooked or excluded. I hope to push the importance of self-love, by supporting and building up my models so that this industry is a source of happiness and excitement  for them and not one of anxiety and frustration. I really believe that representation  in the modelling world is so vital and I hope that can translate through the work I am doing at Fantastic.”

    With self-love, support and heterogeneous casting as the pillars of the agency, Fantastic is well on its way to breaking away from established industry norms, and achieving its objective to make the space one of enrichment and excitement.

    Credits:

    Photography: Hana Sho
    Styling: Fani Segerman
                 Nathaniel Edwards
                 Farai Engelbrecht

     

  • 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.

  • DOOMSNITE // A new party for young people of colour in Cape Town

    “We are the future, for the kids by the kids,” states Antonio Druchen, one of the organisers of DOOMSNITE, a new party for young people in Cape Town. Antonio along with Qaanid Hassen, Naledi Holtman, Raeez Kilshaw and Likhona Camane created the event with the intention of gathering young people like themselves in one space for celebrating and connecting. Under the guidance of Crayons’ Ra-ees Saiet, they were able to host their first event on the 29th of January. Their hope is that this event will grow and become a space that represent creative freedom.

    Reflecting on the time that sparked the idea for the collective, Raeez expressed that, “I felt as though we [had] all met before, in a spiritual realm.” This is representative of the kind of collective connection they have already created through their time together since meeting at a project hosted by Corner Store called Summer Camp. This was an apprentice programme for young up-and-coming artists in Cape Town to show them that they can cultivate skills in creative practices such as DJing, styling, and photography, and be successful.

    The team refers to themselves as a kind of collective that also allows for each member to work on their individual practices independently too. This allows them to build a brand for their event, and offer each other support, without being completely absorbed by one project. Therefore, their collective is not exclusively about producing together, but also about providing each other with creative and emotional support. This is reflective of the direction that a number of people of colour from Cape Town are taking with regards to cultural production.

    Influenced by underground, English-born hip hop artists MF DOOM, the team curated their first event around this. “MF DOOM’s ability to use music to portray many different characters reflects how music came first for him and for us, it’s the same thing,” explains Naledi. “Inspired by MF DOOM, we find beauty in creating a whole new world of intricate personas, vivid visuals and detailed bodies of music, all behind a mask,” Likhona expressed. Ensuring that the space was representative of the energy that has brought them all together – freedom, creative pleasures and wholesome music – their first party was explosive. Expressive visuals, music and dance coloured the night, and this included performances by Garth Ross and Guillotine Squad.

    In addition to being a space for having a good time, the aim for the party is for it to be a platform that can facilitate networking between young people. This extends the party into an informal support structure.

    Be sure to check out their next event in February at The Living Room.

  • Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action // generative archiving and LGBTIQ activism

    Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA), situated at Wits University, is a centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and questioning/queer (LGBTIQ) culture and education in southern Africa. “Our mission is to act as a catalyst for the production, preservation and dissemination of knowledge on the history, culture and contemporary experiences of LGBTIQ people,” states Keval Harie, GALA’s director. The reason for the inception of GALA in1997 stems from their original name, ‘Gay and Lesbian Archives’. The purpose of GALA was to address the erasure of the stories and experiences of LGBTIQ people from official archives and other spaces. Since then the scope of their work has expanded to include a multitude of activities that focus on dialogue around sexuality and gender identity with the purpose of educating the public, building a community among LGBTIQ people, and to inspire action.

    Image from ‘Out the Box: A Glimpse into 20 Years of Queer Archiving’

    “In 2007 we changed our name to Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (while retaining the acronym GALA) to better reflect this development. However, the archival programme remains the heart of GALA.”

    As a working archive that reclaims a place in the regional history and culture for LGBTIQ people, GALA does not collate information and host events in an attempt to state that LGBTIQ people are homogenous. Instead their direction is towards heterogeneous experiences but within shared structural, institutionalised marginalisation which is filtered into everyday discrimination.

    “Today, we are the custodian of a large number of individual and organisational archival collections that document the history, culture and contemporary experiences of LGBTIQ people in Africa. Our archives and accompanying resources are freely available via our website and to visitors to our office.”

    Youth forum member Wenzile photographed by Genevieve Louw

    “Homosexuality is un-African”. This is one of the many statements that GALA is hoping to wipe away. “We aim to re-insert queer voices into Africa’s history.  During our two decades of working we have played a unique role – affirming LGBTIQ communities, shaping public opinion and enhancing perceptions of queer African identities, in South Africa and across the southern African region,” Keval explains. The information they store and preserve have been used to create other ways of sharing knowledge, including plays, and theses. This points to the fact that their archive is generative.

    Enforcing self- and collective empowerment, over the past 10 years GALA has created youth programmes, including a weekly Youth Forum and monthly Queer Realness publications. These offer physical and political safe zones of representation and forms of support for young queer-identifying people.

    GALA 20 poster designed by Cameron Anzio Jacobs

    In addition to this GALA curates an exhibition every two years. By translating their messages into a visual language, they are able to engage with another audience and present another avenue for dialogue through a different medium. “Our latest exhibition (2017), held at the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, was a retrospective exhibition focused on the archive collections, and formed part of our 20th anniversary celebrations.  It was called ‘Out the Box: A Glimpse into 20 Years of Queer Archiving‘.”

    At the moment GALA is working on an education programme that will be facilitated by various university spaces. GALA will also curate exhibitions titled “Out the Box: 20 years of Queer Archiving” and “Kewpie” this year along with launching their GALA 20 book that commemorates 20 years of GALA’s work since 1997. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for more details.

    Photography by Keval Harie
    Photography by Keval Harie