A Mother and Maverick of South African Art, Jana Terblanche

Jun 29, 2022 | Art

The image traditionally held for the art world, when it comes to both people and institutions,  is quite austere; a strict code founded on a western sensibility in which severity equates to seriousness. Art as an industry has systematically functioned as a branch for exclusivity – and in many ways, the commodification of creativity – which is in stark contrast to the inherent channel for freedom and expression that art truly is. Yet, it is precisely within this confinement of spirit that artists themselves have always challenged; and it is within this mood of liberation from severity or restriction that artist and curator Jana Terblanche has found her voice. Jana Babez, as she is affectionately known, has been a maverick and mother of Cape Town’s (and South Africa at large) art scene for a decade; beginning her journey as a student and later graduate at Michaelis School of Fine Art, in the early 2010s. For Jana, pink is the most illuminating colour – and Britney Spears is perhaps the most important artist of our generation. This is not irony; these facts speak to Jana’s greater sense of performance as precisely herself, self-describing as “girly, joyful and fun” – and is with this authenticity that Jana shows up as one of the most important curators in South Africa; as a guardian of the arts, and protectress of creative freedom.

‘’Art was the thing I was drawn to my whole life. I knew it was going to be an unusual choice, as it’s one of those paths with less certainty, and I think that challenge really spoke to my curiosity. I gravitated towards performance art during my studies, and developed a foundation that mixed together my sense of playfulness with how female bodies are perceived in society. I do think my life is a bit of performance anyway – I like to entertain myself, and it’s interesting to see how people’s biases can be very concerned with the image in their mind of what an artist or art should look like. I think life is one long artistic process, for everyone, so having my own self or personality and the art I’ve made be indistinguishable from each other has helped me maintain an authenticity, I think.” Jana’s work has been a dialogue with the treatment of women’s bodies in South Africa quite a bit before the fight against Gender-Based Violence began to sweep the country. Jana and many women and femme-identifying artists continue to remind us that sensuality is a birthright, and to have it both policed and violated in the way it has (and continues) is a battle that continues to be fought. 

The last few years have seen Jana’s artistic practice evolve into custodianship; as a curator with an impressive and growing repertoire for creating shows from Joburg to Lagos, to London and Rotterdam. On this, she says “As much as my own story is interesting, I love other people’s stories – and I think there are so many that need to be told. I have found my strength in curatorship right now, and it feels like it intersects with my artistic practice because there are performative aspects to it, but also the deep collaboration that occurs between curator/s and artists. It can be this very beautiful synergy that as a curator, I can nurture artists. I also love standing in between being very girly, over the top but also fucking professional – and so the bridge is that, performing this role of a curator that’s meant to be behind the scenes, but actually bringing my own sense of fun and spirit into the mix. I think it’s refreshing.”

Jana’s work continues to relay her clarity and vision on the purpose of art, and its relevance for healing and contextualising the lived experience of human beings. Last year, Jana co-curated a standout show with Anelisa Mangcu, titled “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt”, centred on the complexity of black identity in modern culture, with an emphasis on joy and trauma as dualistic. Jana reflects, saying; “I have been travelling to Lagos quite a bit because I’m affiliated with the African Artists’ Foundation as a curator. Within that realm, black portraiture has been emerging as a very critical movement for reclamation for black bodies. I wanted to bring this conversation home, so Anelisa and I co-curated the show for Art Joburg – and the director for the space, Mandla Sibeko, gave us incredible free-reign – outside of a gallery context, too. It was a very cool experiment on taking away certain constructs in art such as commerce, and then having the show held together by this poignant theme of black portraiture. Anelisa is a longtime friend, and we have walked a long journey together – we went to high school together – so this was a very special, full circle moment. The energy in Joburg is crazy too; the response and hype from everyone who came just enriched the whole experience, and it’s one of those moments where I am strongly reminded of why art exists, and why it’s so important.”

Jana’s work continues to expand as she continues to use her curatorial role to celebrate queerness. Last month, Jana’s show Hot House in London, and on this she comments; “For Hot House, I worked with Sixty Six in London. They are what we could call a “nomadic gallery” as they’re not fixed by a venue – so they are not bound by needing to have a gallery schedule and the pressure that involves. I’m interested in seeing how we can take the traditional models and adapt them to suit our lives, the lives of artists and people. Growing up in Cape Town, Hot House was an enigma – and being surrounded by gay and queer friends all my life, there was this mystery around Hot House. I like this idea of people having a collective perception of something without actual experience of it – beyond judgment, too. I think Hot House was also a very important place in the city for the gay community, and so it felt like a beautiful way to acknowledge that. I asked Brett Seiler, Strauss Louw and Shakil Solanki to participate – it was very special.”

Jana’s practice is wholly concerned and considerate of what it means to truly “guard” the arts; and in that, is the representation for the true plurality of identity. Iconically, she and her best friends Martin Magner, Mavuso Mbutuma and Nash Mariah were flown to Sweden by H&M for an exclusive campaign celebrating Pride Month. The concept was the sacred experience of getting ready together before a night out – the love shared, secrets spilled and intimacy of being with chosen family before the night takes on a life of its own (as it always does). Surprisingly, in a time where “rainbow-washing” during Pride Month is unleashed as a feigned gesture by corporations, H&M released no products alongside the campaign, “We had so much fun! It was a wild thing to happen – and so cute to be in Stockholm, having our make-up done and styled, all of us together after a decade as best friends, going through highs, lows – careers, heartbreak. Also a lot of the team from H&M were young and queer themselves, so we just felt very held.”

In many ways, Jana has just begun – and we are so excited to see what comes next from the iconic and exceptional Babez herself. 

/// Read about the H&M campaign here; Meet the Angels

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

Excavations of the Psyche with Roger Ballen

Jun 28, 2022 | Interviews, Art

There are certain artists who possess a power and ability to expose us to what we refuse to see; and such artists tend to have the most visceral impact in the deepest recesses of our minds. Roger Ballen is one such artist – a vanguard, whose prolific career has spanned four decades – and of whom it would be impossible to distil into a single article or interview. In a style that is decidedly distinguishable as “Ballenesque”  – a term eventually coined as Roger’s own descript recognition of of a personal articulation throughout the years – we, the viewers, are thrust into a contemplation that can be reactionary; felt in body, mind and spirit. Much of Roger’s work is suggestive of the unconscious asylum in which humanity’s collective mind space exists;  outwardly, we are productive, consumptive, biassed and relentless seekers of comfort, growth and expansion. Inwardly, however, and as Ballen’s work reminds us, there is the haunting reminder of decay – imperfection as one of the only certain truths – and the ever-pervading presence of dualistic fixations. Good vs. Evil is a debate Roger refused to have a long time ago; instead, there just is all that there is. Liberating himself from such selective constructs has meant that Ballen’s path has been carved much like the ancient sediments that he observed as a geology student at Colorado School of Mines (a position that first brought Roger to South African in the 1980s) – a painstaking and curious excavation of his own mind, layer by layer.

“I don’t know what’s stored up there in my memory, that’s the problem. I think that’s what keeps me moving forward. It’s a philosophical question, to wonder if you could unwind every moment that has happened in your life – would every moment be there?”  Roger says on the matter of one’s own mind. Assuming the position of the everyday viewer, I wonder if he recognises the sometimes grotesqueness of his work’s theatrics, the psychological and existential nexus upon which his style exists; to which he says, “My approach has always been psychological, which I think started in the 70s with my first book called Boyhood. It was a trip I made hitchhiking from Cairo to Cape Town and then from Istanbul to New Guinea, and then South America. It was four years of trying to find my own childhood reflected in the world; and I was able to see this thread running through different cultures and lands as sentiments that speak to a shared experience of humanity. When I came to South Africa again in 1982, as part of my PHD training in geology, I started my first project here, Dorps. That was a critical moment for me – that beginning of that publication, ‘Dorps, Small Towns of South Africa.’” Roger reflects, on the metaphoric sense that underpinned that book – ‘’I went to Hope Town in the Free State, and I knocked on the door of a house, and going into that person’s home, I went inside physically and psychologically – and I rarely have ever taken a picture outside again. I started to find my motifs and techniques from then on.” Images from Ballen’s Dorps remain stark depictions of apartheid-era South Africa; the fascist state’s controlled and implemented division of people, subjugation across racial lines – and also, of class lines. Outside of the main city centres and economical melting-pots lay the dorpies; obscured and isolated even more so than sanctioned-against South Africa – itself a country modelled as a bizarre attempt at a utopic white supremacy.

On the seemingly harrow nature of these works, Roger says; ‘’I always say that in nature, there really is no beauty or ugliness. The darkness and light are not oppositional, they just are what they are – expressions of a wider whole. I think what we are dealing with in human society and in our psyche’s, is a permanent state of repression. A repression of the primacy of our instincts, and how deep our unconscious goes. So, there’s nothing really dark about what I do – but it seems to affect people’s psyche because they’re in a state of repression, and so desire order or predictability. Our obsession with attractiveness, spurred on by Hollywood and mass media machines, has made us too easily recoil at discomfort – whether aesthetically or otherwise. I think a world like mine, which is very concentrated, pierces through that repression and makes people somewhat anxious. From a Jungian point of view, the word “dark” would be a side of the Self – so I’ve come to learn that my work has that quality that aims toward getting through repression and denial.“ This inquiry into the Self is as integral to human’s and history as the very earliest variations in our biology; we have been wholly dependent on such endeavours as a propulsion through the ages. Art is then – absolutely essential to the human experience, if not the core of human experience itself; ‘’The work of an artist is an attempt to define the Self.” Rogers says, ‘’and there is never a conclusion to this work, either. You’re always finding bits and pieces stored in various crevices. That’s the problem with language, too. Semantics are restrictive and just our attempt to convey meaning or communicate – but I don’t think we can ever explicitly convey the entirety of what our minds conceive.”

Roger’s own stylistic language, Ballenesque, is so distinct that it led Die Antwoord to their own existential awakening post-Max Normal TV – how strange, we might think, that one of South Africa’s most famed and controversial music duos saw their own articulation through the lens of an American-born photographer, which set in motion a sequence of successes internationally, amid scandal too. Yet, this is the transcendent power of Ballen’s style – and again, its incisive quality that speaks to the very grit of living, whether here or elsewhere in the world. On the term Ballenesque, Rogers says ‘’I had to develop the confidence to call a book “Ballensque” and cement my own position as being unique or its own viewpoint. I think that comes with time, and dedication to my own particularities in my practice of art and photography. I think that has been an important stepping stone in my career, and although you can define it in other terms like “absurd” or “uncanny” or “theatrical”, combined – Ballensque is the best thing so far even with the confines of language to describe what I’m doing.” So indelible is this style that it caught the eye of avant-garde’s mother, Rei Kawakubo of Commes des Garçon, and in 2015 Roger’s work was featured in a AW15 showcase – signature ghoulish faces, drawn in charcoal, on the back of crisp white tailored jackets, “My only regret is not getting any samples, but it was great to have my work pulled into this world of clothing – which is not a realm I exist at all. I like how they interpreted it. It’s very rare that I would relinquish creative control – but they did a fantastic job with the collection and the subsequent installations in their stores, and Rei is exceptionally artistic herself.”

Among all the caveats to draw from our conversation, one of the most pressing had to be Roger’s black and white images of the infamous festival Woodstock ‘69 – the summer of love, as it where – a tear in the fabric of America’s tightly stitched together order and control; was he and his peers aware of just how momentous that moment was, when it was happening? Roger responds, ‘’That’s a good comment. It was the first large event of this kind, and it had an intense enthusiasm about it beforehand. The mood was changing in the states, and in the world – and I think this was a kind of pilgrimage to symbolise that, whether we really understood that at the time, I’m not sure. The fence fell down, and the entertainers that were there – mixed with the sense of being free – were powerful contributions to this overall push against society. Nobody expected it to become what it became, and its legendary status in our collective memory is in part due to our nostalgia, I think. It’s a landmark now of the 20th century, and as in everything in life – there’s the reality and the experience, and then how it’s interpreted by others.”

Right now, Roger is grounding himself – an unusual, but perhaps necessary step in his life. The grounding, or landing as it were, comes in the form of a physical space; Inside Out Centre for the Arts, in his chosen home of Johannesburg. Drawing on Brutalism, the building is a raw, materially-minimised archive for Ballen’s life’s work, set to also promote African photography and art, alongside educational programmes; “Our focus is Africa, and the work coming from the continent – as well as my work, all with a psychological component. I really like coming into my own place everyday, and to have a physical space to share more of the art and photography that needs to be shared.”

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

MeccaMind Releases New Music Video for “Sunny”, A Single From the Mixtape “Let the Kidz Play”

Jun 22, 2022 | New Release, Music

MeccaMind is a 21-year-old artist based in Cape Town. Having found inspiration through Outkast, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu and the whole Soulection movement, it is evident in the beat selection and cadence on MeccaMind’s songs.

“Sunny” is the first single from the upcoming mixtape called “LET THE KIDZ PLAY“, and was inspired by being young, unapologetic, creative and free, capturing the essence of youth. This care-freeness is evident in the move away from MeccaMind’s older more melodic songs. “Sunny” is rooted in collaboration, the name was inspired by a friend of MeccaMind’s, Sundog, who painted the accompanying artwork and is produced by 16-year-old Oluh. The music video was done by Vahid Skippy Davids, who dissected the lyrics and created a love story out of the hook that reminisces about a love interest and how it quickly it can turn sour.

“Let The Kidz Play” is a space and platform for overlooked creatives who haven’t been given a chance to “play” due to gatekeeping, and the lack of accessible opportunities or general layers of bureaucracy within the industry. MeccaMind hosts events in Cape Town in collaboration with Vision TV to provide the necessary spark to push this growth. Sunny is the first in a series of things to come for “Let The Kidz Play”. Keep a look out for more content, merchandise, and events that are lined up

Follow MeccaMind and Let The Kidz Play.

 

Watch “Sunny” here ///

 

nuun concept space Lead the Way for Sustainability as Inherent to A Design Practice

Jun 20, 2022 | Interviews, Fashion

I have been fascinated with nuun concept space for a few years now – with a sense of discretion and dedication, mother and son duo Zainab and Shaheed are always up to something; and their practice has offered our design landscape with a sensibility that is rooted deeply in their dedication to their heritage. In their releases over the last years, nuun has evolved as an exploration of garment construction and textile research, and both of these profound sentiments that encourage a truly conscious approach to clothing; distilling the true essence, I believe, of what design is – as our inquiry into the human experience on the earth. 

Beyond the constructs of minimalism, nuun instead feels as though it is space for essentiality; founded as a dialogue between family, and inspired by their Islamic heritage – with a contemporary yet timeless emphasis on sustainability. Amassing a following on TikTok, nuun is pioneering a homemade bioplastic for packaging that is available for purchase on their website; I encourage you to view these incredible videos here.

This spirit of community is inherent to nuun; the notion that there are no trade secrets or exclusivity where ecological and social preservation are concerned. I chatted to Shaheed and Zainab to learn more about their story and vision;

How did nuun concept space arise, as a mother-son duo but also as a creative expression + vision?

It had always been part of our lifestyle as a family to explore textiles and designs but nuun was started when my mother (Zainab) who would design abayas (the cloak worn by women who practice Islam) for herself which gained interest from close family and friend. Soon thereafter a collection was produced and sold in stores in Saudi Arabia.

At the time the other half of nuun (Shaheed) was working in architecture and would offer design advice. The conversation led to ideas explored and this is how the space organically formed to what it is today. 

 

A lot of your work explores construction and methodology underpinned by fabrication, can you talk about your design process?

Ideas are developed through necessity, a need of our own. A thought of how life would be better if this idea were to exist. we do not force a narrative, the idea has to fulfil a function. After brainstorming solutions of what this product could ultimately be, we explore sustainable and/or locally sourced materials and textiles that would best suit the idea. our intention is to create so that life is better after the idea manifests.

 

Your work, since I’ve known it, has been a solutions-based response to the lack of environmental + social integrity in the fashion industry. What are the values you both hold as designers and creators in this regard?

The objective at nuun is to offer solutions that are sensitive to the environment without compromising design aesthetics.

 

I love the perfect marriage between form and function that I’ve come to associate with nuun concept space. What concepts do you find yourself referencing and exploring as you develop the label’s design language?

The work we do is a celebration of our heritage and culture. The age-old silhouettes of Islamic attire and the techniques used to construct garments are a constant reference point for us. We build on these concepts to pay homage to our people while developing our own unique perspective thereof.

How did biodegradable packaging first occur? 

We had just developed a t-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles (collected on the beaches of cape town) blended with organic cotton and wanted to present it as the classic t-shirt in transparent sleeve but after months of searching we found it near impossible to find this product anywhere. The material existed but wasn’t used in this context and when we found something similar it was not made available to africa. We became determined to produce this product ourselves and decided to partner with a company who produces the base material. The material was reworked to suit our specific design needs and this is how we became the first in Africa to produce water-soluble packaging. 

Since this product was the first of its kind in Africa, we made the decision to forgo any explicit branding so that it allows others to use this in their own brand spaces, which would have an exponential positive impact on the climate versus if we kept this product to ourselves. 

 

What do you want to see in this world, and how does nuun concept space reflect that?

The ultimate goal is to create a more conscious society in every aspect. Sustainability, to many, remains a difficult subject to face as there’s so much information out there that makes people feel overwhelmed. Our intention is to create simple solutions that feel approachable so that people gravitate toward our work without the guilt. We have stated before that sustainability is a process and not a race and our intention is to share what we know with those who are interested in incorporating sustainable practices into their own design spaces.

 

What are you working on at the moment, and what lies ahead for the rest of 2022?

We are currently working on multiple projects all of which will be released when the time comes. one project we have slowly been sharing on our socials is our homemade eco-plastic experiments that are produced using natural ingredients. The process is exciting as the outcome is unpredictable. We plan to use these eco-plastics in one of the upcoming projects so stay tuned on our socials for more. 

Follow @nuun_concept_space on Instagram and @nuunconceptspace on TikTok to keep with their latest processes and offerings

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

Liberty Battson’s Ode to 20th Century Masters in her Latest Showcase, Yada-Yada Club

Jun 17, 2022 | Art

“Yada-Yada like Blah-Blah like Dada.”

“A persistent theme in Liberty Battson’s work has been the language of visual art. This latest body of work uses the iconic styles of major figures to engage with – and celebrate – modern art history.

The flat, colourful faces that make up ‘Yada-Yada Club’ draw on the languages of 20th century Masters. In a tongue-in-cheek postmodern overview, Battson acknowledges the impenetrability and opaqueness of their abstract and conceptual work to many people. Referring to a range of movements – from the Dadaists and Cubists to the New York School and Young British Artists, Battson aims for her viewers to recognise some of the silhouettes she has selected, and wonder about others.” – Lena Sulik for Everard Read Gallery

Liberty Battson has coined a new term for her latest showcase – “Art Gibberish”. What at first seems to be a cheeky omission from an artist as “nonsense” – is in fact, a playful and loving semantic note that describes for Liberty her strongest theme running through her career: that art is a language; a syntactic arrangement that is infinitely variable, and pursued through many mediums and styles, the same way dialects become regional and linguistic jargon develops out of subcultures. Known for her distinct style using precise lines in vivid colours, “Yada-Yada Club” is the first diversion we have seen towards a new landscape for Liberty – instead, this showcase is explicitly post-modern, and uses a variety of Liberty’s most revered artistic Masters of the 20th century as affectionate references; creating interpretations of works from artists like Dalí and Matisse, for the viewer to decode in a visual treasure-hunt. 

On this diversion, Liberty says “This is the first body of work where I’ve ventured away from stripes but I’m still dominantly attracted to hard edge, clean cut lines even though this time they are objects. I like controlling the paint, even when I am painting freehand I still aim to have control over the paint, I’ve made looser work and come full circle where I want to contain it again. It’s just an overflow of influence. I’m in awe of Abstraction and Modern art whose key principles are uniformity, structure and geometry – this was a great challenge and undertaking in a period where art was very realistic and pictorial. I approach art very mathematically, using data, stats, numbers, codes. I still had a mathematical approach by selecting specific subjects and arranging them into funny faces. I knew exactly how each one should look before I even touched the canvas.”

Using her distinguishing medium, 2k automotive paint, Liberty explains why this has come be her signature, against the traditions of oils or water-colours; “I’ve always been inspired by artists who push the boundaries of their chosen medium, such as when painters master the timing and viscosity of paint to get you questioning if it’s actually painted or when ceramicist work dangerously thin or sculptors who make hard materials look soft. It was important for me to use Automotive paint on a medium (canvas) to which it wasn’t designed and get the same finish as if it was painted onto car parts. It was important to me to master the material. I haven’t met many artists using it the way I do, therefore my work is quite recognisable. That’s the goal, you want to walk into a room and recognise the artwork before you go close enough to read the  signature. Even better to wonder how the artist made it, to get the viewer thinking.”

Encouraged by the artists referenced in Yada-Yada Club, Liberty remains committed to the pursuit of her own artistic development; and this mindfulness is perhaps rooted in her genuine joy and awe for the stylistic traditions that have come before her. Commenting on the exhibition’s affectionate tone, Liberty says, “These faces are made up of different Master artworks over the past decade, most with the theme of being anti-war, inspired by Dada. I hope viewers see the silhouette of one or more of these artworks or better yet see their own imaginary subjects. Kazi is the nickname for Kasimir Malevich who features in this artwork alongside Salvador Dalí, Alexander Calder, Philip Guston and Pablo Picasso. Gav is my nickname for Gavin Turk. In this artwork there is also representation of Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Rodchenko. Néné is my name for René Magritte, who starred with Edvard Munch, Philip Guston and Yves Klein. Fridz is short for Frida Kahlo, one of few women artists represented here, alongside Jackson Pollock, Damien Hirst and Henri Matisse.  It is always my intention to celebrate these Masters and show my close relationship with them, their impact on me; that’s what inspired the titles, as well as to link the personification so viewers could identify a face.”

Yada-Yada Club is on show at Everard Read Gallery Cape Town until 2nd July 2022.

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

How Education and Communication Remain Critical with Fashion Writer Modupe Oloruntoba

Jun 16, 2022 | Interviews, Fashion

It’s rare to read interviews with writers as it is usually our role to be the interviewers and conversation holders. Something I reinforce in my own practice and periphery to the fashion industry is to always inquire about the people, teams and voices that weave together the web of these systems; and what can we learn or understand about how a space like fashion is shaped, communicated and understood – and thus formed into the cultural landscape that it represents. For this reason, having Modupe Olortuntoba on CEC for a conversation about her nearly decade long career as a fashion writer, editor and consultant is a personal one – particularly the experience of finding one’s niche in communication, when so much of the industry signalling relates to design as the pathway to creating in sartorial expression. Fashion publishing and media in South Africa has taken a huge knock in recent years, with many spaces closing completely and writers having to rebrand as copywriters or digital story-tellers; and while this conversation is not about a preference for print, it is most certainly a testament to the deep sense of curiosity, analysis and description that the writers bring to the industry. 

‘’I studied fashion design at CPUT and developed a complicated relationship with fashion design. I started to lean into media at the time, I think in some ways to maintain a closeness with why I was doing what I was doing – reminding myself of what brought me to the place of studying fashion. I was really into Style.com and their work at that time, and Business of Fashion – and when graduation came up, I was feeling really unsure about design and really excited about media – I decided that was going to be my plan. Build up contacts, work at glossy magazines and then perhaps go back to design. Content has stuck, though. I found my lane and the medium I had a lot to say about; I felt like I could fully embrace this tool. Writing about fashion, rather than producing it, has never wavered in the last eight and a half years.” Modupe says, striking a resonance with my own experience of dropping out of fashion school in my early twenties; my inability to draw, remain focused, and mixed with a myriad of other personal reasons led me to find another way to relate to this deep sense of passion I had for fashion and design. Fashion education in South Africa is heavily focused on producing designers; and not everyone is meant to design, and very few tend to “make it” in that way (a story for another day), and it’s a conversation I’ve had many times with various people about this idea of education for developing a career in fashion; ‘’I was an AFI (African Fashion International) intern for fashion week at the very beginning of my studies and career. That week was pivotal for me, because I was exposed to the rest of this whole world; I was able to see the many hands that go into what we receive as “fashion”. The whole system really fascinates me, and I don’t think fashion education serves the system too well – but it’s a double-edged sword. With so little to “study” about fashion here in South Africa,  a vast amount of people come into the industry with varying perspectives and disciplines that they’ve studied. I mean, some of the world’s best fashion designers were never trained in a traditional fashion schooling system. So you get this very interesting mix of people who find their way to fashion, and I’m not sure you’d get that if there was a fashion-focused way to learn everything that can be done within the ecosystem. On the other hand, I think it makes it very difficult for young people to know where to begin. I hope we see more variation and options for what is available to people wanting to study.”

Defining “education” in this context is important, particularly regarding the inaccessibility for many to formally study – with designers like Lukhanyo Mdingi speaking to us earlier this year about his emphasis on mentorship – on this, Modupe says “I would love to see a return to apprenticeship. For all we say about schools, many who do study fashion end up graduating and have nowhere to be entry level. Nowhere to learn from the ground up. I think our understanding of education as a broader term for developing and refining skills is a more robust way to view it – I just came from Rich Mnisi’s office, and he has an assistant / intern – and it’s great to see contemporary brands being able to hire and foster young people. I would love to see a wider spread return to prioritising development.” 

In November 2021, I attended Rewoven’s incredible indaba Future of Fashion – a yearly exploration of African sustainability and circularity. During one of the talks, I was struck by Modupe’s question to panel – and her articulation of a conversation I hadn’t heard anyone ask about the business of fashion in South Africa, and how can brands be transparent as a guiding road-map for what it takes to build both a creatively and financial healthy label or enterprise; the business of fashion, truly, and the financial acumen it requires. ‘’I think there’s this idea that creative people don’t have to mind themselves with business, yet these are functions that are central to running a business. I wish it all would be about creativity – but it’s not, it’s about trade. Trade is maths. We are in a great time for it, too – there’s short courses in abundance. I’m very curious in talking to designers as business-owners, right now – and the idea that we can shift the idea that creativity exists in a silo, independent of the economic structures we live in. I want to see more support for creatives, in general, to have their art live in the world that is valued in the way other industries value their own products.”

With the launch of African Fashion Weekly, Modupe’s newsletter is a space in which she explores these questions; focusing on a the markets of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria as key points in the continent’s fashion industry, “I’m asking these kinds of questions for the first time, and the designers and other ecosystem players are answering them for the first time, and because we haven’t had this angle regularly covered, these questions about strategy and profit and hiring and funding seem really invasive. So along with training myself, my interview subjects aren’t huge listed corporations who legally have to share quarterly earnings reports, and I have to find a way to get these independent businesses on board with a similar level of transparency to make this a real value add for the industry.” 

This is hugely important work; and Modupe is a voice that is so critical for nurturing the immense growth and spotlight we have seen in South African fashion, and the continent at large. A reminder that there is not only a space for everyone but rather a deep need for minds like Modupe who see so implicitly into the heart of our sartorial landscape. 

Follow and subscribe to @africanfashionweekly to read more of Modupe’s work.

 

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

Southern Guild Presents ‘Spring Awakening’ – A Study On The Dissolving Boundary Between Art and Design

Jun 14, 2022 | Art

“The concept for Spring Awakening arises from the idea of spring as a time of intense ecological, physical and psychological change. Curator Lindsey Raymond invited artists to consider the role of renewal and growth in their work, as well as their opposite – loss and decay.

“In springtime, the future is a thing that gleams within palpable reach like a ripe fruit ready to be plucked from a tree. It signifies the starting growth of a new harvest, while occupying the liminal space between a year almost passed and a year yet to come. In this way, it is a time of reflection as much as it is a willingness for a future ideal,” Raymond notes.” – southernguild.co.za /// show notes.

Presenting artists:

Adam Birch           
Andile Dyalvane
Cheick Diallo           
Christine Jacobs
Chuma Maweni     
Dokter and Misses
Dominique Zinkpè    
Ghada Amer
Githan Coopoo        
Jeanne Hoffman
Jozua Gerrard        
Justine Mahoney

Lea Colombo  
Lezanne Viviers
Madoda Fani        
Martine Jackson
Navel Seakamela    
NØDE
Porky Hefer            
Rich Mnisi
Rodney Band            
Shakil Solanki
Shirley Fintz           
Sisonke Papu
Talia Ramkilawan

I often wonder if the categorisation between designer and artist is merely a semantic technicality – determined by the “functionality” of the outcome, or body of work presented by either designer or artist. Attending gallery spaces such as Southern Guild, particularly their recent / current group show “Spring Awakening” – I find that this distinction or separation is further challenged, particularly as it makes clear that whether design or art; all creative pursuits are inherently functional – as essential contributions to the lived experience of being human, all of us leading lives marked deeply by our visual senses and aesthetic tastes. 

Since 2008, Southern Guild has pioneered South Africa’s collectible design positioning in the world – providing support, infrastructure and curatorial development within the country and continent. As with Spring Awakening, the intention to invite a wide range of creative artisans, from fashion and furniture designers, to printmakers, ceramicists, fine artists and weavers – continues to build a profound lexicon centred on design as the channel for many mediums, and profound story-telling. In this way, our creative landscape paints an encouraging picture; one that is cognisant of the plurality inherent to local self and collective expression.

Highlights of the showcase were perhaps every piece exhibited, by the 25 artists. Malian designer Cheick Diallo’s tie-dyed, curved cabinet is an homage to the daily trade of West African cities, while Shirley Fintz’ eight ceramic totems held the central space in one part of the gallery room. Referencing the Hindu and Buddhist teachings on the energy centres held within the human body –  her figures reference the archetypes of healing in both spiritual and physical contexts. Shakil Solanki’s Drape My Hopes Upon The Chance To Touch Your Arm I, takes the figure of Ophelia and translates her essence into the delicate silk folds of a sari, ornately painted to depict a languid arm reaching downwards within its soft surroundings. In a similar vein of intimacy, Jozua Gerrard’s Coming Down relays the tenderness between two lovers, specified as an interracial couple, which for the artist is a subtle invitation for society to to accept love across seemingly differences.

Githan Coopoo showcases My First Urn, a deeper exploration of his practice centred around the vessel – this time, delving into the symbolically rich construction of the “the urn”. The QR code description, ascribed to each piece, contextualises Githan’s vivid ombré urn and plinth, “The artwork invites a conversation around Western attitudes towards death and denial by the living. ‘’Death is, in itself, a fortune, a life’s only guarantee or promise amidst a universe of uncertainty’’, Githan states,’’ in this way, it is also a universal fortune, one that we all share, one that binds us.” 

Rich Mnisi presents a special edition titled, Nwa-Mulamula’s Chaise – Vutomi (Life) – a curved chaise held by the swirling greens akin to the abstract print in the fashion designer’s Mafamba Yexe fashion collection. Mnisi continues his inquiry into Bushongo mythology, the pattern depicts the purge Bumba – the god who birthed the world – representing his purge in the rich shades of grin, swirling like prima materia of universal creation. Talia Ramkilawan’s signature medium of tapestry across a wooden frame is seen in the magnificent Text Me When You Get Home, a continuation of her subversion ‘’against the stereotypes of her lived experience as a queer Indian woman.’’

Fashion designer Lezanne Viviers presents two pieces – But-a-Body, a garment made from the rejected, offcuts leather of the high-end fashion industry, is both a personal reflection of the self and a commentary on Lezanne’s situational relationship with the excess of the fashion industry, one in which waste and rejection of materials and bodies continues to dampen the experience of true artistic expression. The fabric is overlaid with a printed image of Lezanne herself, naked and bent, contrasting herself with animal bones. Grotesque and mesmerising – I stand, once again, in awe of Lezanne and Viviers Studio as an immense site of sartorial expression.

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton

Ruzza Wazzi Teases His Upcoming Visual Album; Made in Johannesburg

Jun 13, 2022 | New Release, Music

Made in Johannesburg is a protest-visual album by Ruzza Wazzi conceived to interrogate social issues on topics of racism, immigration and the persistent dream for something better. The visual album themes were further reinforced by an incident where a white man ran over Ruzza’s foot with his vehicle and drove off with no apology – upon attempting to open a case against the perpetrator at Parkview Police in Johannesburg, the police refused to open a case citing Ruzza’s injury was not severe enough. This is a problematic historic narrative that needs to be challenged as the Black-body continues to suffer through arbitrary public policies.

The visual album was written, produced and directed by Johannesburg-based artist Ruzza Wazzi draws inspiration from the city he knows intimately. The story is set in an abandoned building in Hillbrow downtown Johannesburg – provides a peek into his psyche, and relationship with people and places, the visual album, therefore, becomes an emotive conversation rooted in the journey of self through music, space, movement, costume, and imagery.

The visual album reflects on what it means to continue one’s pursuit of dreams while they and The world around them is in a constant state of flux. The narrative unfolds in a building that was once inhabited by people, now empty and dilapidated yet still holding memories, it becomes a timeless site of remaking- recreating out of seeming destruction and displacement. This is a context that is familiar to those who travel from their homelands to achieve their dreams in cities around the world. They must face the unknown, the unfamiliar, and the chaos of constant change, finding integration and making all of this work to fulfill their dreams.

/// Watch the prelude to ‘A Visual Album’ by Ruzza Wazzi:

 

Self Affirmations /// A Round-Up of Top Collections Form the South African Runways

Jun 10, 2022 | Fashion

Each designer interview for this story was conducted separately, yet their thoughts on the relevance of runway presentations read like a panel discussion at a fictional South African Fashion Convention. “A fashion show is an important touch-and-feel point for a brand” says Neo Serati. “I think the online world is extremely oversaturated. Fashion week provides a platform to ensure optimal focus and attention on one’s work,” says Artho Eksteen. “Seeing the audience connect with the presentation is priceless,” echoes Nyambo MasaMara. “We use the shows as a deadline: something to work toward on the yearly calendar,” explains ALC’s Brendan Sturrock. “Having physical interaction with various industry players and connecting directly with the community is a big plus.” Up-and-comers Jacques Bam and Thando Ntuli double down on the importance of community in building a robust industry that allows new talent to germinate and grow. 

News of a merger between two of South Africa’s three major fashion weeks underscored this season’s collections. SA Fashion Week remains in Johannesburg, while SA Menswear Week, now expanded to include womenswear under #WeekOfFashion branding and a CTFC graduate showcase, happens in Cape Town. What exactly this will mean for the industry, no one can say for sure. But two fashion weeks is far better than three: this consolidation, unimaginable in a pre-pandemic world, should enhance the community benefits designers find so valuable. 

The standout collections are, to varying degrees, designer autobiographies. MasaMara, this season more than ever, is a modern manifestation of heritage. House of Waalid and Artho Eksteen tell childhood stories through the use of rich, unexpected textiles. MUNKUS pieces are designed not only to stand the test of time in terms of quality, but to be styled to suit various generations of women. The BAM Collective and Nao Serati investigate clothing as a catalyst for evolving identity, while Amanda Laird Cherry provides potent positivity, down to the last seam. 

 

Amanda Laird Cherry

The Amanda Laird Cherry team, a 28 employee-strong studio in Durban, have endured heightened adversity over the past few years with the region’s headline-making environmental and political woes. For them, the key to self-preservation is finding joy, which was interpreted for the runway in various takes on dopamine dressing. “The choice of garment shapes, seam angles and proportions make us feel positive and motivated,” says designer Brendan Sturrock. 

A central point of inspiration is the abstract squiggles in an artwork by toddler Josi Currie that informed the collection’s playful abstract prints. Ultra-saturated block colours served as potent shots of energy, and the balance between easy-wearing and theatrical designs speaks to a need for expressive style that doesn’t sacrifice comfort. “I think we all have apparel in our wardrobe that generates genuine happiness,” says Sturrock. “As a design house, we feel we have the responsibility to make those things for people.”

House of Waalid

As the saying goes, you need to know the rules before you can break them. Mohammed Waalid is a fashion lecturer at Villioti Fashion Institute in Johannesburg, a perfect position from which to design a collection inspired by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi: finding the beauty in imperfection. “The collection explores all of these technical nightmares,” says Waalid of the intentional overlocking, exposed seams and uneven hems that gave his collection its grungy through line. “It’s the imperfections that add value and create difference.”

Waalid’s fabric choices have direct autobiographical significance: “the rustling of taffeta makes me go insane. It’s one of my favourite sounds.” The upholstery leather pieces that bookend the collection reference the designer’s father who owns furniture stores and restoration workshops. “As a six-year-old kid, I would watch Videofashion before I went to school,” says Waalid. “I love fashion with all my existence.” It follows that his runway debut had to be a play on the traditional haute couture formula: “the finale has to be a bride, but I love the idea that this was a menswear collection and yet we still had a bride. It’s very tongue-in-cheek.”

MUNKUS

Each MUNKUS look is named “Me” in a different South African language. There’s Me, Mina, Nna, Mna, Nne, Mine, and the finale, We. This is designer Thando Ntuli’s runway debut and a love letter to South African women. Distinctive takes on contemporary closet staples from suiting to shirt dresses are energised with a treasure map-inspired print in hues representing life and growth. The collection’s flared silhouettes feel both modern and like a throwback to mid-century femininity; “it is based on closing a generation gap,” says Ntuli. “The looks have layered pieces that allow each woman to wear it the way they want. My goal was to help women find themselves by giving them an extension of their personality.”

Sustainability by way of longevity is an integral component of the design process, which plays effortlessly into this collection’s narrative. Using sturdy recycled denim as a key fabrication allows Ntuli to create quality, durable pieces she intends her clients to pass down to the next generation. Her effortless amalgamation of conscious design with a strong aesthetic point of view makes her a worthy recipient of SA Fashion Week’s 2022 New Talent Search award. “Winning has shown me how important authenticity is, to be true to my design style and storytelling through my clothing,” says Ntuli.

Nao Serati

Fans will notice a fascinating recalculation of the Nao Serati style equation. Since its Menswear Week debut in 2016, the brand has been at the forefront of expanding the masculine clothing spectrum on the local runways, enriching it with feminine design codes. This year’s collection flips the script: choosing to explore overt masculinity through a camp lens that both revels in its aesthetic appeal and exposes its artifice. 

“I went into this collection wanting to challenge myself to focus on silhouettes, colours and feelings,” says Neo Serati. “We open with sequins to remind you who we are, styled masc in a floor length coat, but the coat opens to reveal a matching G-string.” The collection thrives on its exhibition of varied, tactile fabrics: “we have some bruised brown PVC because we love a challenge. Then we warm up with some blood red velvet drama and end with a bouncy brocade because we’re going to church on Sunday.” 

The soundtrack, Runaway by Ye’s repetitive opening E note, built tension and conjured a sense of unease in the show venue. “NAOSERATI’22 is called SELLO, which means the sound of crying in Sotho,” qualifies Serati. “I wanted to discuss the feeling of forgiving someone who took their own life: the darkness you experience but also the understanding of a pain relieved.”

Artho Eksteen

“I would define a forever piece as one that is not only ‘forever’ in traditional ways, for example timeless, well made and classic, but also something that has a more sentimental place in your wardrobe,” says Artho Eksteen. Last year’s SA Fashion Week New Talent Search winner, the young designer is a master of thoughtful eccentricity, creating narrative-rich trophy pieces to treasure for trend agnostics who identify with his surrealist world. 

A sense of the personal is key to Eksteen’s collection, inspired by the textiles of his childhood home. Unique custom prints (where else can you find a floral dress with an outburst of aliens amongst the blooms?) set the tone for beads, embroidery and appliqué techniques that add depth and enhance quirk. “I enjoy embracing the organic development of a collection and to see how this influences the final result as samples are being completed and unique fabrics are being produced,” says Eksteen. “Things are added and taken away in the process—I think it’s quite fun not to know exactly how a collection or garment is going to turn out.”

The BAM Collective

Jacques Bam had an aesthetic vision for his collection prior to rediscovering the Fauvist movement of the early 1900s in an art history book. The emotionally driven renders in deliberately unnatural hues resonated with the designer, fuelling his design process. Partial abstraction of the subject is the connecting factor between Henri Matisse’s 1905 paintings and Bam’s 2022 clothing, the latter a feast of curves and swerves in electric hues, substantial knitwear and iridescent sequin mesh, morphing the human form like a fashionable funhouse mirror. 

“I think it takes a certain amount of confidence to wear my clothes,” says Bam. He’s looking to push the boundaries of commercial clothing, shifting consumer thinking by allowing people the opportunity to use fashion as a tool for personal growth. “Exploring clothing has been invaluable in creating the individual I am today and has given me incredible confidence and surety in who I am,” says Bam. “That is what I want: a world where everybody is allowed to grow and become the best version of themselves in a way that is really fun.”

Masa Mara

“I hope this collection will be a reminder of those who came before us, for we are the vessels of their love, courage and bravery,” says Nyambo MasaMara. Nyambo is a pseudonym based on Inyambo, the long-horned cow of great cultural significance in Rwanda, the designer’s homeland. The printed ‘horn’ headpieces that punctuated the show embody MasaMara’s heritage, a nod to his work as an interdisciplinary artist that brings a perfect level of showmanship to the runway. Autobiographical elements help the designer feel in touch with his mother, who passed away in 2020, and who this collection is dedicated to. “My love for fashion, textiles and everything creative comes from my mom and grandfather.” 

This cathartic manifestation of ready-to-wear showcases talent both inherited and developed. A MasaMara print draws from various African cultures, aligning the meaning of colours and symbols with a collection’s narrative. This season’s prints, “inspired by royalty, loyalty, and humility,” are presented on a holistic rotation of real-world clothing that balances contemporary suiting with Insta-ready streetwear (puffer jackets, yes, but also quilt-stitched puffer skirts) and a simple, standout column dress. Audience enthusiasm reverberated through the show space, prompting cheers, tears and a standing ovation. That energy cannot translate in its entirety to the social media frenzy that follows, a testament to the relevance and vitality of fashion week.

///
Image credits:
House of Waalid, Nao Serati, Masa Mara: Simon Deiner @sdrphoto
Amanda Laird Cherry, Artho Eksteen, MUNKUS, The BAM Collective: Eunice Driver @eunicedriverphotography
/// Written by: Daniël Geldenhuys

Striving for Greatness with Dee Koala

Jun 9, 2022 | Interviews, Music

To amass success and a following in the way Dee Koala has, it’s easy to wonder what kind of performance or projection of an alter-ego it would take – surely one could never scale the ladders of fame by being irrevocably oneself? Except; this is precisely what Dee has done, and continues to do. Totally herself, in every single moment, Dee Koala is an artist of the rarest and most authentic kind; a being congruent and genuine to her very core both on stage and off. In everything she does (and in our conversation), tempered by vulnerability and the tellings of a come back (although Dee has never really left) illustrate what it can mean to push for your wildest dreams and to have the goal posts of those dreams shifted at almost every turn. Since her school days writing verses from the classroom, to the anchor that she now represents to kids and elders alike in her neighbourhood of Khayelitsha, Dee’s purpose on this earth has slowly been revealed to her – specifically, when she abandoned rapping in English, and stepped into channel her mother tongue, isiXhosa, as her tool for expression. In this moment of an almost spiritual arrival, Dee’s voice commands a future trajectory not just for herself, but for every kid in South Africa to whom dreaming is critical. Encouraged and mentored by the late, great Riky Rick – Dee’s shows what is possible, and as she goes onto tell me in our conversation – what is possible, is not always easy. One thing about Dee? She will always be speaking her truth; and she does this almost daily with her IG ‘Lives’ for her 214k (and counting) followers.

In asking Dee about what it means to reflect back, looking at her younger self writing raps to her role now as an artist & performer, she says ‘’You know, when you start this thing with excitement – it’s driven by that feeling you have about music, that always felt so close in your heart but somehow far away through the TV – and what you see is people having money, being happy and always having fun. With that signalling, I thought it was going to be my best life. I started writing in English, I even have an EP in English which most people don’t know about, but it wasn’t enough for me. There was this whole part of who I am – in my deepest core – that needed to come out and that switch to Xhosa is what made me speak the way I wanted to be heard. That taught me that it’s not just about the message -it’s about the delivery; it’s about how you say the things you need to say.” This switch is the kind of action that writes the future; the kind of move that cynics (and such) would say is bad for business; with English being a predominant language in the world, and it’s a ridiculous fallacy to be successful is to fit into this narrative – and as the homies of experimental band Off The Meds show, winning a Swedish Grammy in isiZulu is possible; it’s already happened. Dee goes on to say, “It was for my hood – I wanted messages to get through to them. The moment you speak English in Khayelitsha, it’s ‘you’re not for us’ – and in Xhosa, they were hearing what I was saying. The whole family is included and involved, then. I’m not doing this to appease some people who can’t speak my language – if they like it anyway, that’s amazing, but my focus is my hood and my people, and expressing to them the sounds of who we are as people. The crazy thing is, people who don’t understand my language do love it – they love my flow, and the energy, and that’s how music is; it’s more than just the words, it’s the whole experience, layered together.”

A big part of her career has been an unbreakable relationship with adidas – who dressed her for a Sportscene campaign early on, “I think they liked the way I dressed their pieces. I’m not a typical sponsor baby, I put a bit of me in it so it’s not just adi head to toe. My favourite is mixing thrifting with adidas pieces, and now I’m in my fourth year with them. Two years ago they made me an ambassador, which has been such a great joy. I do deserve that – and the love is so mutual, it’s shown me the power of relationships in the industry; and how music and fashion are so closely linked.” Even in this, Dee expresses how she shows up as herself, always. With an almost insatiable demand for artists to adopt cycles of trends and styling that reflect what the brands want from influencers, Dee shows brands what they need; to have representatives that bring their garments into real, lived contexts, “I’ve seen one thing happen in my hood, that people noticed I was wearing a lot of adidas. In Black culture, the 16th, 25th and 26th of December and the 31st and 1st is when kids beg their moms to get them the biggest drip ever. It’s the school holidays, it’s festive. On the 16th one year, I walked outside and I saw a ton of kids in adidas tracksuits – so many! And they’re saying to me “Dee, jonga, look!” and pointing to their fits. Even adults were fitted out. This one old-timer, whenever it’s a Saturday and he’s heading to a local tavern, he’s got his tracksuit on and his Stan Smiths, he always comes past my house – ‘how you feel about my drip?’ – it’s wild to me. They gave me a nickname – Ndida – which is the Xhosa slang for adidas. I don’t know, that’s some kind of influence.”

Although the last few years have been a rise to success for Dee, these years have simultaneously been tormented by deep losses. Dee’s decision to share this with us is marked by her belief that one has to share the whole story; not just the glory, but the full picture – so her followers and community know that life is always this polarity and dance, that success cannot always keep the pain at bay; “Two years ago my mom died, and I thought I was going to be fine – that I would just grieve, and get on with it, you know? The show must go, type of mentality. Except I couldn’t grieve – I wasn’t sad – I just couldn’t be alone. So I was going out everyday, taking people out because I needed to be around people. I was drinking a bit too much, and then my grandma died – and then a month after that my great-grandma died, and a month later…my two aunts. All the women in my life, one after the other. These were all the moms of the family. I didn’t know how to handle that, it was like all the strength in the family had left in the space of six months, and I was on my own. Alone, in a way I didn’t know was possible. I wasn’t able to show up – my professional conduct started slipping – and then, the final blow was the onset of writer’s block. I couldn’t string together a single verse. I was heart-broken, and it’s like I had left my body.” It’s that age old understanding of being alone, even in a room full of people – that sometimes, we are all we ever have. Yet with Dee, there is a love for that is hard to articulate – an impact that she has wherever she goes.

Dee, unable to formulate the concept of a song and marked by sorrow of an unknown kind, spent times in the studios crying through, terrified that this may never pass. Dee goes on to say, “I used to be a cutter, and I was so scared I would turn to that self-harm again. I didn’t want to be depressed, or feel defeated. Looking back, I didn’t have patience for this moment now, and there is light now. I feel myself coming back. It’s something you can’t see in the darkness, something which we never know until it’s too late – you know, I spent hours on the phone with Riky talking about the deepest parts of life, and he was an older brother to me; he really put me on, on stage and flying me to Joburg and was the closest person to me in this industry – and yet when he passed, you just feel so desperate because you want to say to the people you love – just hold on for a little longer, the light is coming – this will pass. He saved me from dying so many times. And I think we all realised it wasn’t just tough for us, alone – everyone is struggling. His passing could have broken me, but it did the opposite – it made me grab hold of this gift God has given me again, and promise to embrace every single moment that is ahead for me.” 

Dee’s biggest shift has been the commitment to allow herself to feel her emotions; all the hurt, and all the joy, and everything in between. This, for Dee, is about living life to its fullest – and letting her life and career be a testament to truth. This alchemy, and her new relationship with someone who shows her the gentleness and protection she needs, has meant that Dee is ready to embrace the bumps. What comes next is Dee’s continued contribution to South African culture and beyond, “There’s a renewed dedication in me. We have music videos coming, creative work – a new voice over deal – and just a crazy journey ahead. Most importantly though, is my relationship with my supporters and my family – whether it’s in my hood, in my studio, or on social media and at shows – it’s for them, and for me. I have enough energy and love for all of us.”

Written by: Holly Bell Beaton