Christopher McMichael

Christopher McMichael is a writer, journalist and filmmaker. He has a PhD in Politics from Rhodes University and is fascinated by the relationship between social conflict, technology, power, paranoia and art. His work has appeared in The Mail and Guardian, The Daily Maverick and New Frame among others.

Latest Posts

Christopher McMichael / art&culture

Bringing the Ocean to Joburg: The Holding Water Project at POOL

The ocean is the medium which has facilitated globalisation and cultural exchange, but also colonialism and imperialism. As environmental ...

Christopher McMichael / art&culture

Savage Messiah by Laura Grace Ford

Late capitalist urbanisation is the ultimate synthesis of paranoia and boredom. Cities are defined by increased security and surveillance, c...

Child playing with ball near veld fire. Phola, Mpumalanga. 2018

Christopher McMichael / Photography

Daylin Paul – Documenting the Broken Land

As the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse becomes more apparent, cultural producers are forced to confront a terrifying pr...

Christopher McMichael / music

Kanye West and The Crisis of The Neoliberal Self

In merely a decade, the release of a new Kanye West album has gone from being an eagerly anticipated cultural event to a frustrating exercis...

Christopher McMichael / Features

Ganja Beatz – Growing their field of dreams

Music producers are the sonic architects of popular culture. Great producers capture the raw feeling of performers, while also knowing how t...

Christopher McMichael / art&culture

Exterminator Music – William Burroughs and Pop

William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll by Casey Rae, University of Texas Press 2019 The American novelist, William Burroughs w...

Christopher McMichael / Wokeness

Cancelling the apocalypse?: The era of environmental breakdown and climate strikes

As I write this, huge tracts of the Amazon are on fire, blanketing surrounding cities in a sickly, nuclear winter- like pall of smoke. Meanw...

Christopher McMichael / Thought

Bouncers, bullets and pills: the criminal underbelly of South African nightlife

The Mafia is not an outsider in this world; it is perfectly at home. Indeed, in the integrated spectacle it stands as the model of all advan...

Christopher McMichael / Features

Data mines 3.0

The first We are Data Mines looked at the human relationship with the body, while the second looked at our changing relationship wit...

Christopher McMichael / Thought

The Rise of the Con Stars: Why Grifters are So Hot Right Now

Last year, the SABC released the documentary ‘To Catch A Con Star’ about local scam artist Tracy Morrison. For several decades, Morrison had...

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Christopher McMichael / music

Filip Johnson- Glam Pop Skies

If you imagine international pop music as a landscape, you may well envision an idealised California - sunny skies, palm trees swaying in th...

Christopher McMichael / Thought

The Monster is Us

The enduring popularity of horror fiction is because the world is an utterly terrifying place. We live on a planet rushing towards an apocal...