For many, the art fair officially opened last night. For others, it’s today, but for the lucky few, art week has already been in full swing, with galleries vying for the viewer’s attention and only the strongest succeeding. Founded by painter Banele Khoza in 2018, BKhz Gallery, which began as a personal studio has triumphantly…
They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and nowhere is that more true than on the African continent. Whether you’re sourcing from the well-curated albeit overpriced vintage shops of Cape Town or grafting in Joburg’s piles, it’s difficult to imagine our culture without second-hand clothing. With leading designers like Thebe Magugu capitalising on…
uKhoiKhoi is a live-looping duo that blends opera, indigenous chants, and praise poetry. Their sound, which they describe as “indigenous electro” is a fusion of traditional and contemporary instruments. uKhoiKhoi’s name pays homage to the KhoiSan tribe that once thrived in Southern Africa, but it is the vibrant city of Johannesburg that inspires the duo’s…
Over the weekend of May 26 – May 28, RMB and Latitudes presented a new indoor/outdoor experience at the Shepstone Gardens in Houghton. The space is typically used for weddings, with beautiful gardens, a chapel and rose bushes scattered about. While two people did not celebrate their union this weekend, there was a wedding at…
Growing up with a father that used to sell clothes, Gideon Akwasi Wiafe or simply Nana Wiafe was always destined for a career in fashion. In 2016, he ventured into modelling but he knew that he could more in the fashion industry. The following year, he started as a fashion stylist and since then, he…
It’s fascinating how we can measure the changes in the world around us. Some changes show themselves cyclically, like the leaf’s change from green to brown to green again, and so forth. In the more material world, we remark at the price of things constantly increasing around us. I was taken aback when in conversation…
It’s a thing, we’ve all done it or seen it before. We turn our backs to the camera as we glean meaningfully into the art on the walls of galleries. It’s like a gaze upon a gaze. Or, we turn our backs entirely, allowing sizable artworks to be our backgrounds, embracing us almost. Why do…
I don’t often think about my work as having a ‘political’ relationship with sites of home or homing as places of identity, and perhaps, they do exist in a way I myself have yet to understand. I do nonetheless think of home or homing — especially with regards to identity — as a place of…
Zaid Osman has become one of the front men in growing and expanding South Africa’s streetwear culture. The Capetonian entrepreneur is the co-founder of Sneaker Exchange – the largest sneaker expo in Africa. The venture was inspired by his upbringing in the United States where he was immersed in the sneaker and streetwear culture. The…
SHEIN has recently been evaluated as twice the price point of H&M and Zara combined. In a matter of years, SHEIN has managed to become one of the biggest fast fashion brands without participating in the traditional storefront, having all its sales and purchases done exclusively online. SHEIN is an online Chinese fast fashion retailer….
A dreaded J. Cole and an old Nelson Mandela stand side by side, with Nelson looking off into the distance wearing a light canary yellow Puma tracksuit in towelling fabric — gold chains to tow. The caption, a J. Cole quote, reads, “One thing for sure if you ain’t aim too high, then you aim…
Is print really dead? Was it ever really dead to begin with? If you ask Antoine Grégory — fashion stylist, consultant, brand director of Theophilio and founder of Black Fashion Fair — I’m certain the answer is a conclusive “no, print was never dead.” Black Fashion Fair is defined as a conceptual retail, educational and cultural…
