“Art gave me freedom,” the artist Olaniyi Akindiya reveals on a Google Meet call as he quickly strings up pieces of cardboard. “There’s communication, dialogue among people that’s helped me open up the minds of a lot of people.” The Nigerian artist has been working in fine art for over two decades but began his…
Mali has a long tradition of weaving that has given a rise to its textile industry. The country is one of the world leaders in the production and exportation of ginned cotton fibre. It is also known for the production of Bazin, mud cloth and other hand-dyed fabrics. The vitality of this industry has offered…
Nigeria is a source of rich history and culture and its influence extends beyond its borders. Formed in 2013, the Emmy Kasbit brand aims to highlight and capture the heritage of Igbo people through clothes. The Akwete fabrics and prints that are redolent of old traditions serve as the backbone for the clothing label. Its…
It is a beautiful thing how, as humans, we give each other space to be creative and to bare a part of our soul. The Romans created architectural feats of beauty and heritage in the form of amphitheatres for that very purpose. Similar to the movie theatres we go to today, people would gather in…
Like other art forms, film can be thought of as a way to narrate histories, generate critical discourse and most importantly, bring communities together. Part of this is reflected in what artist and filmmaker Maria Iorio contemplates as, “the self-reflexive power of cinema to thematise its own histories, its independent modes of production and engage with…
“Her curation is like the circularity of a vinyl record, the deep Black recesses in a modulated spiral groove are affective continuums weaving in and out of the mix.” Justin Smith, founder and curator of Afrovisualism Prevailing institutional and academic conversations engaging with restitution in art ecologies unfold in a framework rooted in the return…
Given our very recent history of isolationism, as a human society, there seems to be an appreciation for cultural exchange more than ever. Considering even older histories of struggle, discrimination and constitutional battles, there is a deep necessity for the culture – at this moment – to experience a kind of upheaval. At the meeting…
Given the precarity that comes with choosing to pursue a creative career — especially in an African context, for a number of intersecting and diverging economic, infrastructural and socio-political reasons — I often find myself asking why it is that so many of us still endure doing this work. What compels us to take up…
When I think of Andrei Van Wyk’s work and practice, I think of colliding and melting-into-each-other sounds, transformed and transforming noise and a notion of “listening beyond what you audibly hear” through his constellation of au/orality. “We need to start thinking about song way beyond its representational qualities within the sonic…” says musician Tumi Mogorosi, and…
It’s one thing to release a critically acclaimed and commercially successful debut album but to do it twice is a rare feat that not few alternative Kenyan musicians can boast about. Kenyan musician, DJ and producer Blinky Bill’s debut album “Everyone’s Just Winging It and Other Fly Tales” which featured classics such as “Atenshan” and…
While spending the majority of his time as an intellectual property consultant, Patrick Hawi was increasingly At Odds with the mundanity of a 9-5 life. While his IP background involved helping fashion brands set up their business, he yearned for something bigger and bolder to contribute to Kenya’s relatively young, yet burgeoning fashion scene. “When…
The “party” is about a moment of suspension. Feeling a rigorous sensation in the body, a pulsating tip-to-tip… Like pins and needles all prickly across the skin’s surface and a slow numb that calls attention to each beat of the heart, harder and harder. And the Sensation, conjured by this dance, is void of history,…
