Richard John Jones works with stories of erasure, displacement and marginalisation. Specifically, Richard addresses obscured or erased histories and practices through installation, video work, performance as well as domestic craft techniques. He sees the process of domestic craft as the site for technological innovation. Feminism embraced. A floral pattern hugs tightly around a body –…
The process of process includes not only emerging and quantifiable forms, but also the intellectual, emotional, and tangible experience of process which is not necessarily sequential. – Jack Richardson and Sydney Walker (2011) Fluid brushstrokes of grey and green abstraction punctuate pastel-pink walls. Adjacent blank canvases lie in wait for the artist’s hand. The sound…
For African creatives working digitally, Digital Lab Africa is an acceleration and incubation platform. Launched in 2016 by the Embassy of France & French Institute in South Africa (IFAS) the initiative has been managed by the South African innovation hub Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct since 2018. For the first time since its inception, the 3rd…
What happens when everything falls apart? If the Internet crashes, or mobile money becomes redundant? – these are the questions Maurice Mbikayi asks with Coucou Crumble. The things of western dystopian fiction are, to Mbikayi, an African reality. Thoughts relating to the apocalypse are usually placed within a future frame; but what if we are…
Presented as a part of the Ecofutures Festival, Deep Trash is a bi-annual, one night only event consisting of unrestricted and defiant performances, installations, artworks and video works. Deep Trash can be described as East London’s exhibition-cum-performance club night. The night by Eco Trash investigates current ecological anti-utopia in order to reveal future imaginaries for…
It was at the walkabout of 3 Dreams of a Sinking World where I met artist James Webb for the first time. While explaining his methodology behind the show he stopped for a moment to remark on my Death Note bag. We had some back and forth about the manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba…
When you ask someone how they are doing, it is not uncommon to hear one of two responses; “I’m fine” or “I’m so busy”. Busyness is a currency to value worth, busyness as code for “I don’t have time” or more appropriately “I don’t have time for you”. We are all too busy, escaping each…
Ko = together Kosmos = space Shared space = Kokosmos Over 30 years after the launch of Sputnik 1, the Soviet Union who jump started the space race stood at the forefront of a second golden age of space exploration. The Buran space shuttle and the Energia heavy booster rocket was nearly complete taking flight…
Kenyaa Mzee sees herself as a writer before anything else. The written word becomes a mode of organising thoughts and expressing ideas. Those ideas filter into other mediums, photography in particular. Although her creations span multiple styles, she is guided by her strong belief in art’s potential to bring positive change and therefore favours conceptual…
Warm Water Imaginaries is a solo exhibition by Penny Siopis hosted by the Stevenson, Johannesburg with the intent of investigating climactic change as well as the migration of ideas, objects and people across the Indian Ocean. Imaginary worlds are constructed in paint, object-assemblage and film in response to the histories and intricate social and geological…
Thandie Magwaza has been writing since the age of nine, using this art form as a way to confront and transcend their circumstances. Writing has become a powerful tool to cultivate wellbeing, to tell stories and to live a life with a stronger sense of self. I had the opportunity to interview the Joburg based…
‘SCUM BOY. TRANS 3D Artist. Motion Graphic Designer’. These are the descriptors that are shared on Scum Boy’s Instagram profile. With a distinct style dominated by pastel colours, detached body parts and mannequin-like figures, Scum Boy plays with branding and pop culture references, while building a 3D queer world. His work reflects on a younger…
