Be Afrika
DISCOVERED Online magazine for and on Creatives in Africa
Anniversary Issue BeAfrika Page| 1
MTN Bushfire 2019 announces the launch of Artist applications which are now open. Candida at MTN Bushfire’s eclectic and multi-dimensional programme, which is deeply rooted in mus tions, theatre, poetry, story-telling, puppetry, film, speakers as well as themed workshops. Wit inspired African and international musicians and artists in all creative mediums to “Bring Yo to the scenic Malkerns Valley, the festival provides an excellent opportunity for both establishe Deadline for submitting applications
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ates interested in participating can now send in their application to showcase their craft sic and further features a fascinating line-up of dance, art exhibitions & installath MTN Bushfire 2019 set to take place on 24 – 26 May 2019, the festival is looking for our Fire!�. Attracting over 30,000 fans from across Africa and other parts of the world ed and developing artists to showcase their work. To apply, visit their website to apply. s is the 13th of October 2018.
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Open Call Alert: Applications for #colabnownow at Maputo Fast Forward are now OPEN! Looking for 4 digital artists & 4 digital storytellers from East + West + Southern Africa & UK to join us in Maputo in October!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Contributor List 6 Be Trends 8-9 Editor’s Note 10 Discovering Africa 12-15 Main Feature 18-23 Afro Art 24-31 Art Of Fashion 32-39 The Artist 40-43 Discovered 44-49 Creative Entrepreneur 52-55 Afro Lens 56-63 Digital Art 64-71 Creative Organization 72-73 Creative Cities 76-79 Creative Tech 80-81 Lifestyle 84-87
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Contributor List EDITORIAL Marita Paulina Rina Maria STYLE Ojwa Styling Brian Emry BEAUTY Kanai Beauties ART & GRAPHICS Jesse Ondego Rey Mungai PHOTOGRAPHY Ptech Photography June July Photography What’s Good Live Special thanks to the Creative Contributors that participated in the year 2017-2018 issues!
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What is ACCES? ACCES is a pan-African event for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. ACCES is held in a different African city every year attracting active music industry players from across the globe. Connect with the African music industry | Promote your work/business | Meet local, regional and international professionals | Build new partnerships | Gain new knowledge | discover talent. Follow this link to register https://www.musicinafrica.net/acces/2017
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BE TRENDS
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very year there are billions of searches for images, footage, and music. We delve into latest Creative Trends reports to find out where design, audio, videography, photography and more is heading. With the information gathered we identify the trends that continue to grow throughout 2018.
Instagrammable Brand Experiences: 2017 filled our Instagram feeds with Unicorn Frappuccinos, photo walls, and pop-up experiences, and we do not see that going away. We believe that this trend will continue to grow and expand to all kinds of brands, not just restaurants and retail. These ’grammable experiences are a great way for brands to share with their audience online, then entice them to connect offline at their physical location. Beyond that, these experiences immerse people in a brand’s ethos and help explain their values and product offerings in a way that leads people through an interactive story. (Art by Isaiah Maghanga) Making Still Images More Interesting: With video continuing to have a strong hold on the social world, designers are looking for ways to upgrade still images
Fantasy: For anyone following pop culture right now, you know Game of Thrones. It’s all about the mythical creatures, fantastical landscapes. In terms of the music, it’s epic orchestral music, and everybody is really excited about getting beyond the normal. New Minimalism: A lot of people will think about minimalism being a Scandinavian design concept with clean and crisp lines with lots of white. But now it’s still clean, but with more bold and vibrant colors with fluid styles. Page|
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to make them more intriguing and engaging. From subtle patterned images with movement that appear to look like GIFs, to cinemagraph photography with select elements moving, our team believes that brands will be looking to add a variety of different types of motion to their still images this year. Over the past few years, brands have been incorporating hand-drawn and graphic overlays in their static and video advertisements. Thanks to Snapchat and Instagram Stories making filters and photo overlays extremely popular among consumers, we believe that this trend will only continue to grow in the graphic design and advertising world this year. In fact, we have already seen this trend starting to appear in the tail-end of last year, such as Spotify’s “2018 Goals.” These elements not only make photos more visually interesting, but designers are able to add artistic elements and better showcase a brand’s personality in one simple image. Because of that, we believe that this trend will continue to gain traction in both still images as well as in video advertisements. Design and Content Becoming More Intertwined: Design and content have always depended on each other, but with so many new mediums and outlets popping up for users to consume and experience
content, we see that planning for the entire customer journey from both a messaging and visual standpoint will be more important than ever. Whether it’s a visually focused piece that just needs a headline to drive the action, or a subtle image that requires the copy to do the heavy lifting, together design and content have to tell one seamless story, that translates into one seamless experience for the consumer.
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Happy 1 st Anniversary! It’s been exactly a year since we published our first issue with Pinky Gelani as our cover. We all appreciate her confidence in us. Our magazine didn’t have a confirmed name at the time, just a plan and a dedicated passionate team. From Pinky, to Avril to our most recent cover, we have always tried to do our best with limited resources but limitless dedication. We didn’t want to fail, so whenever we felt that we were about to give up we reminded ourselves that we didn’t want to fail. The thing is, if you keep trying, even if you don’t hit your target on the first, second, or hundredth time, you only fail if you stop working at it. “I think it’s okay to feel lost in your life. I think it’s okay not to reach that final goal (in your life). You may earn things while being lost or could make something out of it through the emotions you feel. I think it should be your judgement. You don’t have to make someone else judge the satisfaction of your life. I hope that you don’t feel too anxious about feeling lost in your life.” KJH We have a bunch of plans, goals and no resources except ourselves. We try not to look at the negative side of things, but we are confident that our hard work will pay off in the end. It’s definite that every creative faces that breaking point every day in their career, but it’s how you handle that one of countless moments that will determine your success in the future. The lack of local financial support is a major impediment to the growth of Africa’s creative economy. According to the UNESCO report, financial institutions are rarely at ease with the sector’s innovation-driven character, notably when its copyright content is high. Venture capitalists, if they exist, are not interested in providing small loans and have a tendency to control rights so that remuneration to producers is lower. The business sector still provides only limited support and in any case prefers larger organizations. Governmental financing is also limited and its grant-based models often lead to unsustainable, subsidy-dependent development. In its Creative Economy Report 2008 UNCTAD observed that businesses in the creative sector face capital rationing at all stages. Start-up financing is often difficult to access because of the uncertain prospects in markets for creative products; forecasting demand for creative goods such as films is generally more difficult than for more standardized products so public and private investors often look upon projects in these areas as too high risk. In 2019, we will be launching a project just like Be Afrika Discovered, where it will heavily rely on community. It will be the first step to all our shared dream: lack of resources and financial support in the creative industry becoming a thing of the past. Till then always remember, to work hard for you and it will benefit your community.
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Calling all East African artists and cultural practitioners! Apply for a Mobility East Africa Travel Grant for your chance to participate, engage and explore contemporary art across East Africa.
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DISCOVERING AFRICA
Is Africa Following Or Setting Creative Trends? By Tapiwa Matsinde of Shoko Press
Photographic art by the award winning locally and internationally renowned photographer, Osbourne Macharia I found this to be a very interesting yet difficult question to answer, and having done my best to do so at the time, the question has stayed with me as I felt it was a really important one that warranted a much deeper explanation to the answer I gave, my initial feeling being that Africa is neither following nor setting trends.
So let me explain why I think that at the present moment Africa is neither following or setting creative trends. Starting with the first part of the question, which is easier to answer because at the moment Africa’s designers and creatives are playing by their own rules, enjoying the high level of freedom that they have to create and find their own way, and therefore are definitely not following trends. This freedom is Having thought that, my mind then switched slightly, enabled by an industry still in its infancy where rules leaning towards the latter that Africa is sort of setting and regulations have yet to be set, where not having trends and then I bounced back to my original instinct to answer to a board of decision makers who tend of neither, a response which I have a feeling that most to consider things from a commercial aspect at the people will passionately disagree with me –told you it expense of creative expression. was a difficult question! But with regards to setting creative trends, I don’t feel Page|
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that Africa is quite there; yet. And that is not a bad thing. I say that because I don’t think we should be concerned with setting trends, mainly for the reason that trends are fickle, they come and go and what is happening across Africa is not a trend! It is a shaping of the present, setting the foundations for the future, working towards building something better, creating legacies. Yes, Africa is very much in vogue at the moment, the continent is being feted by the global world from curators to collectors, which I think is more to do with the creative world being intrigued by the level of creativity coming out of the continent, the seemingly unstoppable ingenuity, and how Africa’s designer/makers are offering up solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems, and these
are all industry defining factors that the world can no longer afford to ignore, and is, therefore, watching closely, reaching out to connect and trying to make sense of it all. But despite the strides being made Africa is still battling the oft-negative stereotypes and it is the stereotypes that tend to dictate the Africa-related trends. Africa has been a source of inspiration for designers the world over for decades -and continues to be so- who in ‘borrowing’ from Africa’s creativity have been the ones to define the so-called ‘Africa’ related trends, trends that regularly revisit the stereotypical themes of tribal, animal print to variations of safari chic. These stereotypes are so deeply ingrained in perceptions of Africa, just Google or search Pinterest for African design and images of the new
Sauti Sol is an award winning, globally popular, afro pop group known as one of the few African musicians that have integrated the African identity and flavor in their music, in a sea of western influenced musicians.
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A Kenyan film banned in Kenya and yet the first feature film to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival by Wanuri Kahiu diverse aesthetics being created are hard to find, usually produced targets the high-end customer and IKEA is a buried towards the bottom of the page. mainstream brand with a wide budget friendly reach and it is within these types of consumer segments that trends People like to hold onto what’s familiar so when new ideas take hold. are introduced resistance tends to occur. With this in mind, it is going to take time to change global perceptions Trends typically follow a bell curve whereby you have of Africa. And it is up to us as Africans to change those the early adopters, the influencers, the cool kids, those perceptions, to control the narrative and thereby setting unafraid to mix it up and try something new. And where the trends that will happen. the cool kids go the masses eventually follow thereby cementing the trend. When you apply the bell curve to The work is underway. Africa’s designers, artists, bloggers, African creativity, of which we are just scratching the journalists, commentators, curators, social media content surface, I think that we are still at the start of the bell curve generators are all doing their bit to push back against the and are not yet near the top of the curve. So whilst the stereotypes, working hard to change the narrative. And cool kids are picking up what is happening with African when it comes to setting trends I think it will be interesting creativity, the masses have yet to follow. to see what happens when the much anticipated IKEA African Designers collection launches in 2019. Why is this Yes so-called African print went crazy popular for a while, important? Well for one thing when it comes to African and Afrobeat is invading popular music, but think about design it is quite expensive. Most of what is currently being it for a minute, does all this mean that Africa is actually Page|
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setting creative trends? I often hear people when seeing the work of an African designer exclaim ‘that’s amazing!’, then in the next breath say ‘…but I wouldn’t know what to do with it’, ‘…how to wear it’ and so forth. And it is for these reasons that I believe that for now, Africa is not so much as setting trends but rather creating something that transcends trends, something that has longevity, something that will inspire generations to come.
Written and produced in collaboration with some of Africa’s leading creative practitioners and cultural commentators our beautifully presented content in areas such as, art, design, photography, fashion, architecture and lifestyle will take you on a journey to not only discover new narratives that will inspire and enrich, but also ones to cherish and help preserve for future generations.
http://www.shokopress.com/is-africa-following-orsetting-creative-trends/ Shoko Press is an independent publisher of illustrated African art books that capture slices of the exciting contemporary creative arts and social cultures shaping a modern and dynamic Africa. BeAfrika Page| 15
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MAIN FEATURE
Avril
“My vision moving forward is remaining consistent but also creating better music�. From singing to acting as well as being a philanthropist, Judith Nyambura, better known as Avril is a lady of many talents. The songstress who burst into the music scene, bringing with her the fresh new music and sounds she has proven herself through her powerful vocal range and creative song writing skills. Page|
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OmoAkin “My goal is to make feel good music… I want to make people happy… I feel like life is already hard enough”. Dare Ijiwole popularly known as OmoAkin is an Afrobeats Artist from Nigeria. He has captured the attention of many and is one of the most talked about African artist. He has proved his versatility in music time and time again with his ability to dabble into different genres and experiment with different sounds. He is more than just an artiste; he is a brand that portrays Good Music, Consistency, talent, Creativity and confidence.
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Mandela
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“I am happy and glad I took the time off to find myself as an individual and as an artiste, this seclusion has enabled me to mature and grow musically.” Kenyan–born singer, songwriter and musician, Prince Ambasa Mandela, a.k.a Mandela is one of Africa’s best live-performing artistes. His music can be described as real African fusion—a blend of traditional East African rhythms alongside Benga, fused with Afro beat, Jazz and a dash of Reggae. He says that during the making of his new music he was inspired by observing the daily happenings around him.
Adelle Onyango “Books are your friend. Read wide and learn as much as you can from anything that you have set your mind on.� Adelle Onyango is a woman of many talents but manages to remain true to herself despite the fame. A successful radio personality, a poet, an actress, a social activist and all round advocate for youth and women empowerment, when it comes to keeping it real, she is the true definition of just that. Adelle’s humble yet infectious nature has millions tuned in everyday and she has used this platform to give a voice to the voiceless, initiating projects targeting the youth who she believes have the power to change the world.
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Osborne Macharia
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“My work is influenced by 3 principles; Culture, Identity, and Fiction.� Osborne Macharia is an award winning self-taught contemporary photographer and multidisciplinary artist. He has made a mark both on the local and international scene with a unique, fantastic and creative oeuvre that fittingly sums up the Afrofuturism movement. He credits his artistic freedom to his exploratory nature, which is evident in his project. He has an ability to bring stories to life from behind his camera lens.
Pinky Ghelani “I have lived my life the way that I have always wanted. I now look back and I have no regrets at all� Pinky Ghelani is a trendsetter in popular culture and fashion. She is a role model for women in the entertainment, fashion and lifestyle. She was the perfect inspiration for our first photo story! She is bold, yet warm, mature, fashionable and most importantly, timeless.
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Afro Art
Lajon Miller Lajon has been drawing since he was four years old. He would sit in front of the television and draw scenes from old Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye cartoons. At the age of ten he realized how much he loved getting lost in my own world creating characters or scenes from his head. Presently been focusing his creative energy on painting and illustrating women. Women have been a direct influence to a multitude of positive and significant transitions throughout his life experiences. Especially in the Page|
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direction towards an art career. “In this present state I live in a world of massive gender inequality and I’m making it my personal responsibility as a man to use my voice creatively to bring attention and awareness to the strength, passion, resilience, innovation and beauty that women can offer to the world. The power of creation and the universe itself exists within the woman and without her we could never be… My voice stands with her voice, and each line I create builds a step towards equality for her…”
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Smokillah’s Grafitti Girls Kenya “Always feed your creative, and keep painting.” – Smokillah Graffiti Girls Kenya is a workshop dedicated in involving young women in graffiti as an art form where they discuss, share and paint on issues affecting them. The workshop is run by muralist Douglas Kihiko, one of the pioneers of graffiti art in Kenya in 2002 called Spray Uzi. Being a professional graffiti muralist, Douglas started this workshop seeing there are no women professional graffiti artists Page|
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in Nairobi. He saw the need of training young women the art form on a professional basis with the aim of balancing out the percentage of male graffiti artists to female. On how Graffiti Girls Kenya came to be, Smokillah says, “It was in 2015. I used to train a group of young boys in this studio. I started noticing a few ladies who would come and peep through that window at what we were doing, then they would walk away probably intimated by the male only classes. That was when the concept of this initiative was born.”
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Thufu-B Bebeto Ochieng, better known as Thufu-B is a master of lines. Graffiti circles have fondly dubbed him the “Lines man”. He is one of the founding members of BSQ crew, a street art group based in Kenya’s Capital, Nairobi. His work focuses mainly on African females. Notably, portraits with African patterns on the background finishing with lines that create faces. These portraits mostly focus on traditional African Cultures. Also, he has a special bias for BBW which is Big Beautiful Women, given his fascination for the African Woman’s features. Ultimately, he hopes to showcase his work to the world. His dreams stretch wide and vast. “Female poses are more fluid, more loving. They inspire the best out of my creativity”
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Afro Fashion Stylist: Brian Emry MakeUp: kanai Beauties Photography: Phetch Photography Models: Lily Thamaini & Brian Onyango Clothes sourced at Blankets and Wines Vendors: Kahari, Co-Be, Mau Jua, Joyce Grace, Peperuka & Bongo Sawa
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The Festival Look
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The Black Woman
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“The drums of African Beats in My Heart”
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“The drums of African Beats in My Heart”
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The Black Woman BeAfrika Page| 37
Africa Nouveau 201
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18 Festival Fashion
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The Artist Makeup by Mdezi Makeup Model Laura Anjili Photography by Lyra Aoko
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"I used to read magazines and wo artists. was fascinated by it an day. Now I am consumed by th Page|
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ould collect the pullouts for makeup nd wanted to be in a magazine one he art of makeup" -Suki Kibunguri, Makeup Artist
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Discovered
Beryl Owano Introduction: I’m a musician from Nairobi, Kenya. I’ve been singing all my life actually. Music. is my passion and besides being a professional TV producer, I take it as a full time career too. I love anything to do with art and I love being an entertainer. People in my field that I admire? Sanaipei Tande because of her writing skills and her vocals, I admire Yemi Alade because our journeys do rhyme and her stage presence is so pleasing, I really look forward to being such an entertainer. View of my industry? The music industry is just an industry like any other, it requires, passion, hard work, working smart and discipline to make it. To me, every day is a new day to learn a new thing in the industry, and that's how it should be actually. Music keeps on changing according to the trends ongoing. So one has to keep up. Singing is work just like any other. Page|
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Jeri Muchura Introduction: Jeri Muchura is a Nairobi based portrait photographer who creates gorgeous, timeless, and elegant portraits of women. She is also a documentary photographer and storyteller who loves telling the African/ Kenya story from a position of strength as opposed to the current Western narrative. Favorite tech tools to use? My favorite tool of my trade is my camera, lenses and edit softwares. This is what I use to make all my images. Something you’ve created? In my journey as a Kenyan photographer, never have I seen images of people living with albinism in their true beauty. Yes, photos of them do exist, but often, they are part of news-pieces and never in
a positive light. It has been my dream to capture images of people living with albinism in a way that has not been showcased yet. It is time for the world to acknowledge that persons living with albinism are no different from them and appreciate their strength and beauty. That’s why I decided to do a shoot called Beyond Color. This helped open the doors to more conversations about the condition. It also gave the ladies I worked opportunities to pursue their passion in modeling. BeAfrika Page| 45
Bevern Oguk Introduction: I am the Co-founder of Co-Be Nairobi. Co-Be Nairobi is a #madeinkibera brand offering made to measure, ready to wear and accessories. Our main style is modern, minimal and chic, with athleisure as our specialty. Our accessory line channels our ethical brand ethos working with Kibera artisans, and using natural materials like brass, bone and wood. Why the creative industry? I have always been a creative for as long as I can remember. I am an artist first and foremost, and fashion was just an avenue to express myself. The other reason is because I believe most of the problems we are facing as humanity can be solved simply by creative design and critical thinking. Page|
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How do you encourage youth in the industry? We have this program that we are part of, we go around high schools on their career days just take them understand that fashion is actually a respectable career and the returns are equally good. We are also rolling out a mentorship program for these youths when the finish school and are keen on a career in the creative industry.
Manasseh Karani Nyagah Introduction: I’m an actor, event manager and radio presenter. How I got into film? I knew I was talented from a very young age, I was in drama national level performance from the age of 12, way later upon joining the University of Nairobi, I met a friend who was acting at the time for a TV show airing on KTN. She introduced me to the producer and that’s how I won my first TV acting gig for KTN’s ‘Mheshimiwa’. Creative process? My creative process involves, seclusion then personal brain storming, setting of goals putting in extra nocturnal hours to polish my delivery, then presentation. It is very personal and doesn’t involve much apart from my environment. What would make the African film industry unique? We are already unique… all we have to do is embrace our narrative and tell our stories accordingly. Only way to create our own brand identity is to stop telling borrowed stories.
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Stephen Maithya Introduction: I am a self-taught, award winning professional photographer specializing in conceptual, fashion and event photography. Why the creative industry? I have always been a creative for as long as I can remember. My dad taught me how to sketch a car when I was six years old and from then, I began taking interest in art. It is in my final year in high school when I picked up my first camera and fell in love with the art of photography. I love how being creative makes me see things from a totally different and extraordinary, yet insane perspective. Page|
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Advice to other creatives? I do encourage the youth in the industry to be very patient with their craft. They should take time to invest in their skills before approaching any potential clients. Exercise great discipline.
Fadhili Introduction: I am a music artist, collaborating with other artists in an effort to create ontent for the African music market. I am a Pan-Africanist. I love nature, culture, people and family. How do you incorporate creativity in your free time? In my line of work being an artist, you are constantly doing things that require you to create. So my free time is filled up with very innovative ways of doing things. I have a very innovative approach to everything; from cooking, talking, to playing around with languages- pretty much everything I do. And when it comes to music, I love to not say things flatly but to find a way to creatively say things. Challenges of being a musician in Africa? Of course it’s there, but it’s mostly financial. I don’t believe the creative aspect is really an issue, because being a creative in Africa and being a musician especially in Africa, you cannot compare the competition with the developed world ‘coz they’d had it for years.
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Creative Entrepreneur
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Beata Otieno What made you take the leap into creative entrepreneurship? I was broke and needed money, even though I was a teenager I knew I didn’t want the life of borrowing money from my parents to buy the basics. I’ve always wanted to be independent. The simplest way in my eyes was turning my hobbies and interests into a business.
Did you have major competitors when you started, how did you plan to compete with them, and how did that plan play out? Not at all, when I entered the market as a branded company, there was barely any competition unlike now. However the beauty of competition is that it unleashes the inner entrepreneur within you, you start to think differently and expand in strategic ways.
What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as an entrepreneur? What was your business’ original mission? How has As cliché as it may sound, there are no mistakes in that mission evolved? I mostly wanted to concentrate on fashion but now its businesses only lessons learnt, that’s if you don’t give up. expanding and I’m looking into other fields that I love and As long as you know your market, you are strategic, you work hard and deliver to your clients you will do good. enjoy as I spot business opportunities. BeAfrika Page| 53
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Arnold Lakita
changed much to be honest...
What made you take the leap into creative entrepreneurship? The ability to influence popular culture here in Kenya, make a decent living and still have fun while at it!
How do you believe evolving technology will impact the way we do business over the next 10 years? That's definitely a given, when I was interning, designs and layouts were hand rendered, so in the advent of digital arts, design obviously evolved into a sleeker, faster version. Which forced our generation to adapt or become obsolete. Meaning more exponential leaps will happen and it is a good thing to work in a constantly evolving field as it forces one to also reinvent their style and approach. Which will create a new generation of better creatives, because a competitive environment is exactly what we need to improve our skillsets.
What were the biggest initial hurdles to building your career and how did you overcome them? Lack of exposure, and no formal training in design and art, but I was lucky to have met and worked with creatives who were more than willing to show and teach me the tricks to the trade.. What was your original mission? How has that mission evolved in the time since? To be refreshingly original I would say. It has not
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Afro-Lense
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Creative Organizations Creative Organizations Every Creative Should Follow Art Moves Africa Art Moves Africa (AMA) is an international non-for-profit organization aiming to facilitate cultural and artistic exchanges within the African continent. AMA offers travel funds to artists, arts professionals and cultural operators living and working in Africa to travel within the African continent in order to engage in the exchange of information, the enhancement of skills, the development of informal networks and the pursuit of cooperation. The AMA grants cover travel, visa and travel insurance costs. www.artmovesafrica.org British Council Arts New Arts New Audiences (NANA) This is an annual grant by British Council Kenya for East African creatives aged between 18-35. Application opens in July and the premise is collaboration in various arts projects between East Africans and creatives in the UK. The grant is administered under the East Africa Arts program. Mobility East Africa Travel Grant Another grant by the British Council East Africa Arts Program is the mobility grant . This grant gives reatives a chance to travel and attend art and cultural events across East Africa and document their experience while connecting with other East African artists. It is open to artists, cultural practitioners, researchers and curators. Page|
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https://www.britishcouncil.org/ arts/opportunities HEVA Fund HEVA describes itself as an East African Fund that invests in the
social and economic potential of the creative economy in the East African region. Since it’s inception in 2013, the fund has invested in 20 projects in the fields of fashion, digital content, crafts, decor and value chains.
independent media are crucial for the development of a democratic society. Hivos fosters a diverse and thriving media landscape by improving the quality and independence of news reporting and ensuring that the media not only hold others to account, but also themselves as well. Since 2011, the Hivos Regional Office in East Africa has implemented successful media programs in Africa contributing to a more responsible, accountable and transparent governance environment through strengthening the media sector. https://www.hivos.org/partner/ hivos
http://www.hevafund.com/ Hivos Hivos has over 40 years of experience
as a development organisation and a grant maker, and stands for quality, continuity and reliability, as well as versatility, innovation and individual choices. Hivos believes that a diverse, high-quality and BeAfrika Page| 65
Digital Art
Kaylan Michael a.k.a
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I didn’t choose this career, I believe it chose me. about art. I remember always drawing when I was me disconnect with the exterior world and let my can’t live without, alm
Lost In The Island
. I have always been interested and passionate s 6 years old and art is the only thing that helps imagination carry me away. Art is something I most like my shadow.
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Xane Asiamah “African G
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Through the series, he presents his subjects as royal, powerful female deities, in hope in the minds of the world. The negative perception of Afric extent inhibited advancement. The blocked color addresses the warped w Through the use of elements and symbols, these pieces truly dig into a deep societal p mind in the hopes of making the audience come to the realiza BeAfrika can change our lives. Xane believes it is n
Goddesses” Series
es of changing the negative impression ‘African tradition and beliefs’ imprints cans by Africans themselves and others has to a large way traditional African culture is viewed: as barbaric and heathen. problem plaguing the African continent. It’s a statement piece that probes the ation that: it is only when we change our minds that we now time to break past these walls.
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Ed Wai
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My passion for art began when I was 4 years old the interesting cartoons I saw. My parents, fortu buying supplies as I grew up but didn’t have an didn’t stop me. Hard work, passion and consta
inaina
d. Watching Tv would make me draw almost all unately, seeing my interest in art would fund in ny interest when I showed them my work. That ant practice has made me the artist I am today.
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Dananayi M “Talent and inspiration are fickle. Rather, t Page|
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Muwanigwa talent is earned not given.� Anthony Jones BeAfrika Page| 73
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Following the Cairo to Cape Town route in a quest to see more of his continent and motherland, the author used public transport from the City of Pharaohs in Egypt to Cape Town and back up through the mountains of Lesotho and then home to Zimbabwe. Encountering questionable immigration officers, hospitable individuals in Uganda, to skeletons on the Skeleton Coast in Namibia, he went in search of what it means to be African. As an African, he was keen to observe whether he would enjoy the same hospitality afforded to white and foreign travellers as he made his way through his continent? Along the way, engaging in conversations with tourists, volunteers, local doctors and protesting students, he tried to gain insight into the history, politics, economics and atmosphere in each country. He recalls his return to his motherland, as Zimbabwe comes to grips with a crumbling economy and the people finally begin to stir and protest and seek a better life.
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Creative Cities
“African creatives are waking up to their own power, and there’s a higher appreciation for African-ness.� The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. The 116 cities work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level. However there are only 3 African cities that are included in this, and they are: Craft and Folk Art Cities Lubumbashi, the copper and malachite industries have long been the backbones of the local economy. Aswan, has remarkable heritage in crafts and folk arts, creative exchange, arts education, and civil engagement. Its traditional crafts include beadwork, tablecloth production, palm branch and leaf creations, as well as clay and needle-work products. Music City Brazzaville an artistic hub, a historical city with a large number of cultural assets, in particular a heritage linked to diversity, music and the arts. So we decided to do a virtual tour and find a few Page|
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other cities that we could include in this Kigali, Rwanda list. The Creatively Artistic cities are; Explore the works of fashion designers like Linda Mukangoga of label Haute Lagos, Nigeria Baso who collaborates with local As the largest city in Africa and home to artisans and empowers young women a booming technology scene, Lagos is a to preserve traditional craftsmanship, city brimming with creative opportunity. Mukangoga is breathing new life into Terra Kulture, a lounge, theater, art cultural designs like imigongo, a spiral gallery, and craft shop all under one roof. of geometric shapes in shades of black, white, and red. Accra, Ghana Accra is the capital and a hub for culinary Johannesburg, South Africa connoisseurs and nightlife aficionados. Galleries, museums, and a youthful It is fast becoming the creative outpost emergence of contemporary artists fuel of the country. Johannesburg as the leading creative capital in Africa. Visit Goodman Dakar, Senegal Gallery to view sociopolitical works Dakar is Senegal’s vibrant epicenter, from African artists and Gallery Momo home to the Dak’Art Biennale of for contemporary art from locals Contemporary African Art gathering, like sculptor and photographer Mary the region’s only major international art Sibande. fair.
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Creative Tech
Creative Apps No app can make you creative. But sometimes it can help to give you the push you need to release your inner creativity. Here are a few examples of inspiring creative apps: Brainsparker Use this brainstorming app to spark creative inspiration When you’re trying to come up with a new creative solution, a popular brainstorming exercise is to write words on slips of paper, pull them out of a hat at random, relate them to the problem at hand, and see what they spark in your brain. In other words, sometimes you need a bit of randomness to generate the right creative ideas. It might sound stupid but if you keep an open mind, it really can work. Brainsparker is a free app that provides a similar exercise to stretch your creative muscles. The app contains 200 cards containing thought-provoking words and phrases; you simply shake your device to shuffle the pack and produce a new card. The rest, of course, is up to you. SimpleMind This mind mapping app will help you connect up your ideas into a coherent whole Sometimes the problem you have is not generating ideas, it’s organizing them into something that’s actually going to work. So if you have dozens of chaotic, free-floating ideas that don’t seem to connect up with each other, mind mapping Page|
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is a technique that can help. At its most basic, a mind ap is a diagram linking up different ideas, represented by words and/or images, in a way that helps you make sense of them. There’s often a central idea in the middle and other, related ideas branching out from those, although there are no strict rules: it’s whatever works for you. SimpleMind is a great app for mind mapping on your computer, tablet or phone, and it’s easy to swap your maps from device to device. Cool features include the ability to create an invisible note (so you can add large texts without cluttering your mind map); to add voice memos on iPhone, iPad and Android; and to add video on iPhone and iPad.
TED Talks Get ideas and inspiration from the world’s leading creative minds TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences under the slogan
‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. Attracting some of the most innovative and provocative thought-leaders on the planet, the best TED talks can provide a shot in the arm of refreshed creative inspiration. The free TED app includes hundreds of videos to download to your device, and even has an ‘Inspire Me’ function, which makes it easy to select exactly what kind of inspiration you’re looking for. Coffitivity Stimulate your senses by piping in the coffeeshop atmosphere Coffitivity does one thing and
Unstuck Beat prevarication and creative block with this “in-the-moment digital coach” The biggest enemy of creativity is creative block. But that feeling of being stuck and not knowing how to proceed isn’t just limited to design challenges: it’s something that everyone experiences in different ways. Describing itself as “in-themoment digital coach” Unstuck is a self-paced course that teaches you to overcome “stuckness” through provocative questions, targeted tips and action-oriented tools. So if you feel you’re lacking creativity not just momentarily, but constantly, this might be worth spending some time on. does it well: it recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe. This is based on research showing that such background sounds really do make your brain more creative. We’re not sure of the science here, but we do know many designers who say that
they do some of their best work in coffee shops. If that’s you, then brewing your own caffeine drinks at home and using this free app for ambience is certainly going to be cheaper than a day spent in Starbucks.
Source: /www.creativebloq.com
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Lifestyle FILM CULTURE IN AFRICA. By Tony Ngige. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade or so, it is quite evident that visual art is the future and as a matter of fact, the future is here. With the attention span of the average human being having reduced significantly over the past few years, visual representation of information through media such as film is at its most beneficial point. With the world taking on film as one of the biggest and most effective way of passing a message across or even spearheading change in society, Africa has not been left behind. In fact, Africa’s film industry is growing sporadically and if we maintain the status quo, we will quickly and most definitely conquer the said industry. Just like other African forms of creative expression, filmmaking is a part of a form of dialog and practice that is not just artistic and cultural, but also intellectual and political. It is a way of defining, describing and interpreting African experiences with those forces that have shaped their past and that continue to shape and influence the present. It is a product of the historical experiences of Africans, and it has direct bearing and relevance to the challenges that face African societies and people of African descent in the world in the present moment and in the future. As product of the imagination, filmmaking constitutes, at the same time, a particular mode of intellectual and political practice. Thus, in looking at filmmaking, in particular, and the other creative arts, in general, one is looking at Page|
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particular insights into ways of thinking and acting on individual as well as collective realities, experiences, challenges and desires over time. African thinking and acting on their individual and collective realities, experiences, challenges and desires are diverse and complex, and cinema provides one of the most productive sites for experiencing, understanding and appreciating such diversity and complexity.
“In fact, Africa’s film industry is growing sporadically and if we maintain the status quo, we will quickly and most definitely conquer the said industry.”
African cinema functions as a mode of entertainment. At the same time, it assigns itself a pivotal role in definitions, enactment and performance of African notions and ideologies of individual as well as community and humanity. It has also focused and continues to focus on issues of racism, colonial exploitation and injustice, tradition and modernity, hopes, betrayals and disaffections of independence, immigration and many other social
Mandera in December 2015. The film goes a long way in addressing the consequential In Africa, Kenya is at the forefront unrest that arises in Kenya of the film-making culture having from the militia group attacks recently been nominated for an in the country. Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 90 th Oscar Awards This, however, was not early 2018, for the short film Watu Kenya’s first award-winning Wote. The 2017 film, directed by production to be released on Kenyan-German Katja Benrath is an international platform. In based on a true story that depicts 2016, Kenyan director Mbithi the Al- Shabaab militia bus attack on Masya released a drama Muslim and Christian passengers in film, KatiKati, which gained significant acclaim having won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. KatiKati follows the life, or in this case the afterlife of Kaleche, a lady who finds herself in purgatory assimilated to her by a ghost. Definitely a must-watch! justice issues.
A little while ago, Nairobi Half-life, one of Kenya’s most recognized films was released and it quickly set the country’s film industry on an international level. The film showcases the life of a young, aspiring actor from an upcountry region with big dreams in his pursuit of success in the big city, Nairobi. Directed by David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, the film spearheaded the film culture of the country by being one of the most relatable productions to date. Most recently, the talk of the town has been the film Supa Modo which is a story about a terminally ill girl whose desire to become a superhero amidst her condition inspires the society around her to rally together and make her dreams come true. The film was directed by Likarion Wainaina who has previously produced the popular show Auntie Boss, BeAfrika Page| 85
award-winning Bait and Kidnapped. The film was award-worthy has been a challenge especially in the recently recognized at the Berlin International Film west. Moreover, African films are only considered Festival held in February, 2018. as crafts and only ever make it to a small-scale level in comparison to productions from Hollywood for It is clear that we are making great strides in the example. Despite all this, the future is bright and with film-making industry. However, it has not been an a little more effort and support from the film lovers easy road. Facing stereotypes such as films requiring and audiences, no one can say how much success we a colonial point of view in order to be considered gain as Africa. Page|
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