The story of dillion phiri

SOCIAL SCULPTOR AND FAK’UGESI CURATOR

“I remember hearing about dillion phiri for the first time between the years 2015 - 2016 when the award-winning young and African creative network, Creative Nestlings, had just begun in Cape Town - a must attend event. As someone who is motivated and affected by doers and makers, dillion phiri’s journey is incredibly captivating to me. When our conversation began I was welcomed by the soothing sounds of Kanye from his recent album, Donda, and I just knew it, man! We bonded, as all ‘Ye stans do over his genius, and I knew this interview was going to be incredible.” Unam Ntsababa

THE BEGINNING

Similar to a few other creatives, dillion is continually inspired by his upbringing and surroundings. A product of two creatives, inheriting gifts from his maternal and paternal roots, creative brilliance was inevitable for this young man. With the prospect of being given independence once he obtained his degree in Business IT, he went on to work for Cape and Tourism to develop the IT department. Her hopes for him were to live a free life of exploration, despite being refugees in South Africa, and not have his immigrant status serve as a constant reminder to him. This job piqued his interest as he began to wonder why people were flocking to Cape Town from the UK and America to experience the creative experiences the bustling city had to offer - he knew that what they weren’t seeing were black creatives, the true trailblazers, and this is where his passion for creating communities, building homes for creatives began.

How has fatherhood shaped or influenced your general approach to life?

Being a father has really helped me to ground myself. If I hadn’t done that, I would have been all over the place. Having a child really shaped my thinking about the world. I want to make the world a better place because they exist, they have to inherit something. In my bio I put ‘father’ first before anything else, because it dictates what I work on, how I work on it, like, will my kids be impressed? Will my kids be cool about it? You know what I mean? So it kind of helps with that.

Why do you feel that spaces like the Creative Nestlings, and The Hive are pivotal for fresh South African art as a basis of building a sense of community?

Spaces are critical to any community, and any creation process. It’s imperative for creatives to be able to practice and connect with each other, that’s my personal philosophy of life in my work. Everywhere I go, I have to create a safe space for creators to connect and share resources, opportunities and knowledge. Individually, we can’t do too much, but collectively, our voices are louder, and we’re able to really have serious conversations with people with equal footing. The current challenge facing the creative industry is the unequal support between ourselves, funders and brands, there’s no sense of community, or a space for that to happen. That’s critical for me as a creative basically. 14

Q

What inspired you to join the Fak’Ugesi team, and what new things do you plan to bring to the festival?

The framework of the festival has always been anchored around these pillars; animation, gaming, immersive media, all that kind of stuff, but I think the foundation of it - family in the creative industry, is where I want to make the most impact. By being a part of the creative aspect of the festival, I will be able to get the general creatives to participate in the festival by attending, creating work, and learning about technology. The festival is about creatives using technology for creation and production, and that’s my favorite part of it, coming into the best of all our attention to access for young black creators in the creative space. We’re brilliant as creatives, and that’s why we need to be at the forefront of everything.

Q

How would you describe the role of an artist?

We are the mirror, we are the good looking glass, but we are also reflecting what’s wrong with society. We’re providing solutions and opportunities, a fun, but necessary challenge.

Q

What’s your favorite thing about collaborating with and nurturing young talent?

My favourite thing has to be the amazing ideas and naivety. I’m still young myself, 32? I think that’s considered young in South Africa. Younger creatives are not worried too much about a lot of things, we’re all about creation, I like that. I also like being able to learn from others, while feeding into the process. There is a willingness to learn and listen, well most of the time, I just wish there was more space for collaboration among different creative generations. For instance, I want to rebuild Creative Nestlings and have been trying to find a young creative to run it, but it’s quite hard to find a young creative who understands the past, present and the future. But overall, I really love working with young creatives. It’s so much fun.

Q

Any advice for young creatives?

Not necessarily advice, just my two cents. If you want to be a great creative, be the best researcher, stay inquisitive about what’s happening in the world. Research is where the money is, it just requires a bit of work. Google is your friend - use that to your advantage.

“Having a child really shaped my thinking about the world, I want to make the world a better place because they exist.”

Q

What is your vision and hope for South African art and its future?

I hope to play a role in helping shape the future of our art through the building of more galleries and spaces for creatives across Africa. We need more spaces where creators can create, to just walk in and just feel free to sit down and just explore, a space where to experiment and explore their creativity. I think Tshimologong has the potential to be a really good conduit for that because they’re a tech-precinct, if you are a creative reading this, you should go check it out. My biggest dream for the next ten years, atleast, is to work towards building 54 spaces, one in every country, across the African continent for Creative Nestlings. I also feel that we can do better in creating opportunities for more creatives, we tend to recycle faces and talent, and I think we should be doing better to showcase people that are on the ground, doing amazing work - not necessarily just for clients, but for impact. That’s the most important thing for me.

Q

Let’s talk about money.

The creative industry is facing quite a challenge with money. Creative work is also a service, whenever we create, we are working, creating value for somebody else and that value should be reciprocated monetarily. There is also a huge need for transparency, in a case where there is no budget, send that invoice to indicate how much it would cost, they should know what your fee is no matter what, to avoid having things, especially your time, being taken for granted. I sometimes feel that as creatives, we underestimate how much we’re with, and that needs to stop. For instance, if you charge R5k for a service and you get compensated with a voucher, then double its value. You can’t pay rent with that, but you can stretch it. We should start training ourselves on how to have conversations about money and be very blatant about it.

Interview by Unam Ntsababa