Volume II
01
03
Ignatius Mokone & his photographs
04
Landa Willie By Luxolo Witvoet
05
06
Kele
07
Shiro By Philia
08
Natalie By Philia
09
This Time
10
Next Week I got the idea to make a jazz inu enced p roject a fter m y rstf ew months of staying Cape Town. This Time Next Week is conceptualized around themes o f escapism and the g rowth that comes w ith change. I needed t o escape from Johannesburg for multiple reasons. Although the change w as necessary, i t was challenging a t rst being solo in a new city. One day I was leaving from another unsuccessful j ob i nterview and got l ost trying to make my way home.
It was raining quite a bit and I was underdressed cause I still couldn't predict the ever-changing weather in Cape Town. I happened to come across a song t itled "A w orld o f Blue". The song’s lmnoir vibe contrasting m y mental state i n the rain is the emotion I want to capture in m y music. I w ant t o leave listeners with a part of me.
VituXArcade Photographs by Prince Mphomane
11
Anaka
12
Anaka
13
“Constructing identity in the murky waters of white supremacy” by Keenan Oliver
14
Justice Machaba
15
Malaika Evans
16
Giselle Le Roux
17
A Memoir
18
Diano
20
21
Models: Dumi & Funky Photographer: Helen Wells Styling: Tony z & Roxy Caroline
22
Keenan Oliver
Dada Shiva
25
Bafana Motloi
26
Seth Banda by Justice Machaba
27
Giselle Le Roux
28
Pebofatso Mokoena
We invoke the attitude in one another that calls for upward eyes Reaching for the highest curl A tree with no top in sight
We invoke The nerve to skinny dip in the Black Atlantic & change its colour
We invoke Parallel unions of ancient love Portraits of ourselves Archives of decolonial decadence -On loving a reborn sister
Chaze Matakala
Ukaba Mnye Nehlabatha One with the Earth A collaboration between
Tony Gum &
Anaka
35
36
37
38
39
40
e
Illustration: Mailaika Evans Words: Nazlee
The power to imagine encompasses the imaginer with the infinite ability to manifest their enviroment according to the extent they dare to imagine. Imagination thus becomes the mode of multi-dimensional expression, unbound by space and time. imagination as armour from the troubles of the world. Imagination as a vehicle of travel beyond this man-made reality. Imagination as the only connection to source we have ever needed. - F.P.L.U.S
43
Jabu Nadia Newman
44
Jabu Nadia Newman
Words By Nazlee
46
Nazlee By Anaka
Zuko Nqoro
Imraan & Haneem Christian By Anaka
Mmabatho Grace Mokalapa
My art practice is focussed on the subjective sublime experience(s) of physi cal space. For this, I am particularly interested in spacial voids, voids that are depersonal, infinite and yet also uncanny and transcendental. These spacial voids affect the viewer’s sense of perception and sense of self, they affect our psychological, aesthetic and physical relations to space, whilst simultaneously intercepting between reality and fictional space. It is be cause of this that my work considers the viewer, not only as a spectator but as a participant, for it is ultimately the viewers’ experiences of these voids that are essential to the artwork and it’s ability to move it’s spectator.
Its beaming and full of energy at this time, a quick reminder t hat t he hustle and bustle never stops. Cars hooting and in the distance, coming closer and closer, sounds the annoying tinkle from a bell perched on a bicycle’s handbar, probably just t here for t he r ide. O h if t hat bell had eyes and ears the stories it would tell would amass your third eye with award winning i magery of t he w orld gone b y. Workers are scurrying by hurriedly like ants, trying to make their way down to the train station for them to be carried back t o their zinc nests w hich carry j ust about enough stress and little rest and down the road I s ee i t all and remember that it does not stop for anybody and instead thinks only about i tself. Capitalism in f ull stretch, a t 4:30pm on an everyday afternoon on a liberal street full of so called-hippies. Lower Main is a cauldron of confusion, it remains a contradiction in i tself, a sin in t he m idst o f heaven and a h eaven perched upon hell’s c rown. I t is a representation of all that is right and all that is wrong, not only about Cape Town and South Africa but the world at large.
“Lower Main After Four Thirty”
Mmamalema Molepo
It i s happy hour a t Obz Café, slipping i n for a drink, I notice that a few classmates are there, laptops out, full academic conversation with a dash of banter seems to be the o rder o f the day. A p itcher o f water sits between them and they’re discussing the exams and essays they have t o submit, one o f them s houts something about how t hey are so t ired o f having t o go t o a militarized campus and act as if everything is okay, a friend of hers chimes in, playing the devil’s advocate and reminds her that t he p rotestors beat p rivate s ecurity guards some time ago. Another asks how it is possible that protestors are seldom referred to as members of the university community but as outsiders that don’t seem to belong there. I grab a s eat o n the pavement w here t he d runk young man and his friends had sat just a few minutes ago, adjacent to the group of students and remember that these are Lower Main café conversations. Tilting my head to the side and twitching my ear, I listen attentively and take a quick look around me, wondering what everybody else is saying, I get t he f eeling that e verybody w alking down Lower Main is looking for an interesting conversation to lodge themselves into. As I put my drink to my mouth, a lady comes up to me, smartly dressed in what seems to be her c hurch going a ttire and hands m e a pamphlet inviting me to praise and prayer sessions at ‘The Mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ’. She asks if I am a believer and a church goer and mutters something about heathens and the devils work as she shoots an eye inside the restaurant (where everybody seems to be enjoying a drink), before I can even conjure up an answer, she has moved on to the next person. Lower Main has its characters.
Everything shows itself for what it really is or what it was really meant to do or be at some point in life, agitation is usually the driving force behind anything revealing itself. A police van here and there with the odd looking black/ colored policeman giving other black and colored people ‘the l ook’, s topping j ust short of a sking t hem f or t heir papers and asking them what they are doing in this part of t own at t his time, the sun is s etting, l et a ll g o back where they belong. I guess that job is usually reserved for the neighborhood w atch, the community’s v ery own private security, who go around claiming to be ‘Improving Our Neighbourhoods Together’. Lower Main i s a huge reminder t hat t he m ore things c hange, t he m ore they remain t he s ame. T he r acial d ivision has s ettled i n and the class divide has s tarted t o kick i n. L ower M ain, l ike every other place, is a great reminder that equality is a rumor we a ll p icked up o n the streets, s omebody o nce said you could meet the world on Lower Main, especially if you trudge down after four thirty (16:30).
Melanin Magic Photography & Styling: The Kenjis Clothes: Moko Elosa Models: Mariah Mckenzie & Oliver Ntumba
Bafana Motloi and Kyle Hutchings
Silient Zine Volume II
Published by Imagery is Infinite™ Archives.
Curator & Editor: Anaka Graphic Design & over: Yusuf Essop