THE LAKE #26 by THE LAKE MAGAZINE

THE LAKE

THE LAKE WE ARE FOOLISHLY Ambitious

#26 / 150419 “The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.” - Carl Sagan

CONTENTS REGULARS:

PUBLISHER

Advertising / MARKETING

News 04 Wax Junkie 69 Print Run 74 Plimsoll 76

THE LAKE MAGAZINE PTY LTD info@thelake.co

Brett Bellairs brett@thelake.co

Editor / Art DirectOR

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

ART:

Stefan Naude’ stefan@thelake.co

www.thelake.co.za @the_lake_magazine

Submissions

INTERN

PHOTOGRAPHY:

info@thelake.co

(Design) Nicole Mostert

Stalker 11 Boetas 21 Aberration 37 Franadella 43

COPY EDITING

End Of An Error 25 Yasuke 57

MUSIC: Rise 17 Milestones 61 LIFESTYLE: Exscursions 23 Call One’s Bluff 51 White Boy 65

cONTENTS PHOTO Joubert Van Staden The views and opinions expressed within the editorial and advertisements of THE LAKE do not necessarily reflect those of its staff, nor any of its associates.THE LAKE and anything contained within is copyright. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, copied or stored electronically without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Christine Stewart COVER Photography On the cover Creative Direction Lighting / Studio Retouching

Mosako Lowsso Chalashika Dlamini Dlamini Stefan Naude Big Time Studios Naomi E’camara

photography

contributors

Mosako Lowsso Chalashika Hayden Phipps Jacqui van Staden Oliver Kruger Paul Hunt Oliver Petrie Justin McGee

Dan Charles Sean O’Toole Rick De La Ray Brett Bellairs Rael Fluterman Pieter retief Adrian Day Haneem Christian

Kody McGregor Darren Simes Samora Chapman Meghan Daniels Emilie Regnier Sam Clark Grant Mclachlan Maaike Bakke justin Fortuin Haneem Christian Fotobooth Durban Amy Braaf

PRINTING Tandym print Tel: +27 21 505 4200 Email: print@tandym.co.za

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NEWS VANS / Slip-On Pro by Lizzie Armanto With the help of global skate team rider Lizzie Armanto, Vans introduces a new take on the Vans Slip-On Pro for winter. Featured in lavender-toned canvas and suede uppers, Lizzie Amanto’s signature colorway of the Vans Slip-On Pro is enhanced with innovative performance features that include supportive UltraCush HD sockliners for resilient cushioning and advanced comfort, and Duracap-reinforced underlays in high abrasion areas for premium durability and consistent fit. www.vans.com

SUPERDRY Superdry is an exciting contemporary brand which focuses on high-quality products that fuse vintage Americana and Japanese-inspired graphics with a British style. This season you can find a broad selection of jackets to ensure you are at the top of your game. Take your look from day to night with Superdry’s premium leather range. Define your style and share your story

@SuperdrySA

NIXON / DORK TOO Nixon opened a new brand store in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town mid-March. We are bringing a custom bar to do bespoke watches with an etching machine in September. As a 21 year old brand our mission is clear: to be the leading accessories brand for the next generation of global independents, creatives and freethinkers. Make Next Now! Drop in to come see our latest collection of Nixon. www.nixon.com

Lomo Instant & Lenses - Kyoto Inspired by the scenic Japanese landmark, Lomography introduces the Lomo’Instant Kyoto Edition. The Lomo’Instant has an auto flash shooting mode and two manual shooting modes to open up all kinds of experimental shooting possibilities. There are also Bulb and Multiple Exposure functions. The camera has a built-in wide-angle lens and includes 3 other lens attachments for tons of creative photography option. It uses Fuji Instax Mini Film and your order includes 1 free box. www.exposuregallery.co.za 04

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S EE W H AT DE S I G N E R & BOT BU IL DE R E MMANU E L CAR ILLO I S U P TO O W I T H T H E DOR K TO O. NIXO N. CO M/DO R KTOO

NEWS adidas and Beyoncé have announced a multi-layered partnership that will include inspiring and empowering the next generation of creators, driving positive change in the world through sport, and identifying new business opportunities. Beyoncé will be a creative partner for the brand, develop new signature footwear and apparel, as well as re-launch Ivy Park with adidas . This unique relationship aligns the importance of women in leadership, shared ownership, empowerment and collaboration. www.adidas.co.za

YO W TYO E IO LOV T. YO H ,U W U E LOV AH D R U N D EAT O ED O D W EYO IO L IT. YO H W T. ,OV E U LAH R U OV N E D AT ED O W EYO OL YO IH W ,T. OV U E AH U RN D E AT ED OW O YO LOV YO IH ,T.A U EUR NE DE DO W O YO LOV IH , T. A E UR N EDE DO W YO LOV H I T. EURED EO W YO H I T. E URDEOYO I T.U D O I T.

ADIDAS / BeyoncéE'

ROASTIN’ RECORDS / Friends With Benefits Too FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS TOO is the next addition of this coveted electronic compilation series – featuring artists that defy genres across the board. Pop it on, spin it and turn up the volume. Side A goes in hard with upbeat dance tracks, seamlessly switching between classic house grooves, head-bopping breakbeats and neoninfused, factory style rave bangers! Side B takes it down a notch with a more ambient, down-tempo electronic experience. *** Available May 24 / 2019 *** www.roastinrecords.com www.biblo.tv

NEW BALANCE / 990v5 With a legacy that spans over three decades, the legendary 990 from New Balance remains transcendent and timeless in its appeal. Designed without compromise, the newly updated 990v5 blends the perfect combination of cushioning and stability to continue it proud tradition. Our products are the perfect blend of function and fashion, giving you the performance technology you need and the style you want. Our associates around the world bring these goals to life with their high-level skills and creativity www.newbalance.co.za

Fisheye 2 Black

The world’s greatest compact Fisheye camera is now more amazing than you ever thought possible! Not only does it have same 170-degree wide-angle view and stunning fisheye barrel distortion, but the Fisheye No. 2 adds a bulb setting for long exposures, a switch for multiple exposures on the same frame, the ability to fire both a hot shoe flash and the built-in flash, a true fisheye viewfinder.

www.exposuregallery.co.za 06

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COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACE BREE STREET, CAPE TOWN COLLABORATIVE WORKSPACE| 7| 7 BREE STREET, CAPE TOWN

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L OV E W H AT YO U D O , A N D LOV E W H E R E YO U D O I T. >

L OV E EWW HH AT LOV WHHEERREEYO YO DO LOV ATYO YOUU DDO O,, A AN ND L OV EE W U UD O I T.I T.

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Night Time Creators adidas Originals / Nite Jogger adidas Originals offers up new iterations of the Nite Jogger model this month, reinterpreting the iconic road running sneaker through another unmissable aesthetic update. The reflective silhouette returns to stake its claim as an essential for any night time creator, backed with a campaign created by a global network of artists working in their fields of expertise.

DAY

NIGHT

Illuminating its wearer after dark, the campaign shows how the Nite Jogger silhouette brings together function first technology and forward thinking design, in order to push todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night time creator firmly to the forefront. Harnessing the reflective hi-vis technology of its past iteration, the silhouette is engineered for those who know itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never too late to pursue their vision. Available at a retail price of R1899 at adidas Originals stores, select retailers and online at www.adidas.co.za.

www.adidas.co.za/nite_jogger @adidasZA / #NITEJOGGER THE LAKE

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> WORDS - RICK DE LA RAY

PHOTOGRAPHY - AMY BRAAF

STALKER AMY BRAAF “I do feel like the space for expression has been transforming over the last few years especially for woman who are creatives. The human experience is isolated yet combined with our surroundings at the same time, and I think that some people struggle to express themselves openly due to the fast pace of social media.” Where are you from and how do you feel it has influenced the way you look at the world? I was born in Johannesburg and was raised by a single mom who allowed me to have a lot of freedom in a creative way, from a very young age. We would often spend holidays in Durban with my grandmother, aunts and uncle; during this time they would teach me many skills that I still use today. My uncle taught me how to paint and play guitar, my cousin taught me about photography and my grandmother taught me about design. Johannesburg is such a vibrant city with room for so much personal growth - living there has given me a sense of confidence that I’m not sure I would have had if I had grown up anywhere else. It is so big, and often I would feel extremely lost in the city; my art was a way of observing my surroundings and trying to capture the whimsical beauty of the individual within a diverse space. When and how did photography become a part of your life? My cousin studied photography while I studied film production, spending three years analyzing films, from the French New Wave to East Asian Cinema. This is where my love for intense colour-grading originated. Repeat-

edly watching nostalgic and dreamy films by Wong Kar-wai, and Park Chan-wook allowed me to enter an entirely new world. I began editing a lot while directing experimental short films and through studying a myriad of films I somehow found my way to photography - also after watching my cousin work as a photographer for so many years. The films I had watched somehow translated into my work, and I became obsessed with the idea of capturing film stills without being on a film set. I wanted to capture life as it is, highlight the essence of our desires and capture the vulnerability that can be seen when people are normally alone. Do you have any inspiration that influences you and your work? The influences over the past few years that have inspired so many of my photographs, have been films like Amélie directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet; ones that focus on the details that are often ignored due to the rush of life. Photographers like Renhang and Wing Shya have also been extremely talented photographs that I deeply admire due to their ability to capture extremely intimate flashes of life as well as compose beautifully framed compositions with a moody and evocative style.

HIGH FIVES D’Angelo

Jeff Buckley

Mitski

Cocteau Twins

Tomoko Aran

Black Messiah

Grace

Puberty 2

Heaven or Las Vegas

Fuyukukan

2014

1994

2016

1990

2016

RCA

Columbia

Dead Oceans

4AD

Warner Music Japan

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“One element of my art that I am very particular about is not over-planning any photoshoot. My photography ranges far and wide between nightscapes that I have taken in Japan, to portraits of creatives that I have met in Hong Kong, South Korea, Johannesburg and Cape Town. For each of these sections in my photography I have different approaches. ”

Do you feel its important for creatives to be open about their experiences? I do feel like the space for expression has been transforming over the last few years especially for womxn who are creatives. The human experience is isolated yet combined with our surroundings at the same time, and I think that some people struggle to express themselves openly due to the fast pace of social media. However, art allows us to channel these emotions in a way that can not only be therapeutic for ourselves but also create a platform for discussion with other people who can empathize with us. Without saying too much, photography sparks thoughts and stirs sub-conscious emotions that can be brought to the surface and dealt with - in whatever way that person needs to heal or to understand. What inspires the subject matter in your images or do you allow it to happen spontaneously? One element of my art that I am very particular about is not over-planning any photoshoot. My photography ranges far and wide between nightscapes that I have taken in Japan, to portraits of creatives that I have met in Hong Kong, South Korea, Johannesburg and Cape Town. For each of these sections in my photography I have different approaches. Nightscapes are fast-paced, and often I am alone at 3 a.m. in a foreign country, walking by myself and relishing the moment of being truly alone - this transfers into my work. Whereas when I’m photographing people for portraits, I normally get to know them first through sharing a coffee, and then once they are comfortable with the space, the photographs come out looking far more organic than if I had to direct them too much on how they should look. Do you see photography becoming a full-time thing for you in the future or how do you see yourself evolving?

Photography is the love of my life, it never feels like work and sometimes I wonder how much it would change if it became full-time. I think I enjoy the other elements of my life, like painting and writing essays and articles about my travels. Time will tell - where I end up is in the hands of fate, and if the time is right perhaps my photography will be the only focus in my life. My art evolves every day, and this means that I do too - it’s an ongoing process that should never be premeditated. What medium do you prefer shooting in and what camera are you using at the moment? I am currently shooting with a Sony A7sii, and the portraits I have been working on capturing powerful and talented womxn creatives with a sense of nostalgia is a project that I have been extremely excited about. I have always shot digitally and I love the power of the editing process - within itself a magical experience that comes with a lot of work. Besides the styling what other work are you currently busy with? I have been working on a film stills series in which I paint watercolour paintings of all my favourite scenes from films I have studied. I am also working on a magical realist novella, my writing is often paired with my photography in a synchronous light - they go together well and can also be seen and viewed in isolation from each other. What drives you to capture an image? What type of situation appeals to you? My street photography is a lot of fun when I am travelling but what truly gets me excited is meeting a stranger, having a conversation and doing a spontaneous shoot. I enjoy being lost in the city and trying to freeze moments in time. The portraits I capture are not solely of the people I meet, but they have THE LAKE

formed a timeline which has allowed me to track my own growth and daily life experiences. What is the most uncomfortable moment you have encountered while shooting? There has never been a time when I have felt uncomfortable while shooting; however, I have felt very alone and nervous when I have taken early morning nightscapes in foreign countries. Although I was safe, I was carrying a precious camera with me, and sometimes I forget that the world does not stop when I am photographing, and people around me see me just as much as I see them. I can never be as truly invisible as I would like. Whose work do you admire locally and why? I really admire Elsa Bleda’s work, she is an amazing photographer who is a great example of a womxn creative who is unafraid and fearless in her approach to her nightscapes and any other piece of art that she has created. Many of the photographers I know and admire have had traits of being completely immersed in their environment and they have allowed themselves to experience the world just as the world experiences us. Do you have any future projects in the pipeline that you would like to share with us? I am currently directing, shooting and editing my first music video in South Korea, which will be released within the next month with a dear friend and musician Hee Young. The technique and style that I have worked hard to develop over the last 4 years has once again transformed back into cinema where it all began. I am bringing my photography skills inspired by film stills into music and the creation is something quite magical. INFO: www.amybraaf.com INFO: @hakopike 15

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> WORDS - DAN CHARLES

PHOTOGRAPHY - Fotobooth Durban

RISING Sun Xa Experiment

“Imphepho is not part of the show but it’s part of us. It’s something that we burn at home and it goes way back. So we also use it to connect with other people because once we burn Imphepho that means that my ancestors and your ancestors are coming together as one. That’s why we always become one on stage and that’s why the audience also becomes one”. I don’t think that there are many bands that could get SABC3 to lend them a lighter so that they could burn imphepho in their studio at the start of their recorded live performance. But it’s not often that you find a band such as The Sun Xa Experiment - a Johannesburg-based 7-piece ancestral spiritual band consisting of Buyisiwe Njoko (lead vocals, vuvuzela, shakers & whistles), Tebogo Mkhize (acoustic guitar & raps), Lerato Seitei (electric guitar & vocals), Benedict Watte (percussions), Musa Zwane (bass guitar), Siphiwe Mgidi (drums, backing vocals, istorotoro, masengane & wooden whistle) and Karolo More (spiritual ritual dance, backing vocals and ad libs). The band laughs as they tell me that story, particularly when I display my unease at the thought of the various safety regulations that were probably violated during that broadcast. But the burning of the incense is a significant part of the Sun Xa performance and it’s a significant part of their identity as a spiritual African band. Such a ritual is not a common sight at a Psych Night event hosted at The Mercury - one of the last standing bastions of live music in Cape Town and one of the many stops during Sun Xa’s behemoth of a Western Province tour. As soon as the smoke from the incense started swelling around the stage and the rumblings of their opening track started to take shape, a cluster of camera phones began to surface from the pockets of the crowd to capture this curious phenomenon. An act like Sun Xa can come across as a bit of a culture shock for a crowd whose tastes are firmly shaped by the typical Westernised rock ’n roll formula but, after having put years into mastering their own defined formula, the band is not deterred by the potential apprehensiveness of a new audience.

but, funny enough, they are accepting because it’s always intriguing. I think that when something is new to you, you give it a second to see if you actually like it or not. So they take that moment and stop and think: ‘Oh, this is different. What is this? They’re bringing something. Oh she’s carrying a bucket. What is she going to do with that bucket? Oh snap! That bucket makes a sound!’”. Having started as more of a jazz and beats orientated outfit in 2014, Sun Xa’s sound has morphed throughout years of lineup changes and continuous experimentation into a sound that’s very distinctive of where they’re from and who they are as people. “When we started out, we sampled a lot of beats and try to compose some of the stuff in the process of making our own beats. The music that we were listening to and collected kind of gave us enough of a reference to want to play live and to want to be a band. Learning through listening made us grow a huge interest in playing instruments. I guess we are moulded and shaped to be the people we are because of the previous knowledge we had obtained”.

It’s this continuous pursuit of knowledge and an eagerness and openness in sharing this knowledge that has led Sun Xa to dominating festival stages across the South African circuit. But it takes a lot of work to accrue that sort of knowledge and it takes discipline in order to find the right way to distill that knowledge into a captivating live performance. “We rehearse a lot. We put in work. We don’t have to wait to be booked for a gig to rehearse - we just rehearse. This is what we do - this is our job, this is our livelihood and this is who we are. We don’t have to compromise on that”. This level of non-compromising ethic is evident in Sun Xa’s live show - an hour of unwavering energy that takes you on an epic journey that builds up to a relentless feeling of triumph, ecstasy and a pure sense of healing. And maybe it’s just that simple and earnest pursuit of healing audiences with their music that gives the songs of The Sun Xa Experiment their power. Through soaring vocals, searing guitars and unabated percussion lines, Sun Xa are

HIGH FIVES Johnny Dyani

Ndikho Xaba

BCUC

Busi Mhlongo

Sun Ra

Witchdoctor’s Son

Ndikho Xaba and the Natives

Our Truth

Urbanzulu

Lanquidity

1976

1971

2016

1999

1978

Yonca

Trilyte Records

Nyami Nyami Records

M.E.L.T. 2000

Philly Jazz

“We always expect them to be shocked and to not be accepting of our practice and our sound THE LAKE

“The music is ancestral and it’s meant to heal - that’s the whole point with us. Certain vibrations can heal a person and certain sounds can change your mood instantly and with us as Sun Xa, we have that particular sound.

@fotoboothdurban

DISCOGRAPHY Sun Xa Experiment Ingoma 2018 Khaya Records

Sun Xa Experiment Live Center of Jazz 2016 Digging Thoughts

hell-bent on taking this sound and their message to more stages across the country and eventually the globe. They’re ready to heal more people and introduce them to their ancestors. All they need is your attention and maybe your lighter. “The music is ancestral and it’s meant to heal - that’s the whole point with us. Certain vibrations can heal a person and certain sounds can change your mood instantly and with us as Sun Xa, we have that particular sound. Everybody needs healing because everyone has their own path that they walk every day, everybody has their own demons that they fight every day. Music healed us so we thought that we should share it with the world. When we started, our aim was not to have a band - it was just for us to jam and connect but then it just grew”. INFO:www.facebook.com/The-Sun-Xa-Experiment INFO:www.soundcloud.com/diggingthoughts

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> WORDS - HANEEM CHRISTIAN

PHOTOGRAPHY - haneemchristian JUSTIN FORTUIN

boetas They are their brothers’ keeper “Boetas” is a term of endearment used by Coloured people to refer to their brothers, whether they be blood-related or chosen family. I am interested in exploring the different dimensions of brotherhood and the ways in which space is created for the expression of tenderness and intimacy amongst boetas, a space that we can call home. As a young, brown, queer person I always felt lost in this upside-down world. I knew it was never made for someone who is as free in their imagination as I am. I could feel the disconnect in my spirit, until I found myself in the reflection of my boeta(s). I was born into a brotherhood that allows space for the greatest freedom I ever experienced. One that is unbound by earthly constraints. Throughout all the turbulence and changes I experienced in my life as a result of the intersections of my identity, the one place I could always retreat to was the safe space my brother and I created between ourselves. It is a space of freedom, of expression of my fluidity without expectation or judgement. It is a space of protection and guidance. Our bond is my home. I noticed a similar pattern amongst Tk, Tyrese, Pabelo and Lebo too. None of them are from Cape Town so when they’re here, they are one another’s home. This project is about the ways in which we create worlds within this one, it is about the way we find safety and freedom within relationships and bonds in this world. For some of us, home is created through a love language transcendent of this physical world and and its systemic boundaries. Sometimes the greatest moments of safety and vulnerability exist in everyday, mundane things, and there’s real beauty in that. Maybe moments of liberation come in times when you’re just allowed to be your

most raw and unfiltered self, in spaces where there is no need for the performance of who you ought to be. For the Gang, tenderness is shared through moments of everyday exchanges, from walking to the barber, to dyeing each other’s hair, to putting fits together with each other, and every little interaction inbetween. It is in these moments when they let their guard down, there are no pretences, it is all love and acceptance. This is a real reflection of me and my brother - certain rituals are irreplaceable, it’s time we got to be together and simply just be. And although these activities might seem insignificant, a love language is developed through these rituals. Perhaps these spaces we’ve created amongst ourselves are our truest manifestation of freedom. A space where we are free to become all that we are, and unbecome the ugliness that this world expects from us. Spaces where there is no need for performance allow for the breaking of cycles. After spending the day with the Boetas as they went about their day, I remembered that there is power in creating our own realities. They taught me that holding space for each other comes in unspoken ways and moments of daily ritual and these moments hold life-changing value. In a world where our identities are policed until they are but a small glimpse of the truth, any space or relationship that allows for freedom thereof is truly revolution ary. They are each other’s comfort and safety. They are their brothers’ keeper.

HIGH FIVES kanye west

goldlink

the life of pablo

at what cost

blackwhole ft. victoria / Single

blood orange

solange

negro swan

a seat at the table

2016 Def Jam Recordings

2017

2012

2018

RCA

Blackwhole Entertainment

Domino

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2016 Saint Records

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@ haneemchristian

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Blank stare - Ink and gouache on mounting board (2017)

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> WORDS - RICK DE LA RAY

PHOTOGRAPHY - Maaike Bakker

End of an error NINA TORR

Like most things, I stumbled upon Nina Torr’s work while I was looking for something else. Those “important” things you search for while the rabbit holes steadily divide your endless time between reality and devotion. A devotion to the unknown. Or a devotion to a rambling sentence in the opening paragraph of a story that you are hopefully about to read. Regardless, the image caught my eye as it reminded me of an illustration on the front of a Rider Waite Smith tarot card. I briefly entertained the thought that it could possibly be a newly-discovered second series of drawings that Pamela Colman Smith had maybe done for the Rider Company in London, in the solemn year of nineteen hundred and ten. On further inspection I realized my disillusion and allowed myself to enter into the mystic world of Nina Torr. Growing up in Irene, Pretoria she used to run amok in the streets with the local neighborhood kids. A time before security estates, with open streets and endless adventure around unexpected corners. This sense of freedom mixed with frequent visits to a family farm in the Karoo seemed to have woken a strong sense of imagination within her - absorbing it all while fossil-hunting in the heated desolate landscapes as blurry sheep float on the edge of the horizon. It is no wonder that her inspiration has led her to a vast landscape of creative interests. “I’m fond of Northern Renaissance and medieval art, alchemical and old natural history illustration. I enjoy the stiffness and the strange perspective. Then also illustrators like Windsor McCay and Moebius etc., as well as Japanese Ukiyo-e art. My more contemporary favorites include Norman Catherine, Wim Legrand and Mary Sibande”. Nina left to study at the Parsons School of Design in New York in 2010, an experience which was undoubtedly miles away from the minimalist landscapes she grew up in. She recalls her experience of being engulfed by an unknown city: “Just being in a different country and having to figure everything out for myself was a massive shift. It was good to get out of my context. It allowed me to look at South Africa from the outside for the first time. In some ways I feel art school is the same wherever

you go, but in other ways Parsons was irreplaceable. We were encouraged to try out everything before settling on a medium/approach. We took classes on boat-building and Bob Dylan. And the easy access to New York’s incredible galleries and museums was an education in itself”. When asked about her work and the process involved in it, she says, “It’s very difficult for me to get started on anything. I have to really talk myself into it. One can never tell what will trigger a new idea. It’s usually not just one thing that causes inspiration or insight, but a combination of elements that align in some new way. The influences emerge rather than inspire, and every now and then a sudden insight appears, but the process of getting those ideas onto paper is not at all spontaneous and involves a lot of trudging”. She also adds in the same breathe, “Also, deadlines can be quite ‘inspiring’! A lot of my artworks wouldn’t exist if I didn’t have deadlines for exhibitions etc. It’s in general quite a frustrating process, full of doubt and mistakes, so the word ‘inspiring’

is a bit misleading, because it makes it sound very romantic, when in fact it’s quite painful, but at the same time very rewarding”. She explains that the references in her work are not quite deliberate but says, “I am definitely drawn to that aesthetic and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve looked at so much medieval art that it’s just become internalized in my hand. I’m also interested in mythology and archetypes and how we make sense of things we don’t understand, so I suppose there’s a bit of that in the medieval references”. I found her modest approach to her work quite comforting in a world where not many artists share enough about their experiences anymore. “Personally, I’m not a fan of talking about my work, because I don’t conceptualize, so I don’t always know what to talk about. I make and then I think. And usually, by the time I figure out what the work is really about, it’s usually far too personal or silly to admit to, so I usually just talk around it or keep quiet. I do, however, think it’s important to be honest about one’s approach. I’m starting to realize that a lot of

HIGH FIVES Leonard Cohen

Nils Frahm

You Want It Darker

Spaces

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Amadou & Mariam

Skeleton Tree

Dimanche à Bamako

Tom Waits Alice

2016

2013

2016

2004

2002

Columbia

Erased Tapes Records

Bad Seed Ltd.

Nonesuch Records

Epitaph Records

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Two heads are better than one - Digital print (2018)

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Same as it ever was (2019) - Seven colour lithograph (2018)

After the moneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone - Ink and goauche on Fabriano (2018)

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In another part of the world (2018) Ink and spraypaint on Fabriano

Just sleeping (2018) Ink and spraypaint on Fabriano

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Dreams of a drowned man III (after Redon) (2018) Ink and spraypaint on Fabriano

As it is below - Ink and gouache on mounting board (2018)

artists work in a similar way to me, but we’ve been trained to talk so much in art school that we forget that art does not always need to be explained. For a long time I didn’t really know what my work was about. I just knew what I wanted it to look like”. On further inspection of her work I enquired about her thoughts on the subliminal divide between illustration and fine art - a touchy subject which I have brought up with quite a few artists recently but Nina probably left me with one of the most solid arguments to date. “There are a few factors. People who haven’t studied art tend to be scared of contemporary art in a way that they’re not scared of illustration or historical art. Illustration feels more accessible, but to be honest I think the division is an illusion. Historically,

I’m not so sure - Digital print (2017)

Salesman - Ink and gouache on mounting board (2014)

the divide between art and illustration wasn’t such an issue, as they often dealt with the same things. Rembrandt and Dürer’s works can be classified as illustration, because they would illustrate stories and myths. Sometimes the division is useful, because the illustration label is more accessible, so it tricks people into looking at and buying art without the baggage of feeling like you’re too stupid to get it. Other times the label is a bummer, because people assume that if it’s illustration it’s not as important or deep as art and so they expect that it’s worth less in some way. It’s quite silly, really. An oil painting and an illustration are both just pictures at the end of the day. My work definitely looks illustrative (I remember that being a dirty word while I was studying). But I would say the main distinction between illustration and art is that an illustration is generally a supporting feature of something else – like a story, or prodTHE LAKE

uct, or event etc., whereas art appears to function a bit more independently. My work probably looks more like illustration, but it hangs in a frame on a wall, so it behaves like art”. Nina Torr is currently teaching at the Open Window in Pretoria while completing her Master’s at the University of Johannesburg this year. She has also started compiling work for a new solo show early next year. “My Master’s deals with the conscious and unconscious processes that go into the creation of a work; how one can know what something needs to look like without knowing what it means; the idea of communication before understanding”. INFO: www.ninatorr.com INFO: @ninatorr (Instagram) 29

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> WORDS - PIETER RETIEF / ADRIAN DAY

PHOTOGRAPHY - Mosako Lowsso Chalashika

(SkatE B&W) - Sam Clark (SkatE colour) - grant mclachlan

excursions Dlamini Makhoza Malunga Dlamini

As one’s own skateboarding mortality rears it’s head when one gets older, it’s easy to become bitter, twisted and disillusioned with the up-and-comers. Half the time you’re seeing the same shit being done all over again, just in a different era, with a different get-up. You also have to witness a breed of entitled robots, all shooting for notoriety with not enough to back it, confused as to why they eventually don’t make it, and thus doomed to a life of job dismissals and poor hygiene. However there are a few guys in the top echelon of SA skateboarding who are incredible, and Dlamini is one of them. He’s doing it right, putting in the work and travel, making a name for himself in the US and carefully navigating the sponsorship world. His skate skills smoke yours, with consistent technical wizardry and a true and natural street style; he has dropped two solid full video parts in the last 18 months, one for DGK’s ‘Beware of the Underdogs’, the other Ryder Nel’s independent film ‘Chakalakka’. Dlamini has a bright future in international skateboarding, with the work ethic needed and a little star alignment, the skateboard world is his oyster. I still haven’t forgiven him for pissing on my shop floor, however… - ADRIAN DAY Six months on, six months off. This has been Dlamini’s approach to ensure that he gets what he wants from skateboarding. Knowing that the industry has massive limitations to the support of skaters in South Africa, he has chosen to venture to the United States to find greener pastures and has spent half a year abroad for the last seven years. “I want you to write about skating, road trips, the jol, the good times, the choms, the fam, the vibes”. This is what matters to Dlamini. In no particular order he cares deeply about them all. With his roots lying in Lesotho and traveling between South Africa and the States, he has had a vast exposure to the world so far. This is what skateboarding allowed him to do and he is planning to hold on to that for as long as possible. As I walked into Dlamini’s flat, I’m welcomed with a six-pack of Tafel Lagers. This is not his preferred beer, but “if it’s free it’s for me” he barks. In the corner of the room Dennis Collins is sitting on the mattress that rests on four wooden pallets. I slide my six-pack of Castle Lagers onto the table and ask him to put it in the fridge…Dlamini only focusses on what’s really needed and a fridge did not make the cut. His socks

are hanging on the security gate that opens up to a courtyard bordering a massive electric sub-station. Each pair of socks is spaced out geometrically along the iron gate and in the opposite corner of his lounge his jackets and T-shirts are drying patiently on a chair and an old wooden desk. As I attempt to move the jackets and sit down, he’s quick to grab them from me and gently place them somewhere else in the room. Dlamini’s father was born in Lesotho, with Swazi ancestry and he is a very old-school thinker when it comes to his business ventures. He was a successful entrepreneur with great interests in Lesotho. He was involved in road constructions, property development, the hospitality industry and also the liquor trade. He never really informed any of his kids about all of his business ventures, but his outlook in life was a simple one. Dlamini remembers his late father telling them: “the world is yours and it’s there for the taking”. He grew up on the north coast of Umhlanga, Durban. Most of his youth was spent drinking, smoking, enjoying free sessions at Wave House skate park and

endless weekend sleepovers at Yann Horowitz family home. Durban has bred some of best skaters to come from South Africa and Dlamini is right up there. Being one of twenty-seven kids and the youngest of the tripod, Nkosi and Khulu Dlamini, he excelled over his brothers and pursued a career in skateboarding from a young age. When asking Dlamini about his childhood days spent in Lesotho, his fondest memories are the feeling of freedom, the feeling of not being trapped and being surrounded by community and family. His roots lie deep and one day he would like to give back to the community of Lesotho. As he explains the process of drying and folding socks (something one of his brothers taught him), Dennis is spreading out a blanket on the bed preparing to iron clothes for the night ahead. Not wanting to invest in an ironing board or extension lead, the process of ironing looks awkward and unpractical but these mundane chores need to be done. The attention to detail and having uncreased clothing is of the utmost importance to the man. This is something

HIGH FIVES Wu-Tang Clan

Slick Rick

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick

A Tribe Called Quest

1993

1988

RCA Records

Def Jam

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J Dilla

Nas

Donuts

Illmatic

1991

2006

1994

Jive Records

Stones Throw Records

Columbia

The Low End Theory

With his roots lying in Lesotho and traveling between South Africa and the States, he has had a vast exposure to the world so far. This is what skateboarding allowed him to do and he is planning to hold on to that for as long as possible.

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that translates through into his skating. He’s very particular in his skate spot selection and trick selection, and wants to make sure he rolls away as smoothly as possible. His hard work and determination on his board clearly places him in a class of his own. However, his bar etiquette leaves much to be desired. He has been known to push the limits of oblivion with no chance of an early tap-out until he is forced into retirement. We push ourselves hard and there might be a sense of recklessness amongst us all, but deep down this man has figured out what he wants. He was set on going to the States and making it work for himself and that is what he did. We’ve all seen talent go to waste in this town, something quite common in South Africa. Not sure if it’s the lack of commitment, financial implications or just not wanting to work hard for it but Dlamini has definitely set a bar for himself. As I keep browsing around the flat I catch something out of the corner of my eye - stuck on the wall is a list of phrases neatly written down on an A4 piece of paper. It’s a list of German phrases that his girlfriend wrote down as requested by him: “du bist schön”, THE LAKE

“wie ist dein name”. Her name is Lena, a young German girl by the side of this wild man. She normally visits for a couple of months, otherwise they link up in Europe if the traveling schedule allows for it. Right now Dlamini has got the backing of a great footwear brand behind him (Adidas) and has got hooked up with a board company based in the States (DGK). He has also recently ventured into the world of an energy drink sponsorship (Monster). The fact remains that Dlamini wants to skate, he needs to travel and he needs to progress and push his skateboarding career, and these brands enable him to do so. In the last 6 years I’ve been blessed to have been on several road trips with him; we’ve travelled through Namibia on long dusty roads, skated the streets of Bangkok in the early hours of the morning and skated just about every town up the east coast of South Africa with endless weekends spent on the streets of Cape Town. Dlamini Makhoza Malunga Dlamini is determined to make it and he’s on the path of doing so. Keep cooking it up my man. INFO: @dlamini2times 35

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> WORDS - EMILIE REGNIER

PHOTOGRAPHY - EMILIE REGNIER

ABERRATION EMILIE REGNIER

I am a Canadian-Haitian photographer born in Canada. I spent most of my childhood in Gabon, and after studying commercial photography, I moved to Dakar in 2008, cherishing the dream of becoming a conflict photojournalist. In 2013 I moved to Bamako, and soon enough conflict was at my doorstep. I figured out fast enough that I didn’t have the stamina for it and that it would break my soul.

At this moment, influenced by a Malian ID photographer, I decided to pick up a Polaroïd Photomaton camera. Back in 2013, you could still find old cameras and Fujifilm in Bamako. I then started questioning identity and the compromise of post-colonial borders in West Africa in a project titled “Passport”. At some point in 2014, I relocated to Abidjan. I was born nomadic. If I could trace my ancestors back to before the slave trade, I am sure I would find they were Fulani (a nomadic tribe). In Abidjan one day I went to the hairdresser, where I saw amazing photos of women with larger-than-life hairstyles. It was a style, with a cut in the middle, and an image that I had never seen before. The name of the photographer was stamped on them. I called him and asked if I could become his assistant. He took me to the photo lab. Back in 2014, there were hundreds of beauty photographers crisscrossing the city to capture the latest fashion or hairstyle. They would go back to the lab, process their films and cut their negatives in two and tape them together. They would then print each image with two perspectives. It’s somehow a phenomenon similar to the beauty magazine. They would carry hundreds of photos and go from market to market to sell them. Women would buy a picture of their favorite hairstyle and take it to their hairdresser or their tailor. I stayed in Abidjan until the beginning of the Ebola crisis. I am a total hypochondriac with very little pragmatism. When Ebola started, even though the Ivory Coast was spared, I decided to relocate to Paris for a few months, using a grant I had received. I would get stuck in France for almost three years… THE LAKE

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One day in Chateau Rouge, the most prominent African market outside of Africa, situated in the heart of the 18th Arrondissement, I met up with Wanda Lisette. She was wearing an incredible leopard-print “boubou”. The next day as I was walking on Rue de Rivoli with a friend, I realized that almost every window of every shop was filled with leopard prints, clothes or accessories. I started thinking. For me, leopardskin was synonymous with Marechal Mobutu Sees Seko, the former dictator of Congo, or with Shaka Zulu, king of the Zulu nation. I started researching how leopardskin had gone from the Bantu tribe to Maison Dior. I would spend a bit more than two years traveling the world, seeking and researching the symbolism of the leopard. In 2018, after leaving Paris and moving back to Dakar, I went to Luanda for a 5-week artist-in-residency. After three years in Paris, I felt immediately at home upon arrival in Luanda, a place where one can forget about colour. In fact after leaving Europe, I felt that the world was monochrome. I hadn’t really wanted to go to Angola; the logistics were very complicated, the visa process excruciating, and I remember hoping the embassy would decline my request, but it was not to be. And then upon my arrival, I let go of all my resistance, and I discovered Luanda like an alcoholic who has been sober against his will for too long and suddenly cannot fulfill his thirst. Despite spending half my life on the African continent, I felt like everything in this city was new to my eyes. I was seeing women carrying the entire universe on their heads - bananas, avocados, brooms, Tupperware, Teddy Bears, hair extensions etc.… It would go beyond your wildest dreams. They are called the Zungueiras ( street sellers). I had a sudden impulse to photograph them in a way that I had never seen them being depicted before. Following an inner choreography, thinking of Pop Art and Andy Warhol while googling African market or African women on Google Images, I had no intention of creating something glorious or gorgeous,but felt the need to challenge more traditional narratives. I also just wanted to portray them the way they appeared to me. I totally cheat on documentary photography, manipulating the environment so it will fulfill my own vision and portray how I feel the pulse of the city. www.emilieregnier.com @em.regnier

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> PHOTOGRAPHY - MEGHAN DANIELS

franadilla francesco mbele

“Angeke udlale ngama-toy wami! Everybody takes themselves way too seriously. Alone in my room playing with my toys, only the toys I play with now consist of photoshop and Ableton but I remember when they consisted of a G.I Joe missing his jeans or sneaking into sister’s room to dress her dolls. We all still play but the barbies and Spider-Mans have morphed rigidly.” @meghan.daniels @franadilla

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CHECK YOUR HEAD Men’s Apparel - Checkerpoint Pack Vans’ iconic checkerboard pattern is a timeless trademark amongst its vast spectrum of supporters. Since adapting its sleek and monochromatic design in the ‘70s, it has become a representative of creative self-expression and a banner for skateboarders, surfers, artists, musicians, misfits and everyone in-between.

Upholding that same spirit, Vans has found ways to enhance the classic Checkerboard pattern without shedding its authenticity as the brand has evolved. This spring, Vans presents a curated apparel pack that focuses on the checkerboard print. Across an assortment of garment styles in modern silhouettes, the print adorns each style in a manner that is striking yet subdued. The print is an aspirational motif that incites others to adhere to Vans’ no-holds-barred attitude. The Checkerboard print revs up a long sleeve tee, adds artistic flair to a fleece hoodie and dimension to footwear and accessories.

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The Vans Checkerpoint Pack illustrates how the pattern has evolved, from Sean Penn’s character in the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High to a device for underground rebels—just like Vans, it’s really for everyone. Due to this open, free flowing progression and no-velvet rope outlook, it’s the exact reason why Vans’ heritage is so strong and the legacy continues to strengthen.

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> WORDS - Samora Chapman

PHOTOGRAPHY - Justin McGee (SURFING) Kody McGregor (SURFING) Darren Simes

call one's bluff The Ricky Basnett story

Picture thIS. a lil’ kid, 13 years old. It’s twilight, the world is oscillating. Tears are rolling down his face, his heart is pounding so hard and aching so bad it feels like it’s gonna burst out of his chest. The kid is holding a dagger – pointing it at his own heart, ready to plunge it in… Two decades later Ricky Basnett is sitting under a palm tree on a sticky hot Saturday in Durban town. The beachfront is buzzing with hustlers, buskers and bikers. The smell of sunscreen and cheap weed floats on the breeze. Ricky’s still kicking. But it’s been quite a journey. The heat is sweltering. He takes off his shirt to cool down, and reveals a canvas etched with a wild old story. The word Bluff is stamped on his right forearm. It’s the seedy, infamous suburb in south Durban where he grew up. A little surf town known for its cranking waves and tough cats. Other shards of memory add to the story – a rose on his chest for his beloved daughter. “Help. I’m alive” wrapped around his shin… “That was Jase… we did that on my kitchen counter back in the day,” he says with a chuckle. It’s time to get into the conversation… a tricky one to have, because I know Ricky’s story already. He’s been in the limelight since he was about 15, as a pro surfer and definitive Durban character. He’s been on top of the world as a star surfer and in the dungeons of hell that are addiction and depression. I have many distinct memories of Ricky. We’re almost the same age, and I’ve watched him rise and fall a number of

times. I was watching before we became acquainted. I remember standing on New Pier on a scary day. It’s eight foot waves charging in like killers, exploding across the bay with the sound of thunder. The torrent gushing through the piers is deadly. It’s the type of surf that puts the fear of death in a kid. We were about 14 and I watched as Ricky plunged into that ocean. He got swept northward by the torrent, but he kept on going and going. Ducking under ten or fifteen mountains of water in a row. He was almost at North Pier, in a dangerous place, when he got a gap at last as a set loomed… but he never faltered. He never hesitated for a second – making it out by the skin of his teeth. That determination and fearlessness was imprinted on me. At the Bluff a couple of years later, I was paddling out in the channel when Ricky came flying down the line on a six foot, sublime right. The water was deep green, perfect glass and I watched, mesmerized, as he rode that wave like a magus. He danced and played intuitively, choosing the perfect lines and painting a masterpiece in the dawn. It was magic. Sitting in my office on a dull Tuesday I can visualize that whole wave. It’s imprinted on my memory. Back to real time, and Ricky is thinking back to his first thoughts of suicide. His voice

HIGH FIVES Slipknot

Suicide Silence

Taylor Swift

The Used

Big Idea

Disasterpieces (DVD)

Suicide Silence

Greatest Hits

The Used

Hot Box

2002

2016 Nuclear Blast

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2015 Big Machine Records

2002 Reprise

2007 Ruffinery Records

drops to a whisper… so as not to scare my lighty who’s climbing me like a jungle gym. “I wanted to stick a knife in my heart. Imagine that?” We take a moment to consider. I have no way to respond. It’s hard to fathom, but I guess he’s always felt too much… and he’s always had a wildfire burning in his heart. A fire that’s difficult to control. It seems that when the fire is expressed and channeled in the right direction, magic happens. But when it’s bottled up, confined or misunderstood… it can burn all in its path. “I just never really fitted into this world,” he tries to explain. “I was a straight A student and I did everything from cricket to rugby and soccer… primary school in the Bluff was a good time for me.” From a young age Ricky’s life was defined by the ocean. His old man started pushing him into waves when he was six, and he grew up surfing with the talented Daniels brothers at one of the hardest hitting waves in the country. “But when high school came along, I was sent to Glenwood High [an all boys government school] and I hated it with a passion. So I dropped out and did home school for a while. It was a good thing for my surfing, but not really for me as a person. It meant a lot of free time and Scott Venter and 52

I would go surfing all day. That’s when we started getting up to no good.” Surfing was something at which Ricky was beyond gifted. There’s no putting it in words, he’s an artist with untouchable style. He cuts lines across the face of a moving wave like Picasso with a paintbrush. He’s perfectly in tune, focused, born to be one of the greatest free surfers in Mzanzi. Surfing should have been his salvation, but pro surfing comes with so much pressure and bullshit that it was very nearly his downfall. At 17 Ricky left his matric half finished and began chasing the pro surf dragon. He had good backing from sponsors and he travelled the world competing against the world’s best. After three years on the WQS, he won the lauded Mr Price Pro in 2006 and qualified for the World Championship Tour. Only 44 surfers a year from around the world make the WCT cut. Think about it in relation to any other sport, where there are thousands of professionals making a good living off the likes of soccer, tennis and rugby. In surfing there are 44. And for the rest of those who don’t make that elite group, it’s an endless hustle to shift and evolve into a space where you can make a living off the lifestyle or industry in any way you can. THE LAKE

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Surfing was something at which Ricky was beyond gifted. There’s no putting it in words, he’s an artist with untouchable style. He cuts lines across the face of a moving wave like Picasso with a paintbrush. He’s perfectly in tune, focused, born to be one of the greatest free surfers in Mzanzi.

“Back then, the tour was just heavy, debauched”, he remembers. “I was just a baby and I was travelling the world, surfing these contests. There were bad influences. Ninety-five percent of the guys were on the bag (cocaine). I was thrust into a world of chaos. It’s different now, the level of professionalism has changed. You can’t just rely on talent”. In his heart, Ricky hated competing. “I competed from the age of 10. From young, it killed me”. He was born to be a free surfer, living a lifestyle true to the spirit of surfing – not corrupted by capitalism and contests. The commodification of something beautiful into a product defined by dollars and points, brands, winning and losing, is something totally disillusioning to an artist in any craft. “Free surfing wasn’t a thing back then”, he goes on. “You couldn’t get paid to surf. You got paid to go and do contests. That was it”. “I knew I wasn’t doing what I was meant to do. I wasn’t fulfilling my destiny. There was always this huge expectation and pressure… from family, the surfing community. It’s not what I wanted. I never knew how to voice what I wanted. I never wanted to let anyone down”. Soon Ricky fell off tour, and for a while it seemed he’d found his groove. “When I fell off tour, Rip Curl kept me on and I moved into that free surfing role. I travelled Africa and experienced the continent, which was eye-opening. I’ve never been so happy”. But after a year or two’s ‘break’, the pressure mounted again. The questions and expectations piled up – “Are you ready

to get back on tour?”, they asked, trying to put Ricky back in the cage. “I surfed one or two more contests in 2009 and I had a full-on breakdown”, he remembers emotionally. It was the start of a downward spiral. He slowly tumbled into a dark place of addiction and self-damage. “I’ve always struggled with depression”, he says, opening up.“You don’t drink for fun, you drink to make the thoughts go away…and drinking took away all my pain. The first five years were fun, but then things started to fall apart”. For 10 years, he’s been in and out of rehab, recoveries, relapses and other struggles. A recent relapse and divorce from the mother of his child has been painful but Ricky is a survivor and an artist just burning to express himself, to be understood perhaps? And it seems he’s finding a way to break through the darkness. “I’m in the best place I’ve ever been”, he says on a positive note. “I’ve been clean for six months and I’m just channeling my energy into creating. I feel like I’ve conquered my ego and my fears and I’m doing things that I enjoy and that make me happy”. “Shaping was my first step into believing I have a creative ability. I lack self-confidence and shaping helped me let go of my fears. Shaping and drawing have replaced my addictions. Seeing something that you’ve created is really fulfilling. Being back in Durban is also inspiring – it’s so African, full of colour and energy”.

Ricky shapes his own boards out of the Clayton factory. “They’re not the best performance boards…”, he says. “It’s more like an artwork. I’m experimenting with blending photography and prints on boards, making unusual shapes, just playing”. Ricky’s always had a love for tattoo culture, but it was luck that led him into the game. “St Francis was pretty boring… but there was this lady living down the road from me – Shelly. She’d been given needles and ink and she just started doing pokes on herself. I was like shit! That looks like so much fun. So I just started tattooing myself, all over my legs here. [He shows me some squiggly doodles of…] I got so addicted to that and just kept practicing”. Ricky’s doing traditional hand pokes, growing in confidence, getting cleaner. “I’m drawing every day – it’s like my meditation”, he continues. “I start the day in a peaceful way. I don’t care how good or bad it is, I just know I need to do it ‘cos it makes me happy”. He’s still pursuing the free surfing lifestyle/livelihood, relentlessly creating content and pushing Instagram. A new deal with Vans is being finalised, a deal that will help steady the ship. Ricky’s made films, travelled the world, created a life, hung on to life… and he’s still fighting. A true artist to the bone. “I finally feel like I’ve shed my ego. I’m tired of living up to an image of what’s expected of me… I’m finding my true self. I’ve been clean six months and I get to see my daughter again soon…”. INFO: @ricky_badness

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> WORDS - RICK DE LA RAY

PHOTOGRAPHY - OLIVER KRUGER (Jacket) Leaf Apparel / shot in studio at Leaf Apparel

Yasuke Samurai-Farai I RECENTLY STUMBLED UPON AN ARTICLE ABOUT a Mozambican slave, taken to Japan, who went on to rise through the ranks to become a samurai. This man, now known as Yasuke the black samurai, holds a position of the highest honour in his new home. While reading, it dawned on me that my path has recently crossed with another swordsman by the name of Samurai-Farai. A swordsman of paint and passion, scripting his expressions with mental pigment and a constant search between the poles of order and chaos. SAMURAI-FARAI WAS BORN IN RUSTENBURG IN 1996 to an Afrikaans family with a Zimbabwean father. That aspect of his life was sadly fleeting as his father passed away from cancer when he was eleven years old. The loss of his father had a huge impact on him. “The absence of a father figure is the only reason that I can be the man that I am today. I never had these strong masculine rules asserted on me but I was raised singlehandedly by the strongest woman I have ever met in my life and that essentially shaped my sensitivity. I am both biracial and bicultural and that already is not a binary. So being gender fluid made me realize that I am stuck in-between these two spaces.” Farai and his mother moved around a fair amount before settling in Eldorado Park Ext 3 in Johannesburg, where he was exposed to spaces like Soweto and Bramley. People never really knew how to place him. They needed him to conform to a race and whichever one he presented was always questioned. Even though he has a Shona name (meaning “rejoice”), he has no attachment to that part of his culture. He has an uncle living in the States who allowed him to visit a few times and these cultural experiences undoubtedly influenced the way he looks at the world today. “The pseudonym Samurai-Farai was born in my second and third year of art school when I was trying to figure out who the fuck I am in this whole game. I never really fitted in in high school or art school. Even though I am supposed to fit in with these people, I realized I don’t relate to them. Being confronted with the binary of my gender, race and class. I needed to find a new identity which I felt I had power over in order to dictate. Samurai-Farai is a result of Farai Engelbrecht but they are separate entities. My government name is how the world sees me but Samurai-Farai is how I see myself in the world.”

cause he knew that the only thing that gave him joy was making art. He received a full bursary and two weeks later he left everything behind and found himself in Cape Town. Commuting with his bicycle through the city allowed him to be influenced by the urban landscapes and architecture. It enabled him to sculpt his vision and he reflects that when you really break it down, it is just line creating forms. Blending these visuals with religious texts and symbols like the beauty of the Koran and Arabic letterforms and how other cultures like the Japanese read in tategaki from right to left. Once again, his observations allowed him question the way accepted perceptions were received. “Music, specifically, is a big influence in my life. How I dress, how I live and how I conduct myself. There is no me without music in my life.” When he creates work, it is completely from the present moment and from his feeling, meaning that the outcome is not predetermined. The work exists in a completely neutral space and as a result it inspires a sense of freedom. It is not about what he is seeing but about what he is feeling. He strives to create work that is emotionally provocative, that inspires curiosity and questions your perception of it. “I think it’s hard to see

my work as political statement because of how I am perceived as a black person.” So is your work South African? “I see myself as part of the narrative because what I have to offer is the willingness to be different. As a born free, there is an intense expectation from the outside world to be aware of all these privileges that I have but I don’t vote. I don’t participate in the beliefs of politics because I think they are all gangsters. It’s absurd. My art is definitely not political but people outside of my control might come and see it as political. It’s not about race and it’s not about feeling like I am a marginalized person or blah blah blah. It’s completely emotional it’s more along the lines of a Rothko painting an emotional experience. It’s visual but it’s not an attempt to represent the real world, it’s nothing real that you are looking at…those forms don’t exist other than within the subconscious that comes through me and through the intuition. There is a complete denial of realism. There is a complete intentional segregation of belief structures like politics, race, gender and time… there is definitely a disengagement there. I don’t believe in those things but I still have the ability to make you feel something which can change those things which you choose to rule your life so when you look at one of my paintings and you feel one of my paintings

HIGH FIVES Gray

Yussef Kamaal

Fugees

Dev Hynes

Sade

Shades of...

Black Focus

The Score

Negro Swan

Diamond Life

2010

2016

1996

2018

1984

Plush Safe Records

Brownswood Recordings

Columbia

Domino

Epic Records

Farai recently graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art with honours. He applied to the prestigious school on the day that he wrote his final exam beTHE LAKE

“There definitely is a message in my work but at the end of the day I can necessarily claim that the narrative of that message is coming from an intention. I cant control how you are going to perceive it and I think that is one of the most important aspects of my work. There is no control over internal perception.”

The Beheading of Galileo - 115 x 120 cm / Lithographic ink on glass. 2018

you are completely held in a moment of presence. I only use my art to see who I am and that feeling is so important to me because that means being spontaneous and as a result a piece of it stays there and I think that’s what people are attracted to. There is an atmosphere here and an intrigue and I think that is all I need as an artist. I want people to leave with questions about who they are - like what the fuck was I just looking at? The work has a strong street art sensibility which is underscored by the artists that he references, such as the legendary Rammellzee, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Retna. Farai sits back and reflects on the way that these artists crossed over from the street to gallery space and how some people still perceive these to separate spaces. “I think the thing with the different labels we place on creativity or art work is just reflective on us as people. I think you being a street artist and having your work not necessarily belong to anyone but maybe to the infrastructure of the city your work actu58

The Invocation of The Crown - 115 x 120 cm / Lithographic ink on glass. 2018

ally is environmental, public and social. The ideology of possession does not exist in that and being a street artist teaches you to not be emotionally attached to what you create. In the fine art world there is so much ego and materialistic value. It’s not to say that being one is better than the other and vice versa but as a fine artist becoming a street artist it will be different… there seems to be hierarchy. People perceive street art to be lower than fine art so how does a fine artist become a street artist… when you throw it on its head like that I suppose fine art wants to be at the helm of that and to dictate the narrative of other art”. Farai has invited minimalism and chaos to sit at the same table. A process that he is very passionate about as he explains the process in achieving this goal. “Planning and still coming to an end point where there is symmetry and where there is balance is fucking gnarly. To create something with no expectation and then to THE LAKE

step back and think – holy shit there is actually a relevant balance between negative and positive space. A generic painter will make grids. I mean is there balance within chaos and what is so bad about chaos? It’s a result of life you can’t fight chaos and everyone is trying to have order, Monday to Friday and everyone is afraid that if we don’t have order we are just going to lose our minds. There is a balance in life that just exists universally and to be honest no one can understand that and that is the chaos, us trying to think that we are not in balance is the chaos”. We would be wise to keep an eye on Farais’ continually evolving work. When you first see a new picture you don’t want to miss the boat. You have to very careful as you might be staring at Van Gogh’s ear. INFO: @Samurai_farai

The Birth and Death of the viewer - 115 x 120 cm Lithographic ink on glass. 2019

Self-portrait - 190 x 140 cm Etching Ink on Linen . 2018

Serpents, Sex & Other Sins - 113 x 115 cm Lithographic ink & Oil on glass. 2019

The Explication of David - 33 x 13 cm Plaster and Cement. 2018

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Acrylic paint & Lithographic ink on glass - 113 x 114 cm Lithographic ink & Oil on glass. 2019

The Adversary of Colour & Culture - 33 x 13 cm Plaster and Cements. 2018

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> WORDS - DAN CHARLES

PHOTOGRAPHY - Paul Hunt (studio) - Oliver Petrie

MILESTONES MANU GRACE “I did all the things that I didn’t do before in a very compressed time, so it was all very intense. I feel like I should be mature enough not to do all of the things, just to make up for lost time, that I would have done had I been nineteen. But you have to trust in the natural unfolding of things - there’s no such thing as a mistake, it’s just a beautiful opportunity to learn something. That may sound like I’m trying to validate my bad decisions but I just have this very naive trust that everything is going to be great”.

Where the fuck does a sixteen-year-old kid get off writing a conclusive line that is as painful and as pertinent as “Don’t confront me with my failures / I had not forgotten them”? It’s almost ludicrous to think that Jackson Browne was only that old when he penned the song These Days. But, at the same time, it actually does make perfect sense that one of the most affecting songs ever written in the history of popular culture came out of the bedroom of a lovelorn teenager. After all, nothing can quite equate to the feeling of making your first ever real mistake. The shame, the anguish, the confusion - these are all feelings that you might have been familiar with before at the time of your adolescence but, when you’re directly confronted by them for the first time, what do you do? In Jackson Browne’s case, he wrote them all down and put them in a song. Since then, that song and those feelings have been adopted by countless other singer-songwriter types who have all probably spent their fair share of time brooding in their bedrooms over this particular ballad - Nico, Elliot Smith, St Vincent, Drake (I know, right?) and, now, Manu Grace. I first heard Manu’s interpretation of the Jackson Browne classic at the launch of her debut EP June at the Rootspring headquarters in Muizenberg. The EP is a brief but beautiful collection of sensitive and sophisticated alternative-pop songs that subtly echo a lot of the sentiments of that song. Written during a somewhat turbulent period back in 2017, June sheds a bit of light on a belated but essential period of growth in Manu’s personal and consequentially artistic, development.

“I had been really unwell at the time until I finally accepted some medical assistance and I had this whole new body, which was so exciting. I could do stuff again and I went into this hedonistic phase. I was surfing a lot and writing a lot but also having a bit too much fun. Actually, it was probably relatively balanced, in retrospect, but I wasn’t really thinking clearly enough at the time and I was making so many mistakes. But that’s necessary, hey?”. June serves as somewhat of a sonic retrospection on the unfolding of that time - a gentle recollection of a period when one might not have been too gentle on one’s self. Between playing keys for indie-pop vanguards The Aztec Sapphire, and juggling complications with her health, there were a lot of the traditional milestones of adolescent misconduct at the time. Tracks on the EP such as Milestones explore details that may seem familiar to anyone else who has under-

gone a cumbersomely belated coming-of-age sort of moment - the feelings of conflict within the ending of a relationship and the shuddering recollections of a regretful subsequent romantic interaction - all resting in a bed of soft, swelling synths and a steady, pulsating beat as a subtle sense of shame washes over the chorus. But the EP doesn’t only mark a period of growth for her as a person but also as a collaborator. With the assistance of Beatenberg bass player and accomplished composer in his own right, Ross Dorkin, Manu was able to relinquish a bit of control and invite another set of ears to sit behind the controls - a difficult thing to do when you’re putting so much of yourself into your work. “A huge thing for me was being able to work with Ross because I’m so stubborn about wanting to do everything myself, but I’m not a great producer - I haven’t had enough time behind it to

HIGH FIVES Rosalía

Beatenberg

Tirzah

Okay Kaya

The Knife

Los ángeles

12 Views Of Beatenberg

Devotion

Both

Deep Cuts

2017

2018

Universal Music

Universal Island Records

Domino

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2018 Heavy Body Records

2003 Rabid Records

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be totally self-sufficient just yet. But with him, at least there’s an understanding in terms of taste and trust - which is huge. So with him I felt like I could give it away a little bit”. At the end of the day, you have to give everything away a little bit. After enough time has passed, incidences of immense significance or incidences of unease simply become stories and, in the case of June, Manu Grace turned those stories into songs. And for a songwriter, that’s all that they need to be. It’s up to you as a listener to decide if you want to use these songs as a means of confronting your own failures. And of course, you also don’t have to. You could just listen to these songs because they’re good. Sometimes that’s enough.

DISCOGRAPHY Manu Grace JUNE EP

2019 KuduKudu Records Manu Grace Rudely Conspicuous Single

2019

“I write a song andit’s like: who even cares about my feelings? But then I kind of console myself with the idea that, when it becomes a song, it’s like it’s taking another form and it’s not just about my feelings. It becomes relatable to people and then it’s theirs. That’s quite special”.

KuduKudu Records

INFO: www.manugrace.com INFO: www.soundcloud.com/manu-grace INFO: @_manugrace

KuduKudu Records

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Manu Grace However Single

2018

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> WORDS - SEAN O TOOLE

PHOTOGRAPHY - JACQUI VAN STADEN

WHITE BOY DEON MAAS Sooner or later, everyone washes up in Berlin. Druggie musicians. Aristocratic writers. Bass-worshipping technoheads. Disillusioned artists squeezed out of London and New York by gentrification, also Syrians, Afghanis and Chechens fleeing worse things than greedy landlords. Berlin, a formerly divided city with a seriously lazy soul and enough kebab shops to always keep Free State cattlemen in business, is a welcoming home to many, including dissident Afrikaner rebels like Deon Maas.

Never heard of this 57-year-old Cape Town-born writer with handlebar moustache, rolled up skinny jeans and the word Afrikaner tattooed on his lower arm? Shame on you! Here’s a brief resume. Maas may well be our very own Lester Bangs, except that the skollie drugs in 1980s Hillbrow didn’t always kill you, they just kept you awake. Maas kick-started his journalism career at age 16 with a live review of the all-female Durban group Pantha, which earned him a Dire Straits album as fee. Throughout the 1980s he wrote about music, an enduring passion that is a central pillar to his new book, Witboy in Berlin, a kind of rough guide to being a white South African expat in the German capital. Before his big move to Berlin two years ago with his wife, four dogs and little else, Maas was an alt-media personality among Afrikaners, a kind of antidote to serial whinger Steve Hofmeyr. Music elevated him to this status. As a working journo in the 1980s he wrote about the dross pimped by the white music industry – Petit Cheval, Feather Control, The Helicopters – while exploring more adventurous sounds like Koos and Zulu DJ legend Cyril “Kansas City” Mchunu. “People ask me what kind of music I like”, says Maas when we catch up at the Gardens Collectors Club on Kloof Street. “Good music”. He early on tapped into the rebel Afrikaner music spilling out of alternative theatres and cabaret venues in Johannesburg. “My involvement with Voëlvry has been overstated”, he admits. “I went to the first gig, but at that point I wasn’t speaking much Afrikaans. But there I met all these other Afrikaans people who thought like me, and I totally fell in love with Johannes Kerkorrel’s music”.

ed the documentary Who Killed Johannes Kerkorrel?, and a year later was a judge on KykNET’s Afrikaans Idols, an experience that sharpened an already critical attitude. “For the last decade, the Afrikaans music market has been a wastebin for talentless people who have the audacity to call themselves musicians”, he wrote in 2012. But even this sort of directness won’t gain you notoriety in an overcrowded world of social-media miserabilists. Maas became a household name when, in 2007, he wrote a new column for newspaper Rapport: “Satan does not necessarily represent evil, it is just a different philosophy. You still pray, but only to another god”. The volk went mad, literally. Boycotts were organised. Maas had his column scrapped. Rather than roll over and die, in 2010 Maas released Witboy in Africa: Diary of a Troublemaker, a jive-talking and rambling book about his experiences in Lagos and Kigali that is also the template for his new book about Berlin. “When I bitch and moan,” Maas writes in this new book, “I do it for one of two reasons. Either I think the bitching can

effect change, or I feel it makes a good story”. The latter motive has earned him a reputation as a loudmouth self-promoter. “What is wrong with self-promotion?”, he asks when I raise this. “Anyone in this era of social media who considers self-promotion negative has no fucking clue what life is about”. That’s a radical shift from the modesty and restraint he was force-fed by Christian Higher Education, I say. “You have to keep up with the times. It is like using a typewriter instead of a computer, or still buying CDs instead of streaming music. You have to keep up with a changing world, otherwise you get left behind – and when you get left behind you are just old”. Being old and settled, like Maas now is in Berlin with his dogs and new tax responsibilities, has its virtues. Time and experience, coupled with a writer’s isolation, has given him an expansive insight into his tribe, its foibles as much as its strengths. Among other things, he is able to place himself in a lineage of opstokers, the Afrikaans word for agitator that also best summarises Maas.

TOP 5 READS The journey is the destination Dan Eldon

Transmetropolitan

Die Alibi Klub

Dispatches

Hell’s Angels

Warren Ellis

Jaco van Schalkwyk

Michael Herr

Hunter S. Thompson

1998

2014

1991

1966

1997

After ditching journalism for the record industry in the early 1990s, one of his first moves at Tusk was to sign Kerkorrel from Shifty Records. In 2005 he wrote and directTHE LAKE

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Witboy in Berlin is written with a clear sense that the Berlin of Nico and Iggy Pop is rapidly disappearing, if not entirely gone. By the time he arrived in the city two years ago Berlin was already heralded as the start-up capital of Europe. He lists as fellow travellers Kerkorrel, accordionist Nico Carstens, singer-songwriter Anton Goosen, the 1950s working-class band formed by Frans en Sannie Briel, and the depression-era work of 1930s bandleader David de Lange. “He was making blues music for people who were uneducated, and usually dealing with alcohol problems and a rampant libido”, says Maas, singling out the stomp of de Lange’s song Maak ‘n Doppie, in which the singer exhorts boozers and rokers to stand together.

Witboy in Berlin is all about Afrikaners and the past. His book includes a fascinating encounter with Army of Brothers, a working-class Berlin hip-hop crew. Maas is hugely into hip hop. Not the billionaire pop of Kanye and Jay-Z, but the work of Ready D, Dookoom, Terror MC, The Twinz and Linkris, acts that have “taken the idiom back from the mainstream artists and brought it [hip hop] back to what it’s supposed to be: the work of griots who tell stories about their neighbourhoods, lives and immediate circumstances”.

“The National Party gentrified the identity of the Afrikaner and interrupted their spiritual development”, says Maas. “If you look back you’ll see some crazy people doing crazy things – like de Lange and Breyten Breytenbach. It has always been left to an individual or two to reflect the opinion of a large section of people who were not prepared to speak”. While nominally about Berlin, Maas’s new book is written with his Afrikaner identity in mind. “The day you move to Berlin, that Mecca of art and culture, you assume you’ve said the long goodbye to Huisgenoot Skouspel and Afrikaans is Groot”, he writes. “You couldn’t be more wrong”. His book details the history of Schalger music, a vacuous style of earworm pop from the 1950s that birthed stars like the forever suntanned Rex Gildo, and inspired Afrikaner ideologues like Dr Anton Hartman at the SABC. Schalger, writes Maas, was used to cleanse boere tunes of their waywardness; its influence still looms over the sentimental Afrikaans pop. Not that

Witboy in Berlin is written with a clear sense that the Berlin of Nico and Iggy Pop is rapidly disappearing, if not entirely gone. By the time he arrived in the city two years ago Berlin was already heralded as the start-up capital of Europe. Its new tech-inspired nickname is Silicon Allee. This is Berlin now, a place of sentimental May Day riots, €50 saunas, skyrocketing rentals and the spectre of right-wing politics. Maas explores all this in his book, but also does legwork to find people and spaces that refuse all this. At a Cape Town launch for his book, Maas described Witboy in Africa as a “travel book about settling down”. He also called it a memoir, which is useful. His new book slots into a growing genre of Afrikaans expat lit that includes works by writers like SJ Naudé, Zirk van den Berg and Ryk Hattingh. “We, the Afrikaans diaspora, are the new Irish”, he quips. His own go-to book from this sub-genre is artist and dramaturge Jaco van Schalkwyk’s autobiographical novel The Alibi Club (2014). “It blew my mind. I think I must have read it 20 times”. THE LAKE

Maas doesn’t pretend to be a serious writer along the lines of Van Schalkwyk, or for that matter earlier Berlin expats like Vladimir Nabokov or Christopher Isherwood. This Laphroaig-sipping rebel, who hasn’t yet been to fabled Berlin nightclub Berghain, writes piss-taking non-fiction, not gilded prose for chinstrokers. If he has a faith, it is in satire not Satanism. “Satire”, he writes, “is without doubt my favourite form of communication, but, as I learnt the hard way, not everyone is open to it”. It hasn’t stopped him poking at sacred cows from his faraway new home in Berlin. INFO: @ witboymaas

PUBLISHED WORK WITBOY IN AFRICA

MELK DIE HEILIGE KOEIE

WITBOY IN BERLIN

DEON MAAS / 2010

DEON MAAS / 2016

DEON MAAS / 2019

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> WORDS - RAEL FUTERMAN

PHOTOGRAPHY - oliver kruger

WAX JUNKIE RAEL Futerman Growing up, the bulk of music in our house was my mother’s records. I remember as a youngster being amazed by the large-format artwork of LPs, and had an appreciation for the visual impact of album covers long before I had an appreciation for music. The album that stands out the most was Ramases’ Space Hymns, illustrated by Roger Dean. It folded out about six times into this massive image of a church’s steeple taking off like a rocket, and it blew my mind. As I grew older though, my interest transitioned to what was actually on these slabs of black plastic. I soon started listening to all sorts of records, from Deep Purple to Linton Kwezi Johnson, each a multi-sensoral experience. As the records would play I’d flip through the album cover, scanning images and text, with that smell of old paper sitting thick. To this day records are still my favourite form of music. Angry Samoans Yesterday Started Tomorrow 1986 / Triple X Records

Black Sabbath Vol. 4 1972 / Warner Bros

One of my favourite first wave American punk bands. They had already released two great albums before this EP. I think the album is a great mix beteen their heavier earlier albums and their later ones that bring in a more garage/psych sound. Songs about heartbreak, with lashings of 80s revival psych-rock sounds culminating in a stripped-down adaptation of Jefferson Airplane’s Somebody to Love. It’s just a great album.

I have probably been listening to this record my entire life. Long before I even knew what music was, it was playing in our house. It is embedded deep in my psyche. The slow, repetitive guitar on the opening track ‘Wheels of Confusion’ is pure Iommi groove, lulling you into a state of calm, before, a couple minutes in, exploding into what I still think is the blueprint for so many bands today. Every song on this album is a masterpiece.

Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables 1980 / Cherry Red Records

The Stooges Fun House 1970 / Elektra Records

I heard Dead Kennedys for the first time in the nineties, when I was in my early teens. They were the first band that scared me, and I was hooked immediately. This was the first album of theirs I heard. The opening track, Kill the Poor not only introduced me to killer music, but also satire. I learned a lot listening to these guys. East Bay Ray is one of my favourite guitarists, and his surf guitar defined Dead Kennedys sound.

This record is equal parts punk, blues and jazz, each given time at the wheel. At times it drones on while at others it flails around wildly. This album is something special. Coming up to its 50th anniversary, it is still the avant-garde, boundary-blurring album it was in 1970.

Roky Erickson The Evil One 1981 / 415 Records

Turbonegro Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives 1992 / Big Ball Records

If I could choose only one album to listen to for the remainder of my life, it might be this one. It is more odyssey than album. The imagery is out of this world, which makes sense as most of it comes from Roky’s notepad he had with him during his time at Rusk, the Texan maximum security mental institution. He escaped into this notepad and the songs that emerged blend the real with the unreal to the point where one finishes listening to the album having ‘seen’ the ghosts, vampires and demons of which he sings.

What’s not to love! The self-proclaimed band that saved Rock’n’Roll! This, their first album, introduced the world to deathpunk in all its glam, sarcastic, nihilistic glory. It’s musically dense, ridiculously fun, and definitely one of the best albums of the 90s.

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life and the world JADE KLARA / Let’s be better together! vida e mundo simply means ‘life and the world.’ As a brand that is making strides in reducing its environmental footprint, vida e caffè is committed to prioritizing certain goals as part of their journey to ensure a more sustainable world, for all.

To kick-off the various initiatives surrounding this on-going journey, vida e caffè commissioned ocean-loving illustrator, Jade Klara, to design an artwork that celebrates this mission. The artwork has been used on a tote bag to encourage the reduction of single-use packaging while shopping in-store, and a keepsake for daily use. The brand’s commitment to continually looking at ways to reduce single-use plastic is further solidified with its branded bamboo cup, which can be used to redeem the R2 discount offer when customers choose to have their takeaway caffè or any other beverage in a reusable cup. vida also plans to change their takeaway cups to 100% biodegradable and compostable cups, in 2019, across their 300 store network. In addition to this, all paper straws are now 100% compostable and biodegradable! In an effort to send less waste to landfill, vida offers it’s used coffee grounds to customers at selected stores. Used coffee grounds are a great organic fertilizer. vida’s used coffee grounds have been successfully used at urban city farms such as The Orangezicht City Farm and Streetscapes. To highlight this initiative the brand collaborated with urban permaculture training platform, Guerilla House to create seedling grow kits that communicate the ease in which anyone can start growing herbs/plants in urban settings with merely a recycled glass bottle, used coffee grounds, soil, stones and seeds of choice.

A few thoughts from Jade: You created a whimsical piece of artwork to celebrate vida e caffè’s vida e mundo sustainability journey. Can you take us through the various scenes and the meaning behind the characters and motifs you included? I wanted to use the ocean as the focal point, as our seas are in dire need of help with the delugue of plastic pollution, however I wanted to create an optimistic scene showing the effects good choices can make on the environment. I used a bee and a turtle both posterchildren of global warming to garner awareness. I then wanted to show people living in the environment showing a symbiotic respect, and walking a dog on a turtle flipper. According to your Instagram bio you say “I draw things”. Tell us a bit about your design process, your favourite commissions to work on and how you would describe your illustrative style. My illustration style is mainly bold linework with a narrative point. I am most interested in the story of the illustration. When I start I lay out my primary characters, and from there gauge where they live or who else would be in the illustration and from there, the tone. My best commissions to work on have been collaborations where I have had the opportunity to create something that lives THE LAKE

beyond print/digital. It’s a good feeling to see your work on a surfboard, or someone wearing your work or carrying groceries in a tote bag that you illustrated. What does “Let’s Be Better Together” mean to you? I wanted to create a call to action that would bring people together to want to make better choices, even if they start small. There was also a bee in the illustration so it took a lot of willpower not to make it “bee” better. Can you share a bit on what you are doing in your own capacity to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and do you have any life hacks to share? I carry a water bottle with me so I don’t have an excuse to buy plastic water bottles, and I try make purchase choices that don’t involve any single use plastics. The thought of a bottle or straw outliving me while only being used momentarily horrifies me. I try to be aware of the waste I create. what is your favourite vida e caffè beverage? I’m loving cold brew caffè this summer! to be used on white/clear background only

INFO: www.vidaecaffe.com @vidaecaffe_official #vidaemundo @jadeklara 71 to be used on coloured background only

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INTERVIEW - BRETT BELLAIRS

PHOTOGRAPHY - HAYDEN PHIPPS

Kak Lucky tattoo Nikita Morgan “I prefer working outside of the corporate environment and doing something more creative and with more freedom of creativity.” Exploring some of Cape Town’s best tattoo artists who have been inspired by the legendary tattooist Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins and the rum that carries his name Sailor Jerry Rum.

Why and how did you become a tattoo artist? I became a tattooer because I wanted to do work that was more fulfilling and enjoyable than the standard 9-5. I prefer working outside of the corporate environment and doing something more creative and with more freedom of creativity. I got my apprenticeship with Gareth Doye because of my vast portfolio of artwork that I had created over 10 years. What is your personal style of tattooing? It is a little early in my tattoo career to have a specific personal style but I really enjoy doing more playful tattoos; a mix of cartoons, full colour tattoos and neo-traditional are my favourite things to tattoo. What do you most enjoy about the work? The most rewarding part of tattooing is creating art

that people can wear forever, it is immensely satisfying when you love the tattoo as much as your client does. I enjoy when people get excited about their tattoo. Does Cape Town have a particular style of tattoo artistry? If so, please describe it. I think Cape Town has a variety of tattoo styles. I don’t think there is one particular style of tattooing unique to Cape Town. With internet platforms like instagram and pinterest people are way more exposed to variety of tattoo styles that suite individual tastes. What specific trends have you seen happening in the Cape Town tattooing scene? Recently I’ve seen more interest in dot work, geometric and mandala style tattoos. It seems to be a popular aesthetic in Cape Town.

How did Norman Sailor Jerry Collins influence your personal style? I’ve always been drawn to Norman Sailor Jerry Collins pin up designs. I love drawing pin-up babes and I love his solid application of bold lines and saturated colour. Which of his iconic designs is your personal favourite and why? My personal favourite Sailor Jerry design is his man’s ruin, the pin-up girl in a martini glass. I’ve always thought of it as a very fun design.

PERSONAL: @nikita.jaded STUDIO: @kakluckytattoos

PRINT RUN REVIEWS - XAVIER NAGEL

SUPPLIED BY - BIBLIOPHILIA

Sneakers A California Childhood M.I.A. M.I.A. calls the book “a document of the five years of M.I.A. art that spans across three LPs,” and this seems accurate. Though the LPs will likely serve as motivation for most readers to pick up this book, the music mostly provides a jumping-off point, something to be reconsidered in light of her visual work. The reader first encounters the singer and artist as Maya, an aspiring filmmaker and photographer at a London art school in the late ‘90s. As Maya’s friend Steve Loveridge tells it, Maya spent most of her college career as a starving artist with a knack for making ends meet. She excelled at “shoplifting,” and “never bought Tube tickets.” Loveridge once asked Maya to steal him some food because he had none; the classy and generous Maya “came back with a bottle of Champagne and a tin of rice pudding.” (R540)

Explosions, Fires, and Public UK photographer Sarah Pickering’s “Explosions, Fires and Public Order” is a visually arresting glimpse into the secret world of civil defense. Combining four series, the book begins with “Public Order,” a project exploring the Metropolitan Police Public Order Training Centre, a simulated urban environment near London where officers rehearse responses to imagined scenarios of civic unrest. The “Explosions” series documents the tactical use of controlled explosions by the British military, designed to add realistic stress to training exercises and familiarize soldiers with various munitions. “Fire Series” and “Incident,” Pickering’s most recent series, were produced while she was an artist in residence at the UK Fire Training College. (R300)

The trade paperback reprint of James Franco’s thoughtful reflection on childhood through a series of personal snapshots, sketches, paintings, poems, and short stories. An actor treads the line between reality and fiction every time he plays a part, and for James Franco, that exploration isn’t limited to the screen—he’s also a visual artist with several exhibitions under his belt as well as the author of the widely praised story collection Palo Alto. In A California Childhood he plays with the concept of memoir through personal snapshots, sketches, paintings, poems, and stories. “I was born in 1978 at Stanford Hospital and spent my first eighteen years in a single house at the end of a cul-desac in Palo Alto,” Franco writes in his introduction. At turns funny, dark, and emotional, the journey of this book delivers an undeniable immediacy. The reader is left wondering just where the boundary lies between Franco’s art and his true life. (R200)

Sneakers: The Complete Collectors’ Guide was a phenomenal success, setting trends in sneaker design and collecting that continue to this day. Brands have since reissued classic designs and started creating the shoes that have spurred a new wave of collecting: limited editions, often designed in collaboration with invited artists, designers, musicians, cultural icons, and co-brands. It brings you the very best limited edition and collaborative sneakers that have been released over the last ten years, a time when sneaker design has transcended its origins to explore new territories in global design culture, including fashion and art. Over 300 designs from fifteen brands have been carefully selected and photographed, with 100 outstanding examples showcasing the burgeoning trend for direct collaborations. From Nike working with New York graffiti artists Futura and Stash, to Reebok collaborating with superstar producer Pharrell Williams or Vans teaming up with Marc Jacobs, brands have used collaboration to build in exclusivity and desirability and to connect with new consumers. 500+ color illustrations. (R540)

The Birth of Art Deco

Seismographic Sounds

The first singular study of one of the key artists of the Art Deco movement, George Barbier (1882–1932) was a fashion illustrator to the leading stylists (Poiret, Lanvin, Paquin, Vionnet) of his time, as well as a set and costume designer for the theater, Russian ballet, and music hall. Barbier’s work is also noted in the world of advertising, wallpaper design, and jewelry for Cartier, in albums, as well as in almanacs and precious illustrated books. This volume, with essays by Italian and French authors, marks the rediscovery of a very successful artist of 1920s Paris who was strangely forgotten after his death in 1932. (R250)

Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World introduces you to a contemporary world of distinct music, sounds and music videos. Scholars, journalists, bloggers and musicians from Bolivia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Switzerland and forty-six other countries discuss artistic expressions that may not make big headlines yet, but anticipate major changes to come. Produced in oftentimes small studios from Jakarta to La Paz, Cape Town to Helsinki, these works experiment with the new possibilities of the Internet age and illuminate new spaces beyond the confines of commercialism, propaganda, and bigotry. They foresee a changing geography of multi-layered modernities, far beyond old ideas of North versus South, West versus East. Discover this through a collage of articles, quotations, photographs and lyrics. (R450)

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PLIMSOLL

VANS - SK8-HI REISSUE 138 Black / Zinnia

VANS - SK8-HI REISSUE 139 Sailor Blue / Tango Red

VANS - CLASSIC SLIP-ON 138 Zinnia

VANS - CLASSIC SLIP-ON 138 Tango Red

ADIDAS - SUPER COURT ORCHID TINT S18 / chalk white cloud white

ADIDAS - SUPER COURT collegiate navy / legend ink carbon

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ADIDAS - FALCON hi-res yellow / hi-res yellow core black Womans

ADIDAS - FALCON collegiate navy / collegiate navy / HI-RES GREEN S18 Womans

NEW BALANCE - 990v5 Grey / Castlerock

NEW BALANCE - 990v5 Black / Silver

VANS - SK8-HI (I Heart Vans) True White True White

VANS - ERA (I Heart Vans) True White True White

VANS - SK8-MID (Retro Skate) Sailor Blue Aspen Gold

VANS - SK8-MID (Retro Skate) Black Mysterioso

VANS - LAMPIN (Retro Skate) Sailor Blue Aspen Gold

VANS - LAMPIN (Retro Skate) Black Mysterioso

ADIDAS - CONTINENTAL 80 ice mint / collegiate navy grey

ADIDAS - CONTINENTAL 80 legend purple / ftwr white ice mint - Womans

ADIDAS - NITE JOGGER GREY TWO F17 / mgh solid grey / solar orange

ADIDAS - AW WANGBODY RUN core white / sharp purple clear brown

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Converse CONS Louie Lopez Pro Black / White

Converse CONS Louie Lopez Pro White / Black

Converse CONS One Star Pro COLOUR / COLOUR

Converse - Jack Purcell Bleached Coral / White

VANS - OLD SKOOL (Tie Dye) Multi / Black

VANS - ERA (Tie Dye) Tango Red True White

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Photo: Deon Maas

WE ARE FOOLISHLY Ambitious www.thelake.co.za

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PHOTOGRAPHY - Innocent Mukheli / Vuyo Mphantsha Main Image - Mikhail Brown / Top left - Karabo Legodi / Top middle - Camilla Carrera / Top right - Manyano Mahlakata THE LAKE

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