(via We Need Afrofuturism More Than Ever)

Jeune officier Chaïgir - 11 mars 1970 - Photographe Al Rashid Mahdi

A re-working of the eponymous T.Rex glam rock anthem into an isiXhosa protest song. The track was rearranged in collaboration with composer and choir leader Bongani Magatyana, and is here presented in speaker cabinets visually quoting the Intonarumori noise-generating machines of the...

West African Inventor Makes a $100 3D Printer From E-Waste

Kodjo Afate Gnikou, a resourceful inventor from Togo in West Africa, has made a $100 3D printer which he constructed from parts he scrounged from broken scanners, computers, printers and other e-waste. The fully functional DIY printer cost a fraction of those currently on the market, and saves environmentally damaging waste from reaching landfill sites.

Discarded electronic equipment is one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of waste, as consumers frequently replace “old” models that become more obsolete each year. However instead of letting e-waste sit them on the scrap pile or head to the landfill, Kodjo Afate Gnikou decided to utilize spare parts in order to create a cheap, DIY 3D printer.

Gnikou is part of WoeLab, a hackerspace in the city of Lomé, and has big plans for his recycling project. According to his crowd funding page, he is working with FacLab-France in the WAFATE to Mars project, which aims to make machines from recycled e-waste to prepare for missions on Mars. Systems like the 3D printer could become a crucial part of missions on the Red Planet should they ever go ahead.

Gnikou’s 3D printer was mostly made from materials he obtained from a junk yard in Lomé, though he did have to buy a few parts. The entire system cost about $100 which is a bargain considering current models on the market can cost thousands of dollars.

According to his fundraising page, Gnikou aims that with his project, he will “put technology into needy hands and give Africa the opportunity to not only be a spectator but to play the first role in a more virtuous industrial revolution.”

RAMM:∑LL:Z∑∑

The moon belongs to the people

Exposition du travail de l'artiste américain Glenn Ligon, Call and Response cet automne au Camden Arts Centre 10 October 2014 - 11 January 2015

“We wanted to capture the essence of South African township culture in the 80s and 90s,” says South African photographer Kristin-Lee Moolman, recalling the brief for this shoot – the SS16 lookbook for emerging designer Rich Mnisi’s brand OATH studio. “The culture of androgyny was at its peak, supported largely by the need to ‘show up’ (out do each other).” So, to shoot the images, they headed to Mnisi’s grandmother’s house in Chiawelo, Soweto. When it came to casting the story, Moolman and Mnisi were keen to paint an accurate picture of youth culture in Johannesburg.

While Janet Otobo is a professional model, Wayne Swart is a student who they street cast on the way to the shoot. Aart Verrips is a photographer and, in fact, was Moolman’s assistant on the day. Incidentally it was Verrips’ first time in Soweto. “(It) was a new experience, especially being Afrikaans and gay,” he told us. “It was incredibly refreshing to go to the township and experiencing something totally different to what your perception had been.” As for Lucky Macheke – an accountant – he is Mnsis’s cousin and just happened to be hanging out in his grandmother’s house.

Desire Marea is one half of FAKA, an art duo who, as black queer artists, explore their complex identities through performance. “We teach complexities in a radical fight for our own humanity,” Marea says, explaining their raison d’être. In fact, Moolman and Mnisi also wanted to engage in identity politics in this shoot. “We felt that androgyny resonates with young people in South Africa now, where there is almost a celebration of LGBT communities as a movement to oppose cultural stereotypes and homophobia.

Written by Ted Stansfield for Dazed

Henry Taylor, The Times They Ain’t A Changin’, Fast Enough, 2017

MANIFEST !

"I don't write because I was segregated and humiliated and dispossessed. I write in spite of that." - Toni Morrison

Moi, Albert Ibokwe Khoza

Johannesburg 31 octobre 2015. Alors que les manifestations étudiantes pour un accès égalitaire à l'enseignement imprègnent encore littéralement l'atmosphère et que #FeesMustFall est devenu le slogan de ralliement de la jeunesse sud-africaine, Albert Ibokwe Khoza incarne un autre combat, étroitement lié en réalité : celui de la place du corps. Acteur, danseur, performer, chanteur et praticien traditionnel (sangoma en Afrique du Sud), Au cœur de Soweto, Albert Ibokwe Khoza nous invite à suivre le trajet qu’il a parcouru des bancs de l’Université du Witwatersrand, à la scène internationale. C’est au cours de ce trajet qu’il réussit à faire de son corps, l’instrument de son émancipation. En rejetant à la fois l’académisme universitaire qui emprisonne son corps dans une discipline qui lui est fondamentalement étrangère et en imposant son homosexualité qui pour beaucoup encore, reste incompatible avec les pratiques traditionnelles. 

A closet Chant, Albert Ibokwe Khoza

A noter également une remarquable collaboration car la performance se déroulait dans la galerie de Soweto, Mashumi Art Projects créée par Zanele Mashumi, elle même invitée par l’artiste Thenjiwe Nkosi. Thenjiwe Nkosi qui s’appuit sur le concept de “radical sharing” avait répondu à l’invitation du Goethe pour le festival African futures en invitant quatre autres projets développés par des femmes. Multiplier, le titre de cette collaboration est présenté sur le site du festival. Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi 

Oulimata Gueye