ROYAL OAK, MICH (WXYZ) — The 8th annual Royal Oak Market: Art Fair Edition will take place November 16-17, indoors at the Royal Oak Farmers Market (316 E Eleven Mile Rd)
from 11am – 9pm.
This event will feature 60 jury selected artists, live entertainment, food vendors, and several adult beverage offerings. With artwork of all types, the fair is a great place to find a handmade gift for everyone
For more information and event highlights, follow on Facebook @RoyalOakMarketArtFairEdition and @guildfairs.
Dave Cap PhotographyA photographer has captured mesmerising light trail photographs at a fair in Leicestershire.
Dave Cap, 60, took the pictures during a visit to the annual Loughborough Fair.
He captured long exposures of several of the attractions at the fair to create the dizzying effect.
Fairs have been held in Loughborough for more than 800 years, with this year’s event concluding on Saturday night.
Mr Cap, of Coalville, said he was pleased with how the photos turned out.
“The light trail pictures were taken using a long exposure between one to five seconds,” he said.
“The pictures came out very well. People were very understanding when I asked them: “Could you move to the left or right a few inches so I can get these pictures.”
Mr Cap said he often used different lighting effects, including lasers, in his work. He added: “Long exposure photography is my favourite.
“I push things to the limit to get creative different, unseen pictures.”
The first official Charter for Loughborough Fair was granted to the Lord of the Manor, Hugh le Despencer, in 1221 by King Henry III, according to Charnwood Borough Council.
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Despite relentless rainy weather and strong winter winds, art enthusiasts flocked to Shanghai Art Week this year to take in the more than 200 exhibitions organized by local museums and galleries. The week was capped by the opening on November 9 of the city’s two major art fairs, West Bund Art & Design and ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. As the city showcased its vibrant and energetic art scene, stakeholders used the occasion to check in on the sizeable market’s potential after the setbacks of recent years.
There were mixed emotions at both fairs. Factors such as the exodus of foreign residents and institutions from Shanghai, Hong Kong’s disappointing autumn auctions (notably the Long Museum collection sale), the collapse of the real estate industry, the closure of private art museums, stricter government censorship of contemporary art, and grim economic forecasts cast a palpable shadow.
West Bund Art and Design, however, celebrated its 10th anniversary with a remarkable comeback after 2022’s early closure. Its largest-ever edition hosted 185 exhibitors, including 54 galleries making their debut alongside veteran participants from established international galleries like Hauser and Wirth, Pace Gallery, and White Cube, and prominent Chinese galleries such as White Space, Aike, and ShanghArt Gallery.
Visitors at the 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: courtesy of West Bund Art & Design.
Before 2020, many galleries opted to take part in both fairs. West Bund is known for its “statement” booths of large-scale installations and videos, or carefully curated solo presentations, and it is believed to lure in more institutional collections. ART021, meanwhile, appeals to private collectors, particularly those new to the scene.
This year, however, the landscape has shifted. Only 23 galleries continue to straddle both fairs, and an increasing number of them are Chinese dealers.
Installation view of 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: courtesy of West Bund Art & Design.
The transformation of West Bund reflected the district’s remarkable growth in recent years. For the first time, galleries spread across four halls, including the fair’s traditional Hall A and B, the West Bund Dome Art Center, and the new Thomas Heatherwick–designed Orbit exhibition center, a swirling building designed for large-scale events. Visitors returning to the city after the three-year border closures imposed by China were struck by its transformation from a sparse collection of art galleries and institutions into a thriving business district, complete with high-rise buildings and major technology companies.
And despite the inconvenience of traveling between venues in the rain, attendees remained upbeat. Collectors were seen eagerly and openly discussing their target purchases before even entering the fair, although most came to the event with relatively moderate budgets. A collector from Guangzhou who was accompanied by a cohort of fellow art-buying friends, said that, as in previous years, she planned to spend one million yuan (around $150,000).
“Everyone I know has been very much looking forward to this Shanghai Art Week. I am very satisfied overall,” said the collector, who only shared her last name, Wang. “I saw many favorite works, but I also regret having to say goodbye to works that were too much beyond the budget. This year, I am taking more time in considering what I buy.”
For many seasoned collectors, the excitement extended beyond the art on view. They relished the return to a sense of normalcy in the art market, and the opportunity to reunite with their peers, particularly those from overseas.
And after three long years of limited travel, the appearance of foreign faces among the fair crowds was conspicuous, and Taiwanese and Cantonese accents stood out as much as Western voices. Klaus Biesenbach, the director of the Neue Nationalgalerie, was seen mingling with K11 founder Adrian Cheng, and Hong Kong art dealer Pearl Lam. Swiss mega-collector Uli Sigg participated in a panel discussion during the second day of the fair. Also spotted at the fair and at various Shanghai Art Week exhibitions were Magnus Renfrew, the co-founder of Singapore’s Art SG fair, and Wenmei Yiu, the secretary general of the Taiwan Art Gallery Association, who brought a significant contingent of the Taiwanese art scene with her.
The booth of Perrotin gallery at the 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: Cathy Fan.
Still, amid the excitement, critical voices sounded off in the lounge room. “The overall look is very conservative,” noted Hu Hu, a Shanghai-based art market consultant and founder of Art Jeff Club, of most the exhibitor’s presentations. “It’s almost all paintings, with scarcely any installations and sculptures, barely any video works.”
Florian Wojnar of Berlin gallery Esther Schipper, whose showed some sculptural works by artists like Ryan Gander, Philippe Parreno, and Ugo Rondinone, humorously recalled a collector’s relief at finding a booth not solely dedicated to paintings.
“There are indeed many visitors, but not enough ‘effective’ collectors,” Hu noted. This sentiment was shared among dealers, highlighting the challenge of expanding the city’s collector base.
The conservative trend was apparent not just in the artworks on display but also in the pricing strategies. In Hall A, most works were priced between $100,000 and $300,000, except for a few high-value pieces like Nicholas Party’s painting at Lévy Gorvy Dayan and Wei’s booth, listed at $900,000.
The strategy of lower prices and safe selections was relatively effective, judging by early sales in the main sector. In Hall B, where the younger and smaller galleries are concentrated, the prices are even more affordable, with most works ranging from $10,000 to $30,000, and some as low as $2,000. But these lower price points did not guarantee success, and some galleries reported that, despite the crowds, it was difficult to secure sales of works by unfamiliar, emerging artists, and their participation in the fair was not fully “paid for.”
Hauser & Wirth’s booth at 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: courtesy of West Bund Art & Design.
Some important sales were reported in the main halls, however. Perrotin’s booth featured intimate and somewhat dark figurative paintings by American artist Nikki Maloof (b. 1985), priced between $50,000 and $68,000, which received interest from many young collectors and were sold out on the fair’s first VIP day.
Hauser and Wirth continued their tradition of presenting curated solo booths at West Bund with a display dedicated to American artist Gary Simmons. Four of his paintings were sold to private collections on the first day, with prices ranging from $110,000 to $375,000.
And Gladstone’s large booth housed just three eye-catching, florescent sculptures from Ugo Rondinone’s “Magic Mountains” series, echoing the artist’s current solo show at Shanghai’s Fosun Foundation. All three works, priced at $420,000 each, were sold out on the fair’s opening day.
Gladstone’s booth at 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: courtesy of West Bund Art & Design.
Lehmann Maupin sold 12 works, including McArthur Binion’s Vision: Ear (2023) for $250,000 and a piece from Lee Bul’s “Lost” series for $190,000.
Pace Gallery also reported decent sales, including two new paintings by Adam Pendleton, priced $150,000 each, a steel-and-lacquer sculpture by the duo Elmgreen & Dragset priced $95,000 to a private museum, an evocative abstract painting by Hermann Nitsch, Schüttbild, 2014 Juli, for $85,000.
Visitors to the 2023 West Bund Art & Design. Photo: courtesy of West Bund Art & Design.
And China’s homegrown talent scout, the Hive Center for Contemporary Art, turned over their entire booth to the 43-year-old Chinese artist Xia Yu. “We are trying to concentrate resources more effectively to promote the influence of artists,” said gallery owner Xia Jifeng. “West Bund has a biennale-like temperament and is highly consistent with the creative practices of many of our artists.” A total of 14 works were sold, with larger pieces priced at 2 million yuan (around $274,300) and smaller works at 200,000 yuan ($27,430).
Still, domestic gallerists were more concerned about the questions lingering about the city’s art scene. In such an uncertain world, how will West Bund evolve in the next decade? And, perhaps more importantly, will the Chinese art market rebound or decline going forward?
No one had a clear view of the answer at this point, but longtime observers and participants provided some insights.
“The transformations within Chinese galleries might be the most substantial changes we’ve seen recently,” said Xia Jifeng, noting that, while it may take the market some time to catch up with these developments, “considering the broader Asian context, the depth of the Chinese market remains unparalleled and warrants thorough cultivation and development.”
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For an article about people who plan to send their remains to space, The New York Times Magazine arranged a remote-photography process. The sessions captured an astral mood.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
While some people look up into the night sky and wonder what’s out there, Guy Pignolet, an 81-year-old space educator, can be confident that he will one day be part of the answer. After he dies, Mr. Pignolet plans to have his ashes launched into space.
Kathy Ryan, the director of photography for The New York Times Magazine, had heard about Mr. Pignolet and his intentions through a relative. When editors at the magazine decided to focus this weekend’s issue on space, she knew where to start.
While much of the rest of the Space Issue focuses on technology, Ms. Ryan thought a story about those with plans like Mr. Pignolet’s would “bring it down to earth, emotionally,” she said.
Ms. Ryan learned he was using a company called Celestis for his post-mortem scheme. Amy Kellner, a senior photo editor for the magazine, contacted the company in August and assembled a roster with a mix of other people who, while still living on the planet, had signed up to include a vial of their remains on a rocket to be launched into space (and were willing to share their stories, Ms. Kellner said).
The idea was to create a collection of portraits of these space-bound subjects. Ms. Ryan knew that photographer Dina Litovsky, a frequent contributor to the magazine, would have the right eye. “Dina’s celestial lighting would give it just a slight subliminal otherworldliness,” she said of her thinking at the time. But Ms. Litovsky was headed to Japan in October and wouldn’t be able to travel around the world to shoot the subjects in their homes in places like Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, and Topeka, Kan.
“I said ‘I’d love to, but I can’t do it,’ ” Ms. Litovsky recalled in an interview. But after sleeping on the idea, she emailed Ms. Ryan a question: What if we do it remotely?
What is a remote photo shoot? Ms. Litovsky described a process where a photographer can connect their laptop to the subject’s smartphone and take a picture from continents away. “I’m using their phone as a remote camera,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s the future of photography, but it’s one of the futures of photography,” she said. She pitched the idea to Ms. Ryan, who jumped on board. (The magazine had found previous success with remote shoots during the first years of the coronavirus pandemic.)
Ms. Kellner got to work, hiring assistants who could work on site at each subject’s home. With Ms. Litovsky’s instructions, the assistant set up the lighting and held the subject’s smartphone, sometimes with the help of a second assistant or the subject’s partner. When she saw the right frame, Ms. Litovsky would click a button on her laptop, triggering the shutter on the smartphone.
This method allowed Ms. Litovsky to complete all eight shoots in about a week.
Not only did the remote photography save time (and reduce carbon dioxide emissions), Ms. Litovsky thinks the process resulted in success she wouldn’t have found in person. Typical shoots can be a one hour crunch, leaving little chance to get to know the subject. Working from afar required more communication with Guy Pignolet and the others, which helped her to understand what was behind their passion for space. The whole scene was looser, in a good way.
“The subjects feel less intimidated because the photographer is not in the room with them,” she said, adding: “There is just an iPhone, and it feels a little more relaxed.”
The final product is a collection of portraits of people who have a flair for the dramatic. “I went to the Celestis website and it said something like ‘Make your dream of going to space a reality.’ I thought it was funny, a little Monty Pythonish,” Ms. Litovsky said. Instead of the somber tone she’d originally envisioned for the pictures, she went for a “quirky” and “whimsical” aesthetic, “like sci-fi B movies and their vintage posters,” she said.
In The Times Magazine, the photographs are paired alongside reporting by Jon Mooallem that carries a matching sense of “humor and pathos,” Ms. Ryan said.
The article touches on important questions about contemporary life and death. “It’s very hard figuring out what to do with the remains when you lose a loved one,” Ms. Ryan said. “It’s not as simple as I think it was in the past, when people often had a religious ceremony or ritual that they’d know was part of their family tradition.”
Now, the night sky provides an answer for some adventurers at heart.
“They can send their ashes into space,” Ms. Ryan said. “There’s something beautiful about it.”
Rina Kang, of Say Woof, is a dog photographer based in Seattle.
Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?
Rina Kang: My photography journey started in 2008, and I have been focusing on dog photography for almost five years. My primary medium is digital photography, which allows me to showcase the charm and personality of dogs. I specialize in capturing unique and heartwarming moments of our canine companions.
Can you tell us about your artistic process and how the different stages work into it?
My artistic process involves multiple stages. It typically starts with careful planning, where I discuss with the dog owners to understand the dog’s personality and any specific traits they want to highlight. During the photoshoot, I focus on creating a comfortable and fun environment for the dogs, ensuring their true personalities to shine through. The post-production phase is where I enhance the images to bring out the best in each photo, using editing software to fine-tune colors, contrast and overall Say Woof aesthetics.
Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.
My inspiration comes from the deep connection I feel between humans and dogs. The unconditional love, loyalty and joy that dogs bring into our lives are incredibly inspiring. Additionally, I find inspiration in the beauty of nature and the unique qualities of each dog I photograph. It’s a privilege to capture these moments and share them with others.
Do you have a specific “beat” you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?
I have a particular passion for celebrating dogs’ birthdays. I believe every dog deserves to be the star of the show on their special day. During these photoshoots, we bring out the confetti, party hats and treats, creating a fun and festive atmosphere that captures the pure joy and love between dogs and their humans on these occasions. It’s a heartwarming experience to be a part of these celebrations and to document the connection between dogs and their families during these milestone moments.
Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you? What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?
Say Woof’s first portrait was my old dog, Doobu. One type of photography that holds a special place in my heart is capturing the beauty and wisdom of senior dogs. My passion for dogs began when I received my first pup at the age of 15. He became my loyal companion for nearly 15 years, and his passing was one of the most profound and challenging experiences I’ve ever gone through. It was through him that I truly understood the depth of the bond we share with our four-legged friends and how they can profoundly impact our lives.
Losing him made me realize how essential it is to cherish the moments we have with our pets, regardless of their age. This realization inspired me to become a dog photographer dedicated to preserving the special memories we create with our furry companions. I find a unique beauty in the wisdom and grace of senior dogs, and capturing their stories through my lens is a heartfelt tribute to the love and joy they bring to our lives.
If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?
You can see more of my work on my website www.saywoofstudios.com, as well as on my social media profile on Instagram, @saywoofstudios. I regularly update my Instagram with my latest dog photography.
What is next for you? Anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?
I’m thrilled to announce that our next project is all about capturing the holiday spirit with our furry friends and their families. As the year draws to a close, I’m looking forward to celebrating the end of the year with my customers in a special way. We’ll be creating festive holiday photos, complete with dogs dressed in their holiday best, cozy winter scenes, and all the magic of the season. It’s a time when we can come together, share joy, and create lasting memories with our beloved pets, and I can’t wait to be a part of these heartwarming moments. Stay tuned for these enchanting holiday photoshoots!
Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)
I’m more of a tea person! But if I’m getting a treat at a coffee shop, I’ll take a matcha latte, extra matcha powder with oat milk!
About ‘Artist of the Week’: This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you’re wondering just what constitutes art, that’s the beauty of it; it’s up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.
Four Dallas arts organizations producing new works got a funding boost so they can turn imagination and innovation into artistic reality.
On Tuesday night, TACA (The Arts Community Alliance) announced the 2023 recipients of its New Works Fund. Cara Mía Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Nasher Sculpture and Verdigris Ensemble will share the $125,000 distribution to support the creation of new works that will be seen in 2024.
“Since the New Works Fund’s inception, TACA and our esteemed jurors have identified groundbreaking projects that support local artists, explore new ideas, inspire innovation, challenge traditional thinking, and keep art fresh and relevant, especially among underrepresented artists,” said Maura Sheffler, Donna Wilhelm Family president and executive director.
TACA New Works Fund was established in 2012 to support the development and performance of new works in Dallas County. The fund has provided $1,112,500 in grants to support 36 new works of art in North Texas.
Since the pandemic and with the endorsement of its Board of Directors, TACA has refocused the grant to provide support for new works of performing, literary, and visual art in varying stages of development by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), LGBTQ+, and female artists.
This year’s distribution was made possible by the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Texas Instruments.
“Just as art from the past provides a window into our cultural histories, new works of art say much about our diverse communities today,” said Andy Smith, executive director of the TI Foundation. “TACA’s New Works Fund helps artists – especially those whose voices are historically unheard – explore and express their cultural identities in new and innovative ways. This is important to keep our arts community vibrant now and into the future. We’re excited about this year’s New Works Fund recipients and how they are expressing their artistic visions of the world around us.”
Additional support is provided by PNC, Rea Charitable Trust, and Anne Davidson, with founding support from the Donna Wilhelm Family Fund. The recipients were selected by a panel of local and national artists and arts managers through a competitive application and review process.
Two productions of new plays are among the recipients.
Cara Mía Theatre received $25,000 for Yanga written by Jaime Chabaud and translated by Tomas Ayala-Torres. The play will be produced in partnership with Soul Rep Theatre Company from Feb. 17, 2024, to March 3, 2024.
The collaborating Dallas area theaters, working in association with Mulato Teatro from Mexico, will present the world premiere of the play inspired by the real-life story of Gaspar Yanga, an enslaved African Prince who led a rebellion and successfully negotiated an independent territory with the Spanish crown less than 100 years after the arrival of Hernán Cortés in Mexico. Translated into English for the first time, Yanga sheds light on the roots of the Afro-Mexican experience.
Tom Ehrlich
Dallas Theater Center received $10,000 for Jonathan Norton’s: I AM DELIVERED’T, scheduled to be presented Feb. 2-18, 2024.
Good Friday. The New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church’s Seven Last Words service is in full swing. But outside – in the church parking lot – another resurrection story is taking shape. This world premiere new comedy by DTC Playwright in Residence, Jonathan Norton, introduces theater audiences to African American church Usher Board culture as it intersects with the jubilation and tribulation of same-gender loving African American Christians. I AM DELIVERED’T is a co-production between Dallas Theater Center and the Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Lara Jo Hightower.
With this production, the Dallas Theater Center launched a pilot program called the “Ambassador Program,” a group of staff and board members traveling around Dallas to specific communities to engage people with the creation of the work, bring more awareness to the play and the institution, and invite newcomers to the theater.
For the first time, visual arts are among this year’s recipients.
“We’re especially pleased this year to make our first New Works grant for a visual arts piece to the Nasher Sculpture Center,” Sheffler said.
Tim Hursley
The Nasher Sculpture Center received $50,000 for Hugh Hayden: America, planned for September 2024 – January 2025.
The exhibition will feature newly commissioned work by Dallas native, Hugh Hayden. Currently in development, the new sculptural works will invite visitors to examine familiar objects through a slightly sinister, critical lens. The goal of America is to use Hayden’s signature spiky wooden thorns to explore childhood, community, public space, individualism, safety, and, as referenced in the exhibition’s title: the American Dream. This installation and exhibition of new work will be accompanied by robust public programming, including school tours, workshops, and an artist talk.
“The Nasher Sculpture Center is honored to be a recipient of a grant from 2023 New Works Fund,” said Director Jeremy Strick. “This grant—the first of its kind to a visual arts organization—allows the Nasher to present a series of newly commissioned works in the Nasher’s garden and galleries. Hugh Hayden: America, on view beginning in September 2024, is a homecoming for the artist and a chance for us to present his important works to our Dallas community. The New Works Fund is one of many examples of TACA’s important work to support culture in North Texas.”
Richard Hill Photography
Verdigris Ensemble received $40,000 for Mis-Lead, composed by Kirsten Soriano. The choral ensemble will present the world premiere performance of the piece from April 5-7, 2024.
This stunningly sobering account of West Dallas’s lead-infused past shines a light on one of the most impactful environmental challenges in the City’s history. In collaboration with Dallas Free Press – using eye-witness accounts, newspaper articles, city council transcripts, and community conversations – Verdigris mixes bilingual poetry with docu-journalism to chronicle a community in need. This dynamic new work honors the generations of Dallasites affected by lead-smelting, reminding us that the first step to environmental justice starts at home.
Learn more: TACA
During the latter part of the 1990s, armed with an old Lomo camera, a vintage Pentax SLR, and a plastic 3D camera, designer and photographer Paul Burgess embarked on a documentation journey of the band Pulp both on and off stage.
During that period, the group led by Jarvis Cocker were on the verge of recording what would eventually become their seminal album, This is Hardcore (1998). Burgess was there for all of it, capturing the band’s concerts, video shoots, and DJ sets using photography, collage, and video.
Documenting both private and public moments of the band during the album’s creation, Burgess’s photography and distinctive photomontages are now featured in his book Hardcore: The Cinematic World of PULP, co-authored with creative director Louise Colbourne.
Twenty-five years on from the release of This is Hardcore, the material, stowed away in Burgess’s archive all this time, offers a unique glimpse into the band’s creative processes and, through previously unseen images and behind-the-scenes interviews, invites readers on a cinematic journey into the world of Pulp.
‘Hardcore: The Cinematic World of PULP’ is available from Thames & Hudson here
Jarvis Cocker in the dressing rooms at Pinewood Studios, taken with a 3D camera
Jan Marie von Giebelhausen and Nick Banks during the ‘This is Hardcore’ video shoot in February 1998
A ‘twinned’ Cocker at Pinewood Studios
Cocker brought a bag of his own shoes for the many different scenes involved in the February 1998 video shoot of ‘This is Hardcore’
Dancers during the ‘Party Hard’ video shoot at Asylum Studios in August 1998
Collage of filmstrips from ‘This is Hardcore’
Jarvis Cocker during the ‘This is Hardcore’ video shoot
Graphic design for ‘Hardcore: The Cinematic World of PULP’
The book features interviews from then and now by the video directors, band members and other artists involved with the album
When stepping into the Now Gallery on London’s Greenwich Peninsula, you enter into the vibrant youth culture of South Africa. ‘A Young South Africa’, the title of this year’s annual ‘Human Stories’ project, is presented through the eyes of six South African photographers – Bee Diamondhead, Fede Kortez, Aart Verrips, Nikki Zakkas, Anita Hlazo, Ben Moyo and Karabo Mooki – who capture the diverse culture of their home nation, which is shadowed by a complex political, socio-economic and cultural landscape.
The featured works celebrate individualism, co-creation, and collaboration, telling the story of the ‘Ama2000s’, a generation of young South Africans defined by self-expression and political awareness, and a desire to revolt against the constraints of the past.
Fede Kortez, Cape Town Vibes
(Image credit: Fede Kortez)
Despite the continuous rise of youth unemployment, and the decline in basic services like clean water, the creative energy of Ama2000s is undimmed and expressed through visual culture, music, and fashion – all a focus of the exhibition, which has been curated by Kaia Charles.
Speaking with Wallpaper*, she said: ‘Human Stories commissions seek to engage the viewer in global conversations. South Africa is known for its turbulent past and the amazing Amapiano music movement that is sweeping the world. We hope the exhibition will share new perspectives, both thought-provoking, uplifting and transformative.’
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In her photographs shot in Nyanga, a township in the Western Cape, and Cape Town, fashion designer and stylist Anita Hlazo, founder of label Afrogrunge, showcases her evolving style and identity as a Black ‘Alternative’ presenting girl, mixing pop and grunge subcultures. Hlazo’s portraits capture piercings, tattoos, and platformed boots, contextualised by the urban environment and local communities.
(Image credit: Karabo Mooki)
In this photo-documentation, Karabo Mooki focuses on the lives of ‘Island Gals’, a skateboarding community based in Johannesburg and Soweto. The Black women and queer crew reclaim their right to appear in the places they skate, collectively declaring the right to protest against South Africa’s history of gender-based violence.
(Image credit: Fede Kortez)
Glazed with a saturated colour, Kortez’s portraits are shot in the Bo-Kaap and Woodstock neighbourhoods of Cape Town. The colourful houses of Bo-Kaap celebrate the district’s Muslim identity. Through his photography, Kortez seeks to capture the energy of the two neighbourhoods while embracing Pan African pride and connection with the people he photographs.
Bhungane Mehlomakulu, Vaalpark, Sasolburg
(Image credit: Nikki Zakkas)
Keen to share cultural richness, diversity and pride, Zakkas captures a cast of five young people within the locations that are significant to those individuals. The backgrounds hide symbolic clues to their personalities, with each photo as unique as its subject.
(Image credit: Bee Diamondhead)
Three queer, male musicians are photographed by Bee Diamondhead, who celebrates their beauty, softness and vulnerability, challenging the cultural stereotypes of the South African music industry. She critiques toxic masculinity and acknowledges that her country has the highest gender-based violence rate in the world. The nude sitters, painted with coloured clays and earth, engage in ‘a ritual of remoulding’ themselves, ‘channeling back with the soil or giving back to it’.
(Image credit: Aart Verrips)
Through self-expression, Aart Verrips reimagines the ‘rainbow nation’. Exploring the intersection of music, performance and fashion, he features a collective of individuals driving the cultural movement.
Now Gallery’s ‘A Young South Africa, Human Stories’ is showcased from 11 October – 19 November 2023. nowgallery.co.uk
