GAY VOICE, NO SHADE

Pretty things are nice, but pretty things with a purpose are even better. Last week I stumbled upon this  Brooklyn, New York-based magazine called Tenth Zine, which focuses on black gay culture. I haven't seen the magazine itself (it has a print run of about 400 copies) but from what I see on the net the editors have put an emphasis on the quality of the content and it looks really professionally done rather than being a rush job that we so often see from people trying to put magazines out on a small budget. I'm especially in love with the collage pictured above about white boys- the ones we all wanna fuck and the ones we all wanna give a zap sign to. So simple yet so creative. The magazine brings together the voices of gay black men who are active in the arts and cultural industries and from what I am reading, subsequent issues will look at black gay culture across the United States. My favourite quote from one of the editors- Khary Stepth- in an interview with Dazed Digital:
"The black person has always been used as a muse and always been adopted by fashionable people, for a moment. Culture is always looking for something to explore and to commercialise, and to turn into a trend. I don’t mind that, but what I do mind is when we don’t have the vehicles to tell our own side of it. We need to have a diversity and I think to control your own media is the real answer to it."

SHARPENING THAT EYE @ WHAT IF THE WORLD

Golly! I kind of feel like a bit of a train wreck, really. Don't get me wrong; last night was fun. I can't remember much of the detail about what happened. I know I went to Marie Claire Magazine's Naked Issue launch, which was super fabulous (always a party with Marie Claire)! I also know that I ended up at the Waiting Room on Long Street jamming hard to some kick ass tunes. This is a total guess, I really don't know what the DJ was th'wow'in' down, but hey, I do know where the day started. It started at What if the World gallery in Woodstock where we went to the opening of artist Cameron Platter's exhibition. Read about it here

The few pictures posted here were taken there. I'm still trying to sharpen my photographic eye and it helps to have places to go where I can kind of do this. Please note that the beautiful flower man figure is not by Platter, but Athi Patra Ruga, whose works are also still up at the gallery.

MAX MOGALE IS BEHIND YOU

Went to photographer Max Mogale's exhibition "Behind You" at Ocean Studios in Newtown last night. I didn't take pics of what was going on outside the show space but what a vibe it was! So chilled on a balmy Jozi night. Hipster varbz, vele (sorry to those who don't like being called hipsters, but denial will do you nothing much *shrugs*). Anyway, back to the photography...
Max tells me he asked his subjects to sit in silence for 20 minutes while he snapped them. It may sound easy being silent for 20 minutes but I can imagine how frustrating it could be. There are few pictures I enjoyed but I decided the short hair girl with clouds on her sweater is one of my most favourite. The clouds, for me, reflect the vacant state of mind her face illustrates.  

PICKIN' PIX IN THE BRAAMIES MIX

There are only a few things I enjoy more about Johannesburg than what Braamfontein has become. There's a very rare cosmopolitan varb that goes on there on Saturdays but most of us tend to stick to the tried and tested Neighbourgoods Market x Great Dane formula, getting drank and stuffing our faces for the better part of the day but there's a lot more to do in Braamies than just that. Anyway, just chillin' out is also a good plan and I did just that about two weekends ago when Jody Brand (@datbitchseyonce) had a photographic exhibition at one of the spaces (forgotten the name) at 70 Juta Street. Jody is a multimedia cool kid and the Main Bitch (in her words) at artist and friend Athi Patra Ruga's studio in Cape Town. She's also what we call a cool-kid-in-transit; people who regularly pop up at the coolest events in both Jozi and Cape Town. I'm trying to be one of those kids, because trust me, you can't get the full experience of what is hip and happening in South African creative indutry without having the in-transit lifestyle. Besides, it's a great way of just generally meeting kick-ass, cultured people.

Anyway. I have a few pics I took on that day. Just for the just. In case you are wondering; Jody is the one with her middle finger up and tongue out Miley Cyrus style. Afro-Missy standing with Jody's photography in the background is Negiste, whom I've known since my varsity days. Oh how old we've grown!