- 2 days ago
Itumeleng Banda is at Johannesburg's R&B Latitudes Art Fair, meeting the artists, sculptors and designers who are redefining African creativity — from canvas to carved wood, burlap to global runways.
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00:07forget the quiet and stuffy galleries today we're out at shifts in gardens in
00:13Johannesburg for the R&B latitudes art fair so think art fashion and pure
00:22creative energy all colliding in one place to give us a splendid experience
00:28but before we explore here's what you can expect a young Malian artist who paints on
00:34burlap sacks reclaiming memory and a country that's under threat a Senegalese fashion designer
00:41who put the car on the global runway catching Beyonce's eye along the way and the coastal
00:48retreat outside Cape Town that turned a tide seaside house into something extraordinary
00:55I meet the milling was a khadiah habanda and you're watching Afri Max
01:14well she calls herself the queen of wood and honestly that title fits her perfectly in burning
01:20republic this is the woman transforming raw iroko antique into stunning hand carved art when the drum
01:28of passion beats the feet of purpose cannot stay still today we are stepping into a world full of
01:36sodas sweat and guess what some serious skill I will be joining a hard working lady who turns raw timber
01:46into a stunning work of art one cut calf and polish at a time without further delay let me introduce
01:55to
01:55you our Ursula for today I'm Nicole the queen of wood we specialize in the manufacturing and marketing of
02:05wooden tableware and decorative objects before any carving or sanding begins Nicole's day starts right here at the
02:14the
02:15time of wood she carefully unpicks the finest locks this raw material are the soul of her creation
02:22Nico now I want to know how do you know which wood to choose
02:25for my tableware I use iroko teak and milena wood from Liberia
02:32I only use these woods because they're strong durable and sturdy so guys as you can see I'm really learning
02:39a lot from my boss but then Nico how are we going to cut this wood first we trace it
02:45out then we cut the
02:46groove for that part I really need help if I start cutting the wood myself now I'll end up sore
02:51all over
02:55so once the groove is done we move on to planing and then to the sawmill there are already workers
03:01there who take care of that you see there's not much left for me to do they cut the wood
03:06plane it and
03:07then we've just arrived at the workshop thank you very much I'm glad to be here here's the wood we
03:16brought back from the sawmill that's what we're going to work with now we have our plank so the plate
03:22we want to make now this is the template we're going to trace to create it this is the chisel
03:33for
03:33carving it's for tapping and carving wow this like hammer and this one is for scraping then we have
03:40the clamp to keep the wood fixed so it doesn't move yeah for tighten it to make it firm
03:49so Nicole I want to ask you for how long have you been doing this work i've been in the
03:53business for
03:53five years now oh five good years you're a strong lady sam here's the electric sander this is what
04:01we're going to use to sand the inside we'll use 60 grit sandpaper to do the polishing what are the
04:06challenges that you face at the beginning i'm basically self-taught at the beginning i had no
04:12experience i didn't know anything about the field i worked with different craftsmen and collaborated
04:18with them the first time i came across wooden tableware i fell in love with it so i contacted
04:25a craftsperson and asked if they could make some for me he said yes so i gave him all my
04:31savings
04:31he left and i never saw him again it was a real shock for me after that i worked with
04:41other artisans
04:42but the big problem was always the delivery time the finishing wasn't really what i wanted either
04:49so one day i said to myself okay i'll do it myself i slowly started and now here we are
04:56it's a real
04:57source of pride for me it also brings me joy to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary
05:07and to hear people say wow when they look at my creations so that's it
05:16so we position it like this
05:19i can see that your hand is very smooth like you cut everything perfectly have you ever enjoyed yourself
05:24or have any difficulty getting this chip yes we often get hurt especially the electric saw it's
05:30sharp it cuts quickly so guys after several hours of smoothing of carving here is our final product
05:38very smooth and ready for food nicole's story isn't just about wood it is about resilience a woman who
05:47refuse to let betrayer or failure stop her from building something beautiful the r b latitudes art
05:57fair is a visual feast where africa's creatives collectors and big ideas collide let's meet artist
06:05dada kainisa so that your process is titled nagandjani when there's no one around and it's just you
06:12creating art what does that look like it's a mix of textures different words uh different processes
06:19because i also paint it gets to a point where i have to figure out is a painting gonna complement
06:23this or accentuate it or like work well with the wooden material we can't miss the exhibition today
06:29because you've been put in a confined rendezvous in what way do you think it possibly it was universal
06:35lining and helping you tell your story there are parts of it that are you know quite challenging
06:40because it's it's referred to as the round room but it's actually a hexagon almost step out of the
06:46conventional and think about what it means to not place a whole installation on a flat wall it's a
06:52process of finding solution this space actually works well for what i'm trying to say and finally
06:57let's just talk about the importance of spaces like this you're getting to network with people
07:01who are fans of your work but also other young creatives it's very important because i've visited
07:07r b latich it's a third year but it's my first year participating i'm very grateful what happens
07:14when the country's history starts to fade away while in mali ibrahim gembe finds the answers
07:20in a very unexpected place the humble burlap sack
07:33mali's most exciting young artist doesn't paint on canvas he paints on trash
07:44his ability of being able to carry these messages interest me in my way of telling stories
07:52meet ibrahim kebe his work is a fight for identity in a country where memory feels fragile for young malians
08:02today the challenge isn't just instability it's remembering who we are without losing who we are
08:10becoming so at 29 abraham's art carries a hundred years of memory but none of it started in a fancy
08:19art school it all started at his father's workshop it's mainly the fact that my father is someone who in
08:29his way of doing things of working especially with the dream influenced me and that influence isn't
08:39incurred in a single memory actually i heard the sound of the machine in the workshop the sound of the
08:46cutting and the moment when he was very deeply immersed in the dream and it's especially the fact that
08:54through his way of doing things he showed me that you can make art from everyday life
09:02and that's what influenced me most lately ibrahim has been calling on mali's oldest truth tellers
09:10the kore duga because they have this ability to speak very profound truths often very bluntly mostly
09:21with irony but generally very bluntly bull up offers me many more possibilities because bull up has
09:31this ability to absorb to garder to keep traces and also to be able to carry they will see for
09:39example
09:40when i put a clear on it it's able to carry this form of engraving on the canvas
09:49it's ability of being able to carry these messages interest me in my way of telling stories
09:58ibrahim's work speaks to people in their 20s and 30s across africa navigating questions of identity
10:07ibrahim's work speaks to people in their 20s without a clean map there's more and more of enthusiasm
10:13especially from our generation towards our culture our heritage and we are in full face of transformation
10:21and that is what really interests me i work where we try to evolve we try to reincarnate all these
10:29traditions that we have inherited and we try to go into the depths of the knowledge of these things
10:38ibrahim has been taking his art across oceans and cities from lesbon to cape town helping young people
10:47trying to figure out what heritage means when it's been interrupted captain is very important to me
10:54for several reasons the first thing is that it's primarily a place where african artists meet among
11:03themselves but also between african artists and the rest of the world it's not just about visibility
11:13it's about the fact that this encounters foster dialogue a dialogue between artists a dialogue between
11:21cultures and cultures and that aspect interests me greatly it's a platform that allows me to speak to
11:28an audience that knows me well and is familiar with my word or potentially to engage with a different
11:38audience from elsewhere ibrahim bember kebe picks up what the market throws out and makes something that lasts
11:48he is already asking the questions his generation will spend the rest of their lives trying to answer
11:58married collaborators and the founders of occupying the gallery venice biennale the met lawrence limoana's
12:07kanga fabric embroideries are in the foundation louis vuitton in paris talk about hashtag life goals
12:14florence florence let's talk about occupying the gallery why does it matter so much to the both of
12:19you so occupying the gallery is a mentorship program run by myself and mary and usa anita kaiser
12:27um what we do is we negotiate on behalf of the artists to have a space in a corporate space
12:32in a
12:33cultural institution and we transform that into a studio that work then gets like exhibited at an art fair
12:40we try to kind of generate interesting ideas conceptual ideas and make sure that like the
12:46young artists are aware of the pitfalls of what it means to be a contemporary artist
12:51mary simande is one of the most celebrated artists south africa has ever produced
12:57so mary let's start with sophie yes your alte ego how did she come about i went to visit my
13:03grandmother
13:04she shared a story when she was working for this white family what i picked up from the story was
13:09aspirations and dreams and when i got back and i was like actually i have a story i know what
13:15i want
13:16to do i want to talk about my grandmother's aspiration and then that's how sophie the alpha
13:20eagle was born yes let's talk about how she's been received by collectors people who just enjoy art
13:27so it ranges i kid you know like from all the people young people all races um people can relate
13:35to
13:35the story of self because it's a story about a dream and we all aspire to be something or to
13:41be someone
13:43beyonce were one of her captains the internet lost it but silly rubber can went back to creating fashion
13:50for the global stage what if africa's future wasn't managed in silicon valley but song in dakar's alleys
13:59fashion entrepreneur selie rabican believes time is ripe to bring senegalese mythology into fashionable
14:08streetwear my designs are really enmeshed with dakar pictograms graphism colors sense of patchworking
14:21everyday designer mentality that we have in the streets of dakar i think i have that in my designs
14:27because i proceed with a lot of contrast with clash rather than coordinating things her designs
14:35pulse with futurism but how does her bold vision fit into a conservative society where religion
14:43femininity and politics are regulated yes i think first islam in senegal is mostly a sufi islam so it's a
14:51bit different than what we may imagine a conservative muslim society to be so that context is important
15:00but i think what it costed me at the beginning was a lot of time explaining why my language existed
15:11basically because people will ask you who is going to wear this so no one is going to wear it
15:16so why are
15:17you doing it and i was here trying to explain that yeah it has hair yeah it has this it
15:23has that the
15:23shades are uncommon and uh and practical sometimes but it says something about a world where this
15:31inspiration comes from it says something about the body of woman at that period of time but i think
15:39that repetition created just a space for different voices such as mine
15:45selie is building a youth aesthetic that is radical but culturally grounded
15:52not imported yes i think when i use them together first is the mentality of loving mood boards loving
16:00collages everything collage i i love and i love as well the fact that uh there's a bit of a
16:08bifal culture
16:09into its patchwork the tapestry of society you know people from coming from different paths different
16:16people different species all of that in the same environment and trying to co-exist together and have
16:22a singular voice when it's needed i think there's a lot of that trying to make um a sense of
16:29the world
16:30we're living in and uh speaking about community through the elements that i choose to work with
16:36at her studio in the car hands trained in the city are building the next collection
16:44there's a certain way of working that you will see nowhere else it's when i started working for
16:49selie that i saw a lot of changes usually i don't work for others i wouldn't work on a design
16:54that would
16:55make people stop to take a second look in appreciation but since i've started working
16:59for her she's been really supportive and boosted my confidence honestly i can say this is all thanks
17:05to her because us artisans we're just out here trying but we have been really thankful since we've
17:11started working for her and that's really it born in dakar trained in paris she chose the sketch
17:20over the spreadsheet and came home i don't know why it was obsessive for me at first but i think
17:27now i understand that what i was feeling in the 2008 2010s is that something was happening in the city
17:34of dakar that i didn't see in paris that i didn't see elsewhere beyonce wore a selie rabican
17:41koftan the world noticed selie kept working i've been listening to beyonce my whole childhood and we're
17:52making jeans with uh destiny's child references so it was kind of uh yeah it was a great moment really
18:00for this innovative style explorer african fashion in 2026 is no longer a footnote this is our kimono
18:10and it's a very important piece for the brand i think it's one of the is one of the most
18:15recognizable
18:16pieces of the brand and what we are talking about is here you have the hair the synthetic hair here
18:24leather cutouts uh wax quilted motifs you have a seahorse here shrimp so it's it's kind of a marvelous
18:36you know universe that is embedded into one piece and i really like this piece 26 collection is um it's
18:44about friendship of two people that are very um creative and the collection is about that type of
18:52encounter between two creative women and um it tells that uh story of creativity soul searching friendship
19:00et cetera selie rabican is building worlds and inviting the next generation to walk into them
19:09one son alive and made in the car from canvas to coast palisa dembe is at the tip of the
19:19continent
19:19to show us that a holiday home does not have to choose between design and comfort across africa
19:27incredible homes are raising the bar of modern design this series gives you a front row seat to
19:33unapologetically stylish spaces the kind you can't help but save screenshot and dream about
19:43sun space serious design goals welcome to germanus where holiday mode is always on and great design does
19:52all the talking clean lines massive views and interiors made for switching off and showing off
20:00today palisa tembe is stepping inside to see how this coastal escape was styled for modern holiday living
20:07and behind the look interior designer edwin murphy of m interior design hi edwin hi pali welcome
20:15thank you so much for having me wow
20:21edwin thank you so much for inviting me into such a warm home thank you pali welcome we are here
20:27in the
20:27yimeland alder valley and we recently had the opportunity to furnish this house for our clients
20:32so what was the client brief and what did you envision putting this project together what they
20:37wanted to envision for this space is to have a more modern aesthetic so this property has a lot of
20:43windows facing out to the golf course and to the lagoon so we really wanted to optimize the views
20:48bringing them to the indoors so a lot of the spaces like you would see the rugs for instance are
20:54quite
20:55large in scale to entice the user to walk to the outdoors i definitely sense all of those elements
21:01you've been able to introduce and standing here at the entrance hall i love a good double volume
21:06ceiling so the sense of arrival of this home divides you into the different directions of this space so
21:13one of the design principles that we've utilized here was the sense of scale so a lot of furniture
21:18in this home has been custom made to fit that scale and to enhance the proportions of each space
21:23looking at this lounge space it seems as if you've really considered how your client lives
21:28so yes you're correct within this space we have many focal points and how we worked around that
21:34was incorporating swivel furniture so many of the furniture in this space orientates to different
21:40directions within this living space we also created little pockets of nesting tables so as a visitor from
21:48overseas wherever they find themselves in their home they can swivel around to see the view or to see the
21:54fireplace and they can put their coffee down right next to them swivel chairs any view yes please and
22:02that same idea carries straight through to the kitchen so you see here we've got this conversational
22:09seating in front of this massive island and these chairs actually swivel so that you can look out to
22:15the view and what a grand countertop this is what were some of the design elements that you've been able
22:21to incorporate in the kitchen the kitchen island serves the same functionality as the fireplace in
22:26the sense that you can revolve around it so that connects all the spaces with one another the client
22:32really enjoys cooking and they needed a lot of counter space we used mostly drawers in this kitchen to
22:37maximize and storage and we've even included a seating area on the side
22:46tell me about this beautiful dining room you've created so the dining room table has been custom
22:51designed and what we've done is we centered it around the fireplace so the fireplace the pendant
22:57lighting and the artwork behind me connects those three elements together to have a cohesive space the
23:02pendant lighting creates this halo effect above this custom dining room table we designed this dining
23:08table specifically for the space we had it 3d modeled and we had it manufactured now this house is made
23:14for fabulous dinner parties and when things fall outside that's where the real magic happens
23:21and with the stacking doors it feels as if the home completely opens up to the golf course
23:25absolutely this home is completely driven for barefoot living you could walk in from the lounge straight
23:31onto the deck into the pool and straight back in again so we've created this breakfast nook outside
23:38by the pool area and also introducing umbrellas and sun lounges to enjoy the pool and golf course
23:44a round of golf out front a cool down in the pool honestly what more do you need and while
23:51downstairs
23:52brings the vibes upstairs brings the calm
23:57walking into the main bedroom i feel a strong sense of serenity what was your approach when it
24:02came to this room for this space we really focused on symmetry to give this room balance so what you
24:08see on the one side is predicted on the other side the design approach in this bedroom is we used
24:14muted
24:15tones so we've wrapped the room with wallpaper but it is very subtle and it picks up on the subtle
24:20textures that we've used throughout the space so the fabric on the headboard is different to the
24:25linen is different to the bed end but still they relate to one another so one element in a main
24:31bedroom is always a television and where to put it but for us a television is a picture with no
24:38picture
24:39in it so what we've decided to do is is to have an electronic television that elevates out from the
24:45ottoman
24:45in front of the bed so by a quick press of the button in the comfort of your bed you
24:50can watch
24:50television i love that what a clever way to deal with that i saw i can only imagine that such
24:56a
24:56stunning bedroom enjoys an equally elegant bathroom absolutely and what we've done in the bathroom is
25:03that we've wrapped the bathroom with a wallpaper that creates that same context and narrative that
25:09you're experiencing in the bedroom where you create this one story that takes you on this adventure
25:13throughout the home this home is full of moments worth stopping for you could spend hours exploring
25:21every detail or just claim a spot by the pool and call it a day either way it works well
25:29from the rnb
25:29latitudes art fair here in johannesburg at the chefston gardens that's where we'll conclude this week's
25:35episode of after max however the conversation doesn't have to end here so be sure to interact with us on
25:42the socials until then take care
25:45so
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