THE LAKE #022 by THE LAKE MAGAZINE

THE LAKE

THE LAKE WE ARE FOOLISHLY Ambitious

#22/ 100818 “The core of the anarchist tradition, as I understand it, is that power is always illegitimate, unless it proves itself to be legitimate. So the burden of proof is always on those who claim that some authoritarian hierarchic relation is legitimate. If they can’t prove it, then it should be dismantled.” - Noam Chomsky, On Anarchism

CONTENTS REGULARS: News Wax Junkie Print Run Plimsoll

04 71 74 76

ART: Paradise Island Counting Seconds Aura

17 59 65

PHOTOGRAPHY: Stalker Boxing Day Aberration

11 23 39

MUSIC: Ineffable Cretin Hop

33 47

LIFESTYLE: Karen From Finance

cONTENTS PHOTO DAVID WEIN / “M.I.A.” @future.david 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.

PUBLISHER

Advertising / MARKETING

THE LAKE MAGAZINE PTY LTD info@thelake.co

Brett Bellairs brett@thelake.co

Editor / Art DirectOR

ONLINE EDITOR

Stefan Naude’ stefan@thelake.co

Mandy Nash mandy@thelake.co

Submissions

ONLINE / SOCIAL

info@thelake.co

www.thelake.co.za Insta: the_lake_magazine

COPY EDITING Christine Stewart COVER Photography On the cover Garments Accessories Creative Direction Lighting / Studio Retouching

Stan Kaplan MXBLOUSE selfi (gold earrings) lorne Stefan Naude Big Time Studios Naomi E’camara

photography

contributors

David Wein Matt Kay Broomberg & Chanarin Mpho Mokgadi Meghan Frantz Joshua Rijneke Obakeng Molepe Stan Kaplan Tyrone Bradley Alon Skuy Neo Baepi

Jacqueline Flint Xavier Nagel Dan Charles Ross Colepeper Matthew Freemantle Steve Marais Zack Lees Tymon Smith PRINTING Lani Spice Tandym print Tel: +27 21 505 4200 Email: print@tandym.co.za

THE LAKE

NEWS VANS / Vans returns with a second installment of the Design Assembly collection featuring a new assortment of women’s apparel, accessories and footwear which blends meticulously detailed design with street sensibility. This season, Design Assembly offering re-emerges with a fall update capturing a streetwear-driven aesthetic in a rich color palette coupled with deluxe textural fabrics and thoughtful details across the ensemble. The Design Assembly collection is rounded out by backpacks, socks, hats, T-shirts, and hoodies. INFO: www.vans.com

Permanent Record Permanent Record is very excited to announce its partnership with New York-based GRADO LABS, a world-renowned manufacturer known for hand building high-end dynamic open-air headphones and cartridges. The remainder of 2018 will see Permanent Record expanding the South African wax landscape with new vinyl releases for FRANCOIS VAN COKE en VRIENDE (double gatefold 7”), a new BLK JKS album & new kids on the block, ZOO LAKE will release an album called ZONK. INFO: www.permanentrecord.co.za

Herschel Supply Company

Herschel Supply Company Kaleidoscope Little America Backpack Woodland CamoAsh RoseChecker

Herschel Supply Company Cruz Crossbody Black

Herschel Supply Company Classic Backpack Barbados Cherry Crosshatch Black Crosshatch

Herschel Supply Company Dawson Backpack Arrowwood Tan Synthetic Leather

Herschel Supply Company Seventeen Hip Pack / Barbados Cherry Crosshatch / Black Crosshatch

Herschel Supply Company Heritage Backpack Deep Teal Tan Synthetic Leather

Herschel Supply Company Fifteen Hip Pack Black

THE LAKE

Herschel Supply Company Settlement Backpack Woodland Cam oN Navy Red, Settlement Backpack

Herschel Supply Company Seventeen Hip Pack Kelp/Vermillion Orange

Herschel Supply Company Novel Duffle Arrowwood / Frontier Geo

Herschel Supply Company Novel Duffle Light Grey Crosshatch

THE LAKE

NEWS HURLEY / SAFARI PACK With winter almost behind us, Hurley is proud to announce one of its latest collections. Launching this Spring, Hurley’s Safari Pack is inspired by the melting pot of wildlife, civilization and art in Africa’s port cities. This range has something for everyone. From men’s button-ups, shackets, T-shirts and boardshorts, to women’s dresses, leggings and swimwear. This collection is available in Hurley retail stores nationwide from mid-August 2018. INFO: www.hurley.com

SELFI SELFI is housed in its lifestyle concept store in the heart of Cape Town , South Africa, selling annual collaborations with thought leaders in the South African creative sphere. The store is also a home to a host of carefully selected South African designers such as Githan Coopoo, Lorne, Day Feels, Dyad, Deity Skin and WASS Skin Care, ranging from jewellery, essential skin care, as well as accessories which fill the space and share the aesthetic and ethical approach of the SELFI label. INFO: www.selfi.co.za

ROASTIN RECORDS / FELIX LABAND 4/4 DOWN THE STAIRS is Available on Vinyl Record A unique take on the spectrum of electronic beats, deliciously textured, quirkily produced beats ranging from waltzes and downtempo to electro and punk-kwaito forms, with a darker undercurrent, ready to bite you with savage humour or growling bass when you least expect it. Re-Mastered for Vinyl at Fin Mastering. Limited Edition of 300 Pressed on Double White Vinyl and housed in beautiful Gate-Fold Packaging. INFO: www.roastinrecords.com

OH OK / Hokey Poke “EXCLUSIVE: Local clothing label and multi-disciplinary brand, OH OK and SA’s first poke bar and take-away, Hokey Poke have come together on a collaboration launching on First Thursdays in September. The collaboration consists of 20 limited edition velour bomber jackets in 5 different styles as well as multi-fucnctional, dual purpose bags. The collaboration was influenced by Jiro Ono, greasers, The Sopranos, Yakuza and The Big Lebowski. Photo’s taken by Martin Magner” INFO: www.ohokworldwide.com INFO: www.hokeypoke.co.za 06

THE LAKE

HURLEY.COM 07

NEWS W&Co | NOVA Inspired by the spirit of the modern nomad worker who constantly combines their work with lifestyle. NOVA is an mobile office pod, anywhere you want. Accommodating up to 6 people, NOVA is a fully connected office pod; featuring all office essentials; fast Wifi, a Smart TV, Apple TV, printer, white board, Nespresso machine, stocked mini fridge, charging station, plug points, bathroom facility and running. NOVA is completely off the grid and uses solar generated power. INFO: www.workandco.co.za

Converse One Star The Converse One Star is an anti-hero. Rooted in subculture and crafted for those who seek a bold look. Of late, One Star has returned to the streets via interpretations by imaginative artists such as Tyler, the Creator, whose individuality and daring means of self-expression are more interesting than following the rules. The One Star is refreshed for spring in OG Suede Black, OG Suede Green, Enamel Red Carnival, Carnival Orange and Carnival Yellow. INFO: www.converse.com

ROASTIN' RECORDS / BANANABRAINSHITHOUSE ROASTIN’ RECORDS is proud to present Hot Spot, the fourth volume in the ongoing BANANABRAINSHITHOUSE series from Banana Brains. Released On Cassette + Download. All tracks were made up on the spot. Improvised guitar lines smeared together with stream-of-consciousness vocals; repetitive phrases echoing out over a clutter of recurring patterns. For fans of rattling rhythms and stabbing guitars, Banana Brains toys with mutant afro-pop, lo-fi disco blues and hypnotic bedroom-punk grooves. INFO: www.roastinrecords.com

adidas Originals’ / DEERUPT RUNNER adidas Originals’ new Deerupt Runner silhouette steps out in 6 striking new colorways this week, just in time for the summer heatwave. Leveraging the shoe’s simple design and disruptive visual language, the release presents the Deerupt Runner model in a slew of two-tone editions.True to the shoe’s original blueprint, each iteration of the Deerupt Runner model boasts a form-hugging stretch mesh construction across the upper with a webbing overlay and a minimalist lacing system. INFO: www.adidas.co.za 08

THE LAKE

C O L L A B O R AT I V E W O R K S PAC E 7 BREE STREET | CAPE TOWN C O M E S AY H E L L O WORKANDCO.CO.ZA

THE LAKE

> WORDS - lani Spice

PHOTOGRAPHY - Neo Baepi

STALKER Neo Baepi “I’ve always loved beautiful images of people and I always wanted to be the person making them. I would browse magazines my mom got and the first ever spread I fell in love with was one from United Colours of Benneton. My dad made it real for me by helping me get gear and I’ve been learning and shooting ever since.” To start off, would you mind telling us a bit about your background and where you are from? I was born in 1991, in the small town of Klerksdorp and spent the first 6 years of my life in the equally small town of Potchefstroom. After that I moved to Yeoville with my dad at the beginning of his law career. I’ve lived in Soweto, Roodepoort, Sandton, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Cape Town in the last 27 or so years, so I’m relieved to have found my feet in the Mother City. I was formally educated at the University still (unfortunately) known as Rhodes and left there with a Journalism and Media Studies degree, specializing in photojournalism. I lived in Austin, Texas for a bit, came back home to freelance for a bit (Visas expire) and found employment in retail, publishing and very recently advertising. Bills must be paid. Your creative spectrum is quite wide, when did the medium of photography begin for you? The cool thing about this question is that I always used to believe that I only take portraits, but the more I think about it, a portrait itself comes in a variety of forms – so thanks. When I was about 7 years

old my parents got me a Polaroid camera and it was heaps of fun. I enjoyed the instantaneousness of it but I loved the performance of photography even more. He still doesn’t fully understand it, but my dad is a massive part of my photography story. He had an Olympus camera during his varsity days and I kind of inherited it. He’s since taken it back, and also has a photography hobby. I’ve always loved beautiful images of people and I always wanted to be the person making them. I would browse magazines my mom got and the first ever spread I fell in love with was one from United Colours of Benneton. My dad made it real for me by helping me get gear and I’ve been learning and shooting ever since. I studied at a university because I wanted a University experience and degree. I also wanted to know more about things outside of photography which in hindsight helps me a great deal in terms of employment today. Basically, I love photography and everything about it and I am just grateful to be able to have it as a career. Could you tell us about the cameras you use, what was your first one and which one is your go-to? My first film camera was my dad’s Olympus (can’t remember much else about it) and it had a neat

HIGH FIVES Majid Jordan

Beyoncé

Anderson Paak

Majid Jordan

B’Day

Malibu

Alina Baraz and Galimatias

The Internet Feel Good

Urban Flora

2016

2006

2016

2015

2013

OVO Sound

Columbia

Empire

Ultra Music

Odd Future Records

THE LAKE

35mm fixed. My first digital camera was a Nikon D3100 and I still have her today. I recently acquired an awesome Nikon D610 and let me tell you something about full-frame cameras: they are the cheat code to this thing of ours! I also have a Pentax analogue toy which I need to use more often. I do most of the commercial and event work with the D610 and a 35mm. Gear is incredibly expensive so I hope I can work hard and well enough to keep adding to it. I need more lenses, more ways to light. But not to the point of forgetting that so much can come from absolutely nothing.

switched from analogue photography to digital, what influenced this decision?

You’ve mentioned before that you have

You are known to be a portrait photog-

Shooting in analogue is like listening to records. It’s a treat and I don’t have the luxury of time and money to always do it. I think as I go further into my career, I’ll make a return to shooting in analogue. I enjoy post-production and the general workflow of shooting digitally; it’s almost therapeutic. It’s not that I love one more than the other, I just want to do what’s needed so I can eventually shoot how I want to.

THE LAKE

rapher, what initially drew you to this and do you ever explore other genres of photography? I am what they call a “people’s person”. I love the diverse energies, and the ebb and flow of life comes mainly from people and the relationships we form with them. Even a stranger on the street or the train - for that brief moment of taking a photo of them, I am suspending a moment in time between us. Portraiture, for me, is a moment and an event, and it’s a chance to make the subject look and feel like they are at their very best. An athlete on their field of play is a por-

trait. A performer on stage is a portrait. A tired man on the train going home to his family is a portrait. If I can make the subject look dignified, I’ve hit the sweet spot and my job is done. So by virtue of this, I have already experimented with other “kinds” of photography with the dignity of the subject at the core. I haven’t really explored landscape photography because I don’t think I’m any good at doing Mother Nature any justice. Lol. You shoot in both black and white as well as colour, do you have a preference?

When I was younger, I preferred black and white photography because that’s how I believed it was meant to be. I’m not entirely sure. Roy DeCarava and Richard Avedon and Susan Sontag made a lot of work in monochrome tones so in my mind that was what made “good photography”. Now that I’m a little older and “wiser” I’ve come to appreciate colour and the different tones and hues it comes in. But I make a decision about how to share an image depending on the impact I want from it. Black and white photos traditionally draw more of an emotional response than colour so it depends on what emotion I want. THE LAKE

You are also an LGBQTI activist. Do you see your photography being a strong tool for or in aid of this? So I wouldn’t really call myself an activist. People work very hard and long to earn that title. Rather, I am a black queer photographer and those factors obviously impact the kind of work I make. It must also be noted that as black and queer creatives, we aren’t really “allowed” to make the work we want to make. It almost always has to be deeply political otherwise nobody cares. So I’m here by default. Having said that, I am intentional about documenting black and queer JOY. We have always 13

been viewed and consumed behind hashtags and violence and pain. These stories are important, and I believe that stories of our joy are equally important. I try my best to be mindful of current South Africa and I don’t tell my queer story on behalf of others. It’s just my hope that someone younger than me sees my work and feels less alone and unsafe. Do you have any inspiration that influences you or your work? Absolutely. I’ve mentioned Roy DeCarava and Richard Avedon and Susan Sontag already, for obvious reasons. DeCarava is where I learnt of dignifying the black people (particularly black women) because he was a black photographer in 1940s Harlem and we all know that the medium didn’t consider our darker tones and hues because why would anyone want to intentionally photograph black folk in the 40s in America? But I digress. I’m 14

also inspired by photographers back home. Anthony Bila and Andile Buka were the first people I followed on Tumblr and am constantly blown away by what they can do with a camera. I love how Kgomotso Neto’s life story can be heard just from a photo he takes. Andy Mkosi is multi-talented (she raps and sings AND takes an incredible portrait). I am basically inspired by the joy I feel consuming another photographer’s work because it’s almost as if I can feel their own joy (or pain – this shit is hard). You’ve briefly spoken before about making a book, is this something you still have planned? I’ve been talking about making something tangible for a long time. And I keep making the excuses of having a full-time job and trying to make a name for myself. Basically, I want to make an accessible coffee-table book filled with black queer joy. I want THE LAKE

it to reach the hands of black queers in small South African towns and townships. I just have no idea where to begin. I have my own anxieties about this, more often than not I feel like I’m not good enough or working hard enough or working for the wrong reasons and I think I need to get to a place where I know exactly what I want. It’s a lot easier to do more harm than good if I don’t have a resolute but careful approach. You are quite active on Instagram, what are your thoughts on this ever growing platform for creatives to showcase their work? Do you see it becoming a stronger representational space for yourself and others? When Instagram first rolled out I had a Blackberry 8520 and my envy for the fact that it was only available to Iphone users made me hate it. But then I got an Ipad for my 21st birthday and I was so excited at

the quick and uncomplicated way I could share my photos, even with a handful of followers. I use my online presence as an archive. I’m happy for the following, obviously, as I am making work to be consumed. I created my profiles to mainly keep track of my progress. It’s quite something to look back at both my Instagram and Tumblr and see how I’ve developed and am still developing. I can almost tell the state of mind I was in back then. Instagram is a neat platform, a good way to showcase but even better for my archiving needs. The social aspect of it is touch-and-go because people are different and can be mean, but I think I’m good at ignoring the ugly voices because I have enough of those in my head. On your Tumblr, it’s great how you publicly answer emails or messages from those who have reached out to you seeking advice or guidance. Why do you think

it’s important for creatives to be open about their experiences? Yes I think South Africans have fallen woefully behind in the space of communication and critique – we have left absolutely no room for it. It’s so important that we talk to one another, even (especially) about the bad stuff and our hardships and anxieties because this creative shit is HARD. I almost feel bad for not liking fellow black creatives’ work because we don’t and shouldn’t all make the same work. We have to be as open as we’re willing to be. People have come before us and there will be others long after our time’s up. We can’t be gatekeepers who at the same time beg for the “industry” to open itself up. Very importantly, we need to be patient. It looks quick and glamourous online and I wish I could address that but I can’t. But it takes time to be good and valued at ANYTHNG you do. I don’t have all the answers; I can only share what I know. THE LAKE

We must treat one another with consideration and respect first, that way, the things we say to one another never ever come with teeth. Do you plan to travel at all and if so where? Of course, travel is the best teacher, right? Logistically speaking though, I’m fortunate enough to travel for work. It’s taken me to Texas and New York and Maputo and all over SA and I am very grateful. I have my heart set on traveling the African continent; they just need to work on the whole homophobia thing. You’d be surprised how many countries have anti-gayness embedded in their society and I make it a point of finding that out before traveling. It’s also why this question is a little difficult to answer. I would love to live back in Austin again; it’s like a smaller and more polite version of New York. INFO: Neo Baepi (@neobaepi) 15

THE LAKE

> WORDS - Tymon Smith

PHOTOGRAPHY - Alon Skuy

Paradise island LUCY JANE TURPIN

In the small room at the back of Kalashnikovv Gallery’s new space in Braamfontein, hangs a series of paintings by Lucy Jane Turpin – abstract works of often bright colours suggesting things but not really representing anything discernible; they’re more a record of the artist’s new found love for a medium she’s only recently started experimenting with. Turpin who, after graduating from Wits, went on to study photography at the Market Photo Workshop and then obtained her MA from Stellenbosch in drawing, has just returned from a three month residency in Marrakech in Morocco. You can tell from their individual titles that this experience has influenced the series of paintings titled “Touching Time” – “Marrakech Queen, Ode Post Marrakech, The heart of thought post Marrakech.” She thinks that “the whole experience – the space I was living in in the Medina and then travelling around the country, has filtered back into the work, especially the colours.” However this is not the Marrakech of Crosby, Stills and Nash where you’re “looking at the world through sunset eyes,” and “ducks and pigs and chickens call.” If there’s anything discernible that conjures up something of Morocco it’s only in the colours, some of which have been made using pigments obtained from Marrakech. Otherwise there’s not much for the uninitiated to relate to in any specific place, time or figure – rather it’s in the overall feeling that the connection may be made. For an artist who has spent much of the last few years drawing in charcoal, painting offers exciting opportunities to explore colour, which she sees as something “new and so it’s also trying to figure out how that works.” The title of the exhibition is reflective of Turpin’s fascination with the physical, sensual aspects of oil paint and her interest in “the weight of paint versus the weigh of charcoal. I’m used to working in charcoal but I was looking for something that feels different because I know how charcoal moves but oil paint has this weight and I’m interested in how it feels when I make work.”

in a kind of self-generating way so I don’t see what I’m going to paint and it paints itself through making.” It’s obvious though that there’s something about these intensely personal expressions and discoveries of a new medium that appeal to audiences and buyers – two of the works were snapped up at the recent Turbine Art Fair, but while it’s always nice to know that there’s a market, the process still remains something that Turpin is challenging herself to learn. As she admits, “Painting as a form is so vast and also quite scary and it makes me quite uncomfortable because I know how to draw but painting is something that I feel I’m still trying to figure out.” While Turpin sees her process as “purely experiential,” and completely informed by “how I take in the world and communicate it,“ she’s also keenly curious about how audiences respond to the works. On the opening night of her show she admits that she listened in on viewer conversations and found it “interesting to hear what people physically see in the image.” Of course in works in which the personal art-making process and interaction between the artist and the paint is so paramount, there’s a universe of interpretations open to anyone contemplating the final result, but that doesn’t bother Turpin who firmly believes that “the viewer is im-

portant to me and what you see reading into the work is as important as what I see in it but that’s where I step away, I guess.” She’ll be returning to Marrakech for two months at the end of the year but in the meantime Turpin has started to draw again, this time in graphite rather than charcoal, and feels that the two mediums are “going to start feeding off each other in a way and I think I’ll discover something else through painting that I’ll take back to drawing.” Though she describes the process of painting as “quite isolating because it’s just you and the painting,” she enjoys working in the Marrakech residency because it’s “nice to be around people from different disciplines because there’s always input and feedback as to what I’m doing and making.” As we wrap our interview, Turpin reflects that perhaps she’s “kind of gone full circle from photography and now back to touching. I think photography for me has a bit of a distance and so for me it’s important to get back to something that’s very immediate but also paint takes time so I have to be very patient with it.” INFO: www.kalashnikovv.co.za INFO: www.queenscollective.org

HIGH FIVES Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds

Kevin Morby Harlem River

Trance Frendz

Kristin Anna Valtýsdóttir

Jan Garbarek

Amen Dunes

The Hilliard Ensemble

Freedom

Howl

2016

2013

2012

1994

2018

Erased Tapes Records

Woodsist Records

Bright Antenna

ECM Records

Sacred Bones Records

Although the titles of the works may offer a means of entry to the audience, for Turpin, her work is difficult to intellectually explain, relying as it does on an emotional connection between her and the canvas, which continues her approach as an artist who makes “images THE LAKE

Lucy Jane Turpin “Limit” Oil on canvas 145 x 128 cm / 2018

THE LAKE

Lucy Jane Turpin “The heart of thought post Marrakech” Oil on canvas 145 x 128 cm / 2018

Lucy Jane Turpin “Paradise island” Oil on canvas 1450 x1280mm / 2018

THE LAKE

Lucy Jane Turpin “Marrakech queen” Oil and pigment on canvas 137 x 118 cm / 2018

THE LAKE

Lucy Jane Turpin “Ode post Marrakech” Oil on canvas 137 x 122 cm / 2018

THE LAKE

> WORDS - TYRONE BRADLEY

PHOTOGRAPHY - TYRONE BRADLEY

BOXING DAY Dambe

It is surprising that Dambe boxing is not more widely known. I stumbled across it by accident during a recent trip to Lagos. Having previously witnessed sportsman-like bare knuckle-boxing taking place on the street, I wanted to explore this show of masculinity further. It turned out our producer there had something even more culturally rich to expose us to.

Dambe is a form of boxing associated with the Hausa people of West Africa. The tradition is dominated by Hausa butcher caste groups, and over the last century evolved from clans of butchers traveling to farm villages at harvest time, integrating a fighting challenge by the outsiders into local harvest festival entertainment. It was also traditionally practiced as a way for men to get ready for war, and many of the techniques and terminology allude to warfare. Although there are no formal weight classes, competitors in Dambe matches are usually fairly matched in size. Matches last three rounds. There is no time limit to these rounds. Instead, they end when: 1) there is no activity, 2) one of the participants or an official calls a halt, or 3) a participantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand, knee, or body touches the ground. Knocking THE LAKE

the opponent down is called killing the opponent. The primary weapon is the strong-side fist. The strongside fist, known as the spear, is wrapped in a piece of cloth covered by tightly-knotted cord. The lead hand, called the shield, is held with the open palm facing toward the opponent. The lead hand can be used to grab or hold as required. We were lucky enough to witness Ondo Zaki challenge the defending beast of a champion, Duna Sase (The Nigerian Hulk in Red Shorts). Ondo was boxing way above his weight which would earn him extra money for every punch he landed, but in the end Duna left with his title intact. INFO: www.tyronebradley.co.za 23

THE LAKE

LEND ME YOUR EARS Vans x Van Gogh Museum

Vans and the Van Gogh Museum proudly partner to present an artfully designed collection utilizing Van Gogh masterpieces across iconic Vans Classics and premium apparel silhouettes, available worldwide August 3. The Van Gogh Museum will dedicate a portion of its profits from this project to the preservation of Vincent van Gogh’s legacy and collection of art; keeping it accessible for future generations.

Vincent van Gogh is arguably one of the most famous and influential post-impressionist painters in the history of western art. Van Gogh is most noted for his work that evokes beauty, emotion and color bringing his personal expression to life through his art. With over 2,100 pieces of artwork produced from his decade long career, Vans worked closely with the Van Gogh Museum team to select four main bodies of work that speaks to the creative ethos of Vans’ design as well as personal moments from the artist familial history. Skull, Almond Blossom, Sunflowers and Van Gogh’s self-portrait are celebrated through an extensive Vans collection, showcasing some of Van Gogh’s most revered artwork in a new way.

THE LAKE

Each model from the Vans x Van Gogh Museum collection footwear collection is finished with custom footbed art that mimics Van Goghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s memorable brush strokes with the Van Gogh Museum and Vans logo lock-up. Each piece from the collection will also include a special hangtag that highlight historical facts behind each piece of Vincent Van Goghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s art.

INFO: www.vans.com / #VansxVanGoghMuseum 30

THE LAKE

> WORDS - DAN CHARLES

PHOTOGRAPHY - STAN KAPLAN

Ineffable SANDISO NGUBANE / Mx Blouse

“I don’t think that my music is alternative at all. I think people look at how I look and think alternative. At some point I hope that people are going to start forgetting about the image (I mean, I know it’s hard) and just listen to the music.” There’s a paragraph in Boris Pasternak’s seminal 1957 novel Dr. Zhivago, where one of the characters, Lara, reached the epiphany that “she was here on earth to grasp the meaning of its wild enchantment and to call each thing by its right name.” It’s a sentiment that, at face value, seems to suggest that there is a sense of fulfilment to be gained in the pursuit of trying to understand everything and that understanding ultimately results in some form of a definition. However, Sandiso Ngubane - the eclectic and ineffable rapper otherwise known as Mx Blouse - is someone who has found fulfilment and understanding of themself as an artist, by defying definition. After growing frustrated with the local media industry, Mx Blouse strayed from the path of working as a renowned culture journalist, to actively participate in the South African music culture themself with the release of their debut EP Believe the Bloom in 2017, with production assistance from Joni Blud. Following the EP’s release, Mx Blouse’s sound has evolved from rapping over more conventional boom bap beats into working with an exhilarating amalgamation of musical styles concocted with new collaborators like Parabyl, Tzara and Thor Rixon. “The stuff that I did before was super hip hop and, as much as I enjoyed doing it, it wasn’t me. So I think that I’ve kind of found where I want to take the sound and it feels good. Before, it was more my producers giving me beats to work with whereas now, I’m able to say that this is the direction that I want to go in. I grew up listening to Kwaito, rap and house music so I really want all of that to come through in the music.”

enced music that has been brought to the forefront of the local scene by artists like Stiff Pap and Darkie Fiction. More than just a stylistic trend, Mx Blouse sees incorporating elements of Kwaito into their music as a means of preserving a vital thread of their generation’s heritage. “I didn’t grow up listening to maskandi or mbaqanga or traditional Zulu music so it wouldn’t make sense for me to sound like that. For people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, Kwaito was the culture so I feel the need to protect that, innovate it and take it to the next level.” Mx Blouse’s latest single Is’phukphuku is a track that is certainly testament to their striving to take Kwaito to the next level, with a thumping, melodic mid-tempo beat produced by Thor, Jakinda and Albany Lore. As well as sonically updating the genre, the lyrical content of Is’phukphuku also subverts the typically hyper-masculine motifs often used by many Kwaito stars by shifting focus to socio-political issues - particularly those surrounding female and femme bodies in club environments.

“A lot of the music reflects the stuff that I care about: social justice, partying (because I love a party), safe spaces and equality. I’ve got a lot of female friends and at parties we always have to deal with some random who thinks that he can just abuse people so that’s where the second verse of Is’phukphuku came from. It’s based on a lot of my experiences and a lot of experiences from people that I know.” Despite the track and its accompanying video gaining mass critical acclaim across various media platforms, Is’phukphuku has yet to have been playlisted on any local radio stations (although the music video has recently been playlisted on Trace Africa). This seems to exemplify something of a double standard that is seen within the current media landscape’s growing interest in queer culture - where queer artists are often made the centerpieces of media content, as opposed to the work that they create. “There are so many queer artists in the country right now and i don’t see any of them getting playlist-

HIGH FIVES King Krule

Darkie Fiction

Kelela

DJ Koze

Busi Mhlongo

The Ooz

Sobabini: A Mzantsi Evolution / EP

Take Me Apart

Knock Knock

Urban Zulu

2017

2018

2017

2018

Soundcloud

Warp

Pampa

1999 M.E.L.T. 2000

Although Mx Blouse does not confine their sound into one particular genre, the music certainly bears a kinship with the new wave of Kwaito-influTHE LAKE

“I didn’t grow up listening to maskandi or mbaqanga or traditional Zulu music so it wouldn’t make sense for me to sound like that. For people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, Kwaito was the culture so I feel the need to protect that, innovate it and take it to the next level.”

THE LAKE

ed. But, because right now it’s so in vogue to talk about queer things, it seems like everyone enjoys using us as content but the content that we create doesn’t matter. It feels like they want to seem progressive but, meanwhile, they’re not. I think that it’s kind of unfair that, when it’s a queer artist, it’s only this part of that artist that’s important. It’s like: Oh! Let’s put you in our top 10 list of queer artists! I mean, I’m an artist - put me in any list.” Although gender politics and queer representation are crucial to an artist described as being “beyond gender, beyond genre”, one has to wonder if Mx Blouse feels as if there may be a misbalance if the industry’s attention is focused on the genderless aspect of their artistry as opposed to the genre-less aspect.

cool. I think that it’s important for representation. When I was growing up, there were no queer artists so I didn’t know that people like me could actually do these kind of things so I think it’s important for other kids to open up a Sunday Times and see: Oh shit! Here’s someone that feels the same way that I do that’s doing shit. It kind of opens up your scope as a person.” In an age where we have mostly relinquished the task of learning to call “each thing by its right name” to media conglomerates and online streaming services in lieu of figuring out those definitions for ourselves –Mx Blouse is certainly an anomaly. But whether your definition of them is rooted in them being a “genderless” artist or a “genre-less” artist, there is one clear definition for them that prevails: artist.

“Understanding how media works, they’ve got to have that catchphrase so I don’t mind it. At some point I hope that it’s going to stop but, for now, it’s THE LAKE

THE LAKE

> WORDS - Obakeng Molepe

PHOTOGRAPHY - Obakeng Molepe

ABERRATION Obakeng Molepe

I have been a photographer for 7 years. In 2015, I honed my specialization into commercial, fashion, portraiture and documentary photography. My work has been featured on some of the world’s major magazines and brands including Desundo Magazine (NY), Elle (SA), Adidas and Black Panther (commissioned by Marvel), to name a few. I was privileged enough to have been selected as one of South Africa’s top 100 artists for Sasol’s Signature Showcase in 2016. I’m one of the photographers who feed into the “anti-aesthetic” movement, creating art that gives a new definition to the idea of “beauty” and questions what society has for decades now labeled as beauty. I also create work that questions male masculinity and other social constructs such as gender and religion. My aim as an artist is to get people to question the status quo and to question society as it stands. I don’t provide solutions to the problems brought to light by my work nor do I provide answers for the questions I create; rather I let individuals think for themselves. www.instagram.com/regular_obby

THE LAKE

> WORDS - Zack Lees

PHOTOGRAPHY - Meghan Frantz Produced by Frantz Birkholtz

CRETIN HOP Julia Robert

“We want people to enjoy our shows and dance and sweat, but mostly we just want to take everyone by the shoulders, shake them and remind them that it’s ok to feel shitty about the things that sometimes drag them down”

Meet Julia Robert, the disco-infused punk band who wants you to dance and to know that everything will be O.K. Comprised of Tara, Roderick, Ines and Joao, the four-piece punk band is helping punk reinvent itself in Cape Town by staying true to its earliest roots. Initially formed as a two-piece, Tara and Roderick quickly expanded with the addition of Ines and Joao, completing the essential disco punk setup as described ever so well by their Soundcloud page bio “they use guitars, keyboards, drums, cables and singers.” Their foundation as a noise machine in a small room in Walmer Estate has echoes of punk origins, those of pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock ‘n roll, though added to this are the keyboards that make the music more danceable and give it its key disco element. The music resonates, reverberates and fully encompasses those who listen to it with hard edgy chord structures, sharp defined vocals and an emotional impetus that is very purposefully thrown into the music.

Historically as punk formed, punk bands became more and more associated with independent record labels and self-released music. To a large extent Julia Robert is the 2018 Cape Town embodiment of everything punk once was. Tied to local label Now Now Just Now, who organizes countrywide tours for the band and will be releasing a 7” later in the year, Julia Robert is able to represent punk before it became corrupted by the mainstream; they represent The Talking Heads, The Clash and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They’re sweaty and fast-paced, and difficult to keep up with, but that’s also sort of the point. If you can keep up with them it’s extremely rewarding, but if you can’t that’s also okay, the sporadic and technical chord progressions and changes within each song and from song to song give you the chance to catch up once more. They are also unpredictable though, because for everything I’ve just said and for every fast-paced let-loose song there is also the opposite, the slow and steady songs. These songs highlight something else about Julia Robert.

HIGH FIVES Death from Above

Queens of the Stone Age

You’re a Woman, I’m a Machinz

Songs for the Deaf

2004

2002

2014

2005

1980

Last Gang

Interscope

Bandcamp

Arts & Crafts

Island Records

THE LAKE

Cherry Glazerr Haxel Princess

Broken Social Scene

B-52’s Wild Planet

Broken Social Scene

THE LAKE

Using their freedom, Julia Robert has achieved what I think many bands sometimes struggle to do - find a healthy mix of grooves and feels to produce a high energy release that allows them to vent purposefully.

For the band members, Julia Robert is a form of emotional outlet, a way to deal with difficult emotions and come to terms with hard edged feelings and emotions that can’t quite be appropriately worded. The sonic waves form a cathartic emotional release that is very evident to anyone who listens to what they have to say, and in turn the band is also able to help listeners have that very same cathartic release. To Julia Robert that is very important, they want to help. They mention that they are here to help mend broken hearts and for sure they’re making a good job of it.

PHOTOGRAPHY LIVE - Joshua Rijneke

It’s pretty clear to outsiders that the band members have a tight bond. I was chatting about the band to my friend Dan Charles, who used to host Assembly Radio, and he commented on how pleasant it was to chat to the band, a clear attribute that can be associated to the closeness of the group. When I asked Julia Robert about the challenges they faced as a band, they answered very clearly that they are able, as a unit, to help one another overcome any challenge that may present itself to them. Julia Robert is not just 4 musicians but also 4 friends and that is extremely important to the success of any band. Despite all of this, they are still forming what they want Julia Robert to be above and beyond; they’re taking things as they come, fast and slow and translating that into music however they like. Nothing is ever planned to a ‘T,’ rather they allow life to carry them along on its current. This reminds me of what The Clash’s singer Joe Strummer’s outlook is on punk music as a whole, attributing it to be his freedom to be able to do what he (and The Clash) wants to do. Using their freedom, Julia Robert has achieved what I think many bands sometimes struggle to do - find a healthy mix of grooves and feels to produce a high energy release that allows them to vent purposefully. They have not done this completely by themselves though; they use their admiration of other local bands to help drive their desire to make great music. Due to the tight-knit nature of the Cape Town music scene evTHE LAKE

eryone is friends with everyone and for Julia Robert this serves as inspiration. Seeing their friends, such as Black Lung, Runaway Nuns and Two Stroke, perform excellently on stage and release great music pushes the members of Julia Robert to be even better. They note that “being challenged is key to staying inspired as musicians.” That is a very important mentality to have for success, and as such I can only see Julia Robert progressing on to bigger and better things; expect them to be festival headliners in the near future.

DOWNLOADS JULIA ROBERT PRETTY BLOODY 2016 Soundcloud

JULIA ROBERT For Love & Lies 2017 Bandcamp

INFO: www.nownowjustnow.com insta: @juliarobertband FB: .com/JuliaRobertBand Soundcloud: /juliarobertband Bandcamp: juliarobert.bandcamp.com/ 51

THE LAKE

KAREN FROM FINANCE

PHOTOGRAPHY: Steve Marais (@stevemarais) / STYLIST: Peter Georgiades (@petergeorgiades) / Hair: TATUM CLARK (@tatum.tomic) Make up: Alice Coloriti (@alicecoloriti) / Model: Kayla Crous (@Fanjam) Model Management @kayla_crous THE LAKE

THE LAKE

PAGE 52: Striped blazer YSL, floral dress KAMI, earrings and socks stylists own, white heels Steve Madden. PAGE 53: Blouse vintage, scarf and briefcase stylists own, bangles Chanel, belt LaurĂ¨l, tights Falke, boots Casedei. PAGE 54: Bodysuit Outline by Paige Martins, glasses stylists own, bag Burberry, tights Falke, heels Burberry. PAGE 55: Lilac blazer Versace, belt worn as necklace Gianni Versace, scarf stylists own, tights Falke, heels Christian Louboutin. PAGE 56: Yellow blazer LaurĂ¨l, skirt Byblos, earrings stylists own, sunglasses Thierry Mugler, moonbag Longoni Sport, black heels by Christian Louboutin. PAGE 57: Blue blazer stylists own, skirt Nicholas Coutts, earrings and bangle vintage, tights Falke, silver heels Steve Madden.

THE LAKE

> WORDS - Matthew Freemantle

PHOTOGRAPHY - Mpho Mokgadi

Counting seconds Banele Khoza

“We are immersed in a curated reality and only exposed to the best part of people’s lives, yet we haven’t learnt to objectively consume images. So, we create a reality of their lives in our minds based on what has been shared. When we are confronted with these images, they prey on what is lacking in our own lives.” Gender roles, masculinity and identity play a major role in your work. Is this increasingly the case or have you taken aim at other issues in this collection? The new body of work certainly embodies gender, masculinity, identity, as well as and newfound societal concerns including love and technology, specifically how we are affected by the gadgets we carry on a daily basis. I’ve also looked at how these devices are altering our connections with others and informing our expectations from a love life, which dooms romance. In what ways are love and technology societal concerns? We are immersed in a curated reality and only exposed to the best part of people’s lives, yet we haven’t learnt to objectively consume images. So, we create a reality of their lives in our minds based on what has been shared. When we are confronted with these images, they prey on what is lacking in our own lives. If our careers are stagnant we are likely to notice someone who is traveling the world with their business or job. If you have a non-existent love life, you will not miss all the “baecations” or engagements and weddings from your following. It is worse for someone who is in a functioning relationship and starts to compare notes based on this “reality”. People are expecting the world from others and actually we are responsible for our own happiness.

whether that is with humour or relativity. I also create with the knowledge that someone will be engaging with the piece and as such I aim to educate or console them in that process. There are days when there is sarcasm to the works, but that sarcasm could also be seen as simply admitting that I am not creating anything new in the age of information. Confessions like this help relieve the stress of trying to be new. The title of the show, LOVE? could be another example of your playful use of wistful humour. It seems both hopeful and perhaps disconsolate. It is best that the title leaves a different impression on each person. I will not comment further.

person we are looking for is not packaged the way imagine them to be - I recently discovered this secret from people who are in long term relationships. However, these apps give you the option to decide your fate in a way, to whom you’d like to connect with based on their looks. These apps are best suited for those who are looking only to hook up. I don’t easily trust or warm up to new interactions, so Grindr has never been an option.

Are you a user of the latest apps/social media supporting matchmaking and so on. And even if not, what do you make of things like Tinder, Grindr and the like?

Indeed, the win has been of a great boost to my young career. There was a lot of media attention drawn to the achievement and an attraction of support from the Art community. Personally, it made a realise that there is no impossible dream. I have achieved all my childhood dreams and now I am dreaming again - grander and scary possibilities. I want the people who do look up to my career to realise that anything is possible with energy and persistence.

I was on and off Tinder for two years or so. Nothing came out of it to be honest. Everyone seemed very guarded. Ironically I think it hinders the chance of actually meeting your true match. One has probably swiped them left already. It is interesting how the

Winning the Gerard Sekoto award must have been a boost - what did that acknowledgement mean to you?

HIGH FIVES Ed Sheeran +

Corinne Bailey Rae

Jorja Smith

Kanye West

Zonke

Lost & Found

The Life of Pablo

Ina Ethe

The Heart Speaks in Whispers

2011

2016

2018

2016

2011

Atlantic

Virgin, EMI

FAMM

Def Jam

TMP

There appears to be light-hearted scepticism or, at least, gentle sarcasm in the work. Would you agree? I would like to agree, but when I am creating I am doing so with a clear intention. My works have a life once they are published; they provoke a response, THE LAKE

Banele Khoza - “Over and over again” Acrylic on canvas 122 x 92cm / 2017

THE LAKE

Banele Khoza - “We all want to be seen” Acrylic on canvas 122 x 92cm / 2017

THE LAKE

Banele Khoza - “My heart nearly froze” Acrylic on canvas - 150 x 100cm / 2017

Banele Khoza - “I aint no fxxk boy” Acrylic on canvas - 61 x 46cm / 2017

THE LAKE

“Note Making is a series that was developed in a period of a year and tackled a certain issue that I was struggling with, namely masculinity. The new series is light-hearted, a reflection of where I am an have been mentally of late.”

Banele Khoza - “Counting seconds” Acrylic and ink on Hahnemühle 25 x 23cm / 2017

Banele Khoza - “Ghosted” Acrylic and ink on Hahnemühle 25 x 23cm / 2017

Banele Khoza - “He likes me, he likes me not” Acrylic and ink on Hahnemühle 25 x 23cm / 2017

‘Note Making’, the collection that won you the award, consisted of mainly digital drawings. Does this remain your preferred medium?

I find text to be a form of a deep expression. It is said a picture can tell a thousand words, but often when I am going through something and need to express it visually, I like to contextualise the exact moment in the form of words I would have heard from an individual. I love writing, too. I write daily and many of these texts remain a private penmanship. Sometimes, I feel no image can express an exact thought, and that is when I’ll embrace text in the works.

what other students are struggling with while trying to embark on their dreams.

Note Making is a series that was developed in a period of a year and tackled a certain issue that I was struggling with, namely masculinity. The new series is light-hearted, a reflection of where I am an have been mentally of late. It is also developed the same way, just on a smaller device (a Samsung, Note 8 tablet) and documents the moments of pause during my travels, waiting for someone, at dinner dates by myself, and so on. The series is more colourful and intense as I have to develop the colours myself on the screen. It is perhaps more personal, too. I spend way too much time on my new notepad. Painting words is a fairly niche application: what draws you to this technique?

You’ve mentioned wanting to help 100 aspirants per year with the BKHz Foundation. What is the plan here and who specifically are you targeting? That is the goal and will take time. I want to donate funds that can help university students with either pocket money, stationery, transport or helping pay fees. I struggled a bit while in varsity so this is very close to home and I am aware of THE LAKE

What do you feel is the artist’s role and responsibility in contemporary South Africa? To teach, inspire and open doors for others. We are very lucky to have a varied audience, which gives us access to a range of people’s minds, homes and financial support. If there is an initiative that an artist would like to lead there is often support from a great community and, if there are ideas one would like to spread or social issues to address, we have the platform. I find people are keen to listen to artists as we are glorified figures in a way. We have an ability to blend in and have a voice in different classes of society. That is power. INFO: www.smithstudio.co.za 63

THE LAKE

> WORDS - jacqueline flint

PHOTOGRAPHY - Broomberg & Chanarin

AURA Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin

In the 1930s, when photography was still quite young, the cultural critic Walter Benjamin voiced his concern about the colossal impact that the ability to mechanically reproduce works of art may have on what he called the “aura” of the artwork – its specialness, in other words. In his preface to Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Paul Valéry put it like this: “In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.” Nearly a hundred years later, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, contemporary conceptual artists operating at the highest level, produce a body of photographic images printed onto the backs of the cardboard boxes in which the precious materials – inks, chemicals and expensive archival paper – that they usually make work with is shipped to them. The works formed an exhibition, Bandage the knife not the wound that showed at Goodman Gallery during April and May. Where once the rare-ness of an image was a great marker of its value, these days the value curve steepens in direct proportion to how many images of the artwork happen to be hurtling around the internet being liked at high speed and low resolution. The press release for the show makes it quite clear that one of the intentions of the work is to remark, as Benjamin would have put it, on the degradation of the artwork’s aura in this context – “Dissecting their images along industrial folds and perforations on this cheap, readily available material suggests something frightening about the life of images in the digital age; algorithmic, disposable and further than ever from the original.” But make no mistake about the tizz that must have occurred among the collectors about whether their investment would be worth anything at all within a year, even if that

ink is UV-cured onto the surface of that box. (I also wonder whether the gallery’s packaging spend went up that month – imagine if the cardboard box artwork got crushed in the back seat en route to the framer.) Clever. Let’s not mess around: these guys are intellectual aristocrats. The work they have produced over the last two decades has been consistently rigorous from a political and conceptual point of view. Scrupulous, elegantly cross-referenced, theoretical frameworks hold each body of work tightly together. They’ve have earned their place in the likes of the Tate and the Centre Georges Pompidou. You can go down the philosophical rabbit hole with Broomberg and Chanarin, and the ride is wild. This body of work is no different, and I could spend a long time having a rollicking good intellectual wank about how many ways the work satiates, from a cerebral perspective. But there’s something else in it that I found much more interesting, but is almost impossible to pin down. At first I thought it was just because when you’re operating at the level that Broomberg and Chanarin are – up there where the air is clear – you’ve got people hanging on every word: curators and collectors, gallery directors, fair organisers, the media folks. You’re under pressure. No one wants to say anything peculiar enough that it might cause in a leak in the watertight theoretical framework of the project. There’s a spiel; stick to it. But then two clues came my way. The first was in the brief conversation I had with Chanarin about the body of work. He began by explaining how the work was made: since their early 20s, when they first bonded over a stubborn piece of IKEA furniture in Wupperthal , the two have made work together in the same space – their shared studio in London. THE LAKE

Recently, however, Broomberg has moved to Berlin, while Chanarin has remained in the UK. They share a space in Hamburg, where they are both professors of photography at the University of Fine Arts, but seldom do they physically cross paths. As a result, the making of this body of work mimics the Surrealist parlour game, exquisite corpse: one would print an image onto a cardboard box and leave it for the other to find. The other would then print another image on top, or next to it, contributing their visual thoughts to the creation, and leave it for the next round of commentary. Chanarin described this process as speaking across the void. The implications of expression caught my attention more than anything he could have said about content farms, or meta data, or printing onto the surface of water using UV technology. Of course, the conversation went to all those places when I asked about how the void feels, perhaps because the personal is a very hard thing for a conceptual artist to talk about in the context of his work. During the course of Bandage the knife not the wound, an erudite talk was held at the Goodman Gallery between Bronwyn Law-Viljoen and the artists, about their practice and all the clever things brought to the table in the exhibition. At some point, Broomberg broke away, and tentatively mentioned the optical unconscious, but the thought was quickly washed away in the flow of the intellectual stream. The term was my second clue to the elusive quality in this body of work. It was coined, aptly, also by Benjamin in his Short History of Photography (an essay penned a few years prior to The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction) in which he proposed that photography allows us access into an “optical unconscious.” He is referring to the unconscious of the psychoanalysts – the stuff of dreams, the submerged mass of the iceberg. The 65

THE LAKE

idea of the optical unconscious was picked up by the art historian Rosalind Krauss, who used the term as the title of a book in which she undermined the mainstream modernism to which she had been committed throughout the 1960s. She broke with “rational opticality”, and intellectual and objective pursuit, in favour of something with a bit more heart, governed by the shadow self of monolithic modernism, by something unconscious. Through the processing their separation, and the process of making this work, Broomberg and Chanarin have tapped into this under-the-surface region in their own practice. As forensic archivists and pictorial detectives, Broomberg and Chanarin have sought to shed light on the nature of photography in the public and political realm in innovative and penetrating ways. Titles and captions play an important role in their work – as explanation and as a means of adding further layers of information to the visual aspects. Here,

they have turned to their own archives, as well as to the images in others’ archives that have remained meaningful to them over time. As a result, and owing to the intuitive way they allowed one another’s thought threads to overlay through the exquisite corpse play, images of mothers and daughters are interwoven; vulnerable moments captured in the lives of their own children live alongside the mutilated profile of Paolo Pasolini; somebody’s grandfather in his concentration camp stripes and nobody’s stripe-panted Vogue model are printed top to toe. The sepia tone of the cardboard, such a ubiquitous and throwaway material, seeps through the lot, imbuing it with a nostalgia that is simultaneously obvious and obfuscating. Included in the show are all the substrates onto which the boxes were laid before going through the printer. The images were larger than the irregular cardboard forms, and so what is left on THE LAKE

the support structures are empty white spaces, surrounded by palimpsests of everything that was not included – all the things that fall outside the frame. Broomberg and Chanarin have returned to this idea throughout their careers, most often in talking about political liminality. But here, everything outside of the frame is more about that thing on the tip of your tongue that you don’t catch quick enough to say before it slips away into the back of your mind. It’s the dream that you can’t quite remember, but the feeling of which nevertheless haunts you throughout the day. For this show, there is no accompanying explanatory text. There aren’t even any titles. In a time when fine art photography is so slick that it’s slippery, one cannot help but experience this as an acquiescence to something of the heart – as uncomfortable or impossible as it is to speak about – and it’s deeply nourishing. INFO: www.broombergchanarin.com 69

THE LAKE

> WORDS - Ross Colepeper

PHOTOGRAPHY - Matt Kay

WAX JUNKIE Ross Colepeper / ROCcO I’ve got the hoarder gene. I do. Whether it’s shoes, surfboards or extremely inconvenient media formats....I think that is the common link between all record collectors. It’s not the smell of fresh wax, it’s not the excitement of finding a treasure at a flea market or the feeling you get standing in the line at a post office collecting a gem that you have been waiting months for. It’s our need to hoard. In saying that, records are a pretty rad thing to hoard. J Dilla Donuts 2006 / Stones Throw

Beastie Boys Aglio e Olio 1995 / Grand Royal

Dilla’s last offering is great and a true testament to how great he is. Running seamlessly from track to track, it’s like a personal DJ set by one of the greatest producers of all time. I got caught last year by the owner of Roastin’ Records. He was taking me to the airport, and we had to stop at the Roastin’ Records store en route. I’d been left to my own devices for all of five minutes, and had somehow bought every Stones Throw record in the joint. I literally even got the T-shirt. To quote Kanye, “Dilla’s music is like good drugs”. Which we all know Yeezy has had his fair share of.

Not only my favourite pasta dish, but also a pretty badass hardcore EP. I found this when I’d gone to pick up a birthday present that I’d ordered for myself. It was a pretty sweet find – “Only 8 songs. Only 11 minutes. Only cheap $”. What more needs to be said about this cheap and nourishing record?

The Notorious B.I.G Ready to Die 1994 / Bad Boy; Arista

Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) 1993 / Loud, RCA

This one is right up there with ‘Illmatic’ and ‘Enter the Wu’ as one of the best debut albums in hip hop. The record can’t be touched. Its punchy and aggressive beats, coupled with Biggie’s witty lyricism, is nothing short of phenomenal. To be able to impact an entire culture in such an intense way with just two albums speaks volumes for the talent that is Christopher Wallace. 2Pac aint got shit on the B.I.G.

I remember the first time I heard this and I remember freaking out. I was 14 years old, in a classroom at DHS. I think this was the first real ‘hip hop’ album I had ever heard, and it felt punk as fuck to me – from the DIY beats made from sampled skipping cds and old kung fu films, to the attacking flow that felt like an ass-whooping.

Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill 1986 / Def Jam; Columbia

Beck Odelay 1996 / DGC

I think every single Beasties fan has a love/ hate relationship with this album. I mean, this is the album that got me listening to the Beasties in the first place but not even the Beasties liked it! Rick Ruben destroys the mixing of live instruments and samples from all over – notably, the Schoolly D ‘Lookin’ at my gucci’. I mean, Gucci Mane has nothing on this sample from 1985. And let’s not forget Kerry King on ‘No sleep ‘till Brooklyn’.

This might be THE best accidental hip hop album of all time. I remember being in a girlfriend’s car a few years back, and listening to this album. There was something so familiar about it, but I couldn’t work out what that was. I later figured out that that familiarity was the production work of Dust Brothers – the same homies that took the Beasties on the journey that was ‘Paul’s Boutique’. Beck is now a staple in my life. The girlfriend, not so much.

THE LAKE

> INTERVIEW - Brett Bellairs

GRAVY TRAIN Daniel “Gravy” Thomas “ Respectfully we no longer call my role “brand ambassador”. I am the Sailor Jerry Global Rum Rude Boy. Over the last 7 months I travel the globe enhancing, educating, and entertaining the masses with all things Sailor Jerry!” Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got the nickname ‘Gravy’? I am and will always be a self- starter who does what I feel, when I feel, luckily I currently represent a brand that allows me to navigate that energy respectfully! I’ve given back to the youth through my early works in the community through poetry and music. At the core I’m a punk poet who’s had the pleasure of sharing the stages w/ the likes of Saul Williams and Femi Kuti and many great punk acts in my musical life. Through my “other life” in music & event tour production, & various brand representation I’ve helped friends better their careers through connections made, I’ve travelled the globe working and performing in rock & roll, hip hop, afrobeat, punk rock arenas learning life from the locals always trying to respect the culture. I’ve completed university and have studied abroad but my most fulfilling education has come from road life. I was born in New Jersey but raised in the nightlife and music scene of Philadelphia PA, where the Sailor Jerry brand came to life by some forward thinking creative minds at (QCM) where I worked as an event producer. At the time I had already decorated my body with a few classic Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins traditional tattoos but my experience at QCM – then called GYRO – allowed me [to experience] a deeper dive into his life and legacy [of] when the brand was first a counter culture clothing line before the Spiced Rum. The nickname “Gravy” comes from an embarrassing story of me being on the road with musicians and after a gig while enjoying a turkey sandwich that had gravy dressing [on it]. I kept missing my mouth while enjoying [it] and the gravy compiled on my goat-tee that eventually dried up and became humorous to our entourage – who chose not to inform me of this dried up face spectacle, until a lady friend pointed it out by running her fingers through my goat-tee and letting me know that my attempt to know her better was a NO… but “it’s all gravy baby”! My job was to keep ev-

erything smooth on the road, so everyone agreed that my nickname from that point on was “Gravy”. I immediately went to the tattoo shop and got a Sailor Jerry traditional American Eagle tattoo with the banner reading “Gravy”. Instead of US Navy… it’s US Gravy! How did you become the Sailor Jerry brand ambassador, how do you relate to the brand, Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins himself and what does being the global brand ambassador entail? Being in the right place at the right time backed up with having the early experience on the Sailor Jerry brand in its conception stages and street smarts needed to carry the flag for such a legit legacy is how I got the gig. After leaving QCM years prior, and going on to work in various facets of lifestyle marketing, I circled back to Sailor Jerry almost 5 years ago working in the US as the East Coast Brand Ambassador. Respectfully we no longer call my role “brand ambassador”. I am the Sailor Jerry Global Rum Rude Boy. Over the last 7 months I travel the globe enhancing, educating, and entertaining the masses with all things Sailor Jerry! The Rum Rude Boy moniker is taken seriously as it appears on my business card where my punk ethos is allowed to shine in my role, where rather than me giving you a drinks presentation on how to make a rum cocktail, I might introduce you to our rum through a conversation on the relationship of Rum & Reggae music, or Tiki culture and military life in the WW2 era. Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins nautical tattoo style has inspired countless tattoo artists around the world, why has he has had such a huge influence on tattoo culture? His work is timeless! Bold colours, thick line work, and an edgy revolutionary approach to the figures & symbols he tattooed on bodies during the WW2 era and after is what still resonates with tattoo artists all over the globe. Norman expressed compassion THE LAKE

for history through his art but also was not afraid to showcase his humour and affection in his tattooing whether it was a clipper ship, or animated sailor, or his well-rounded pinup lady tattoos. His combination of American pop culture imagery combined with his love and study of Japanese tattooing (that he embraced while traveling during service in the US Navy) helped create his own style known as traditional tattooing. Norman setup shop in Chinatown, Hawaii, during and after WW2, where he tattooed sailors, locals, and travellers who wanted his iconic work on their bodies. I usually drink the rum just with cola, but what is the best way to have it? Sailor Jerry Spiced and Cola is refreshing for sure, however I’m a big fan of 2 serves [in particular]. Sailor Jerry neat is one [of them], as the Caribbean spices of our blended rum simply give me all I need in a drink, yet if I want a mixed drink I’m a fan of a Sailor Jerry Pina Colada. 1.5 part Sailor Jerry Spiced, 1.5 part cream of coconut, 1.5 part Pineapple Juice. Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake well and pour into your favourite drink vessel (or a frozen pineapple). Garnish with sprinkled coconut flakes and an orchid. Enjoy! Any future plans to come and share the Sailor jerry story here in South Africa? Top on my list! I want to soak in the music, the history, the skateboarding scene, the fashion, and the trending rum cocktail scene and make some positive good times with the locals, the Sailor Jerry Rum Rudy way! I’ll make sure I swing by THE LAKE HQ and share some refreshing Sailor Jerry love with you and yours. Please follow me @gravyontherocks and our global good times @sailorjerry on Instagram until then…keep it all GRAVY BABY! INFO: www.sailorjerry.com INFO: @gravyontherocks INFO: www.quakercitymercantile.com 73

PRINT RUN REVIEWS - XAVIER NAGEL

This Is Not Fashion In This Is Not Fashion: Streetwear Past, Present and Future (R690) authors King ADZ and Wilma Stone begin in 1972, Jersey City, USA, with the birth of the first ever streetwear shop, Trash and Vaudeville. The journey then encompasses punk, Ivy League preppies, the hip-hop kings and queens of Harlem, the dresser/casual movement born out of British football culture, the skater scene of California, and the Paninari scooter-brats of Milan, to name but a few. Whether focusing on major brands such as Stüssy, Carhartt, Tommy Hilfiger and SHUT or today’s up-and-comers from South African townships or downtown Seoul, it also takes a look at how the internet era has changed the ways streetwear is sold and consumed.

SUPPLIED BY - BIBLIOPHILIA

Structures of Dominion and Democracy Structures of Dominion and Democracy (R1300) is a selective retrospective of David Goldblatt that explores the photographer’s work in the context of South African political and cultural history, as well as his contribution to the wider history of photography. Reproducing original handmade dummies and working plates, the process of bookmaking and other diverse applications of these often iconic images are laid bare. Some of Goldblatt’s most recent photographs are included, alongside assemblies of Goldblatt’s influential series including “On the Mines,” “Some Afrikaners” and “Structures” and some less well-known such as “Kas Maine”.

Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers

Born to Kwaito

As every book tells a story, so every book in art is part of an intriguing, engaging, and relatable image. Books are depicted as indicators of intellect in portraits, as symbols of piety in religious paintings, as subjects in still lifes, and as the raw material for contemporary installations. Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers (R660) spotlights artworks from museums and collections around the globe, creating a gorgeous, inspiring homage to both the written word and to its pivotal role in the visual world. A celebration of artworks featuring books and readers from throughout history, for the delight of art lovers and bibliophiles.

From Alaska to Trompies, from Brown Dash to Boom Shaka, from the streets of eNdofaya to Zola, Kwaito arguably represents the most important music genre and sub-culture that post-apartheid South Africa has birthed. Kwaito presented a new unbridled expression of Black South African youths. It carried the political significance of Black South Africans deciding to take a moment to enjoy themselves and the promise of their freedom. Born to Kwaito (R240) takes us through the tsiki tsiki yho’s of our South African narrative, cementing a culture of living, dancing and human relations unique to Kwaito and unique to eKasi.

Tattoo Street Style

Kariba

Celebrate your uniqueness. Inspiring and captivating, Tattoo Street Style (R430) is a tribute to creativity and self-expression, a celebration of body, beauty and style, a manifesto for redefining the rules. Over four hundred original portraits capture extraordinary tattooed people from around the world - in New York, LA, Melbourne, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, London and Brighton. A curated and eclectic snapshot of today’s modern tattoo culture. Features profiles and interviews with some of the world’s most creative and exciting artists and studios. Also includes comprehensive infographic-style directories - perfect if you’re looking for inspiration.

Kariba (R395) interweaves history and mythology through an imaginative retelling of the embattled construction of the Kariba dam in the 1950s. The story follows Siku and Amadeo, one the daughter of the river spirit Nyami Nyami, the other the son of the engineer in charge of the dam’s construction. The world of Kariba is one in which history and fact are fused with mythology and legend. A world where the laws and rules are bent by magic and the river is as much a character as it is a force of nature. Originally conceived as a 2D-animated feature film, a graphic novel was published early in 2018 after a successful Kickstarter campaign.

THE LAKE

PLIMSOLL

VANS - SK8-HI Vincent Van Gogh Almond Blossom / True White

VANS - OLD SKOOL Vincent Van Gogh Letters / Turtledove

VANS - CLASSIC SLIP-ON Vincent Van Gogh Skull / True White

VANS - CLASSIC SLIP-ON Vincent Van Gogh COLOUR / COLOUR

VANS - AUTHENTIC Vincent Van Gogh Self-Portrait / True White

VANS - AUTHENTIC Vincent Van Gogh Sunflowers / True White

VANS - SK8-HI 38 DX Anaheim Factory OG Navy / OG Saffron

VANS - SK8-HI 38 DX Anaheim Factory OG Black / OG Red

VANS - ERA 95 DX Anaheim Factory OG Saffron / OG White

VANS - ERA 95 DX Anaheim Factory OG Red / OG White

VANS - AUTHENTIC Gum Block Checkerboard

VANS - OLD SKOOL Gum Block Checkerboard

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 white / Pink / Teal

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 Black / purple / pink

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 Grey / Teal / Blue

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 Black

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 Grey / pink

NEW BALANCE - Mens x-90 Dark Oxide / Smoke Blue Lavender

PALLADIUM PL Phoenix M C U

PALLADIUM PL Phoenix Z2T U

PALLADIUM Solid Ranger PA U boots

PALLADIUM Sportcuff WPL S U boots

Dark Gull Gray / Raven

PALLADIUM Solid Ranger PA U boots Deep Forest / WSPR PK /AMB G

Safari / Dune

Navy Blazer ,Moonbeam/Chilli

White / Black

Ash / Vapour / Cloud Burst

White / Rose Dust

PALLADIUM Sportcuff WPL S U boots

Amber Gold / Chocolate / Brown

THE LAKE

PALLADIUM PL Phoenix ZCM U

White / Micro Chip / Chilli Grey

Black/Black / Dark GL Gray/ CLD B

PALLADIUM Puddle LT WP U boots

Garnet Rose / Moonbeami

Cloudburst/Micro Chip

PLIMSOLL

ADIDAS - Sobakov core black / ftwr white GUM 3 - MALE

ADIDAS - ARKYN W glow / semi solar yellow GREY FIVE F17 - FEMALE

ADIDAS - ARKYN W BLUE TINT S18 / RAW GREY S18 GREY FIVE F17 - FEMALE

ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 off white / CHALK PEARL S18 shock yellow - MALE

ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 core black / ftwr white shock yellow - MALE

ADIDAS - POD-S3.1 W off white / CHALK PEARL S18 shock yellow - - FEMALE

ADIDAS - DEERUPT RUNNER ftwr white / ftwr white core black - MALE

ADIDAS - DEERUPT RUNNER W AERO BLUE S18 / AERO BLUE S18 clear orange - FEMALE

ADIDAS - DEERUPT RUNNER W ftwr white / ftwr white clear lilac - FEMALE

ADIDAS - DEERUPT RUNNER W AERO BLUE S18 / AERO BLUE S18 clear orange - FEMALE

ADIDAS - SAMBAROSE W clear brown / clear brown GUM 3 - FEMALE

ADIDAS - SAMBAROSE W core black / core black GUM 3 - FEMALE

Converse CONS CTAS Pro QS Kevin Rodrigues Olive / Gum

Converse CONS CTAS Pro QS Kevin Rodrigues Egret / Black

Converse CONS - NAME COLOUR / COLOUR

Converse CONS Jack Purcell Pro Barely Grape / White

Converse CONS Jack Purcell Pro Light Carbon / White

Converse CONS Breakpoint Pro Black / White / Gum

Dark Gull Gray / Black / Raven

PALLADIUM Axeon AR MID M

Urban Chic / Anthracite / AMB GD

PALLADIUM Axeon AR MID M

PALLADIUM Pampa Hi Cord M boots

PALLADIUM Pampa Hi Cord M boots Khaki / Beluga

Cathay Spice / Mid Gum

Olive Night / Dark Gum

PALLADIUM Hi PLFOX TX U boots Black / Raven

PALLADIUM Hi PLFOX TX U boots Olive Night / Safari

PALLADIUM Hi PLFOX TX U boots Safari / Dusty Olive

PALLADIUM Pallabrouse TX U Ash / Dark Gull Gray

PALLADIUM Pallabrouse TX U Goblin Blue / Urban Chic

PALLADIUM Pallabrouse TX U Safari / Dune

Black / Black

THE LAKE

PALLADIUM PLBRS L M boots

THE LAKE

Great alone, better together adidas Originals / P.O.D. System adidas Originals presents the latest iteration for the P.O.D. System. Underpinned by the campaign’s unifying ethos – ‘Great alone, better together.’ – the images lean into the P.O.D. System’s interconnection of archive aesthetics and progressive design perspectives, as well as shedding light on the P.O.D-S3.1 shoe’s origins in an adidas running franchise from 1995.

Set against the hot and hazy backdrop of a typical west coast city, the campaign translates the combination of nostalgia and progression that underpins the P.O.D. System into a clear visual context, whilst the dynamic nature of the images place a firm focus on the fluidity and freedom of movement that characterizes the P.O.D-S3.1 silhouette. Imagery features throughout the headline release of the P.O.D-S3.1 model in a new Black/ White colorway. The silhouette includes a knitted textile upper reinforced by structural overlays. on the unique podular construction of the P.O.D-S3.1’s outsole, featuring a Boost™ unit in the heel, a high-rebound EVA forefoot, and the THE LAKE

Torsion™-inspired Point of Deflection bridge that unites all three components. Presenting one of adidas Originals’ most progressive contemporary chapters in a setting underpinned by memory, nostalgia and the natural flow of modern life, the P.O.D. System campaign presents the thought process behind the collection’s entire philosophy in a clear visual mode; using the past to empower the present, and translating the charm of nostalgia into something new – something that will, in its own way, capture minds and endure for years to come. INFO: www.adidas.com #PODSystem adidas.com/PODSystem 79

THE LAKE