THE STREETS - Issue Twelve

THE STREETS A

S t r e e t

P h o t o g r a p h y

M a g a z i n e

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"We are responding to false stories about other people."

– Brett Weinstein, Biologist

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Who is in THE STREETS

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EDITOR’S LETTER

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PERSPECTIVES 12 José Mercado BARCELONA 22 Luca Paccusse ROME 38 WaneOne NEW YORK

INTERSECTIONS 68 Mr. and Mrs. Decorum JOHANNESBURG 78 Nadyne Bispo SAO PAOLO to ATLANTA 88 Enter the Ring by Rudy Mondragon LOS ANGELES 98 Based on a True Story

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Who is in THE STREETS

"When you think – 'I am good now – no, you're not. I need to work forever." – Nadyne Bispo

"The biggest challenge is living in a country which has a hang over of apartheid where your ability is doubted merely because of the color of your

skin."

– Mphahlela Mokgatle

"As a researcher of boxing, the ring entrance provides me with the opportunity to excavate these deeper stories that often remain unexplored and untold." – Rudy Mondragón

"These diversities are a starting point to compose our personal and human struggle without canceling our peculiarities." – Luca Paccusse "You can never go back . . . because you are whole different person from who you were then." – WaneOne

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"The inner world tends to dye the outer world with its own characteristics."

– José Mercado

Front cover photo WaneOne featuring Renegade Back cover photo Meredith M Howard Skateboard photos throughout Meredith M Howard featuring World Formation Editor and Creative Director Meredith M Howard Creative and Digital Assistant Eva Howard Special thanks to Elise Howard Contributors and collaborators José Mercado Luca Paccusse WaneOne Mphahlela Mokgatle Rethabile Makhetha Nadyne Bispo Rudy Mondragón Website www.thestreetsmag.com Email info@thestreetsmag.com Instagram @thestreetsmagazine Publisher Meredith M Howard LLC ISSN 2476-0927

All work is copyrighted to the photographer, artist, or author.

No part of this magazine may be used without permission of THE STREETS.

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E D I T O R ’ S

L E T T E R

I try to stay in safe areas when I'm doing street photography by myself, but there has always been this tiny thought in the back of my mind (probably based on some myth) that says – "One day, someone will get really mad at you and try to smash your camera." It has never happened, but when I took this picture, I thought he was about to get really mad.

I lowered my camera and smiled. There was a pause. And then he burst out laughing. He made a joke about how he must have looked in the photo. I wish I had a picture of him laughing, but I was just relieved and surprised. I had projected subconscious fear onto him, and he had projected suspicion onto me. In the pause of our re-evaluations, we realized we both had good intentions.

As humans trying to make sense of the world, we do this all the time – project our own fears, insecurities, and past experiences onto other people. We instantaneously create a whole persona out of our first glance. However, if we don't take the time to pause and evaluate our assumptions, we might hold on to them for too long.

In this Issue, we have a diverse group of artists from New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Barcelona, Rome, and Johannesburg, and they represent diverse crafts – graffiti, boxing, ballet, fashion styling, and photography. I am so grateful that they are sharing their art and thoughts with us, and I hope you will get a glimpse into who they really are. And thank you, José Mercado (page 12), for bringing this idea of "Projections" to our attention, because it reminds me that if I see something negative in a stranger, it might simply be a reflection of what is inside of me. But when I remember to look for something good, I will probably find it.

– Meredith

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Editor's Letter

"It is very common to hear men express great fear of making a mistake in judging . . .

One is peeved with himself, or finds rather that it is 'so stupid' to have been fooled . . .

Yet should it not occur to us that it is just as stupid to have believed ill or mistrustfully to have believed nothing when there was good?"

– Søren Kierkegaard, Works of Love

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Photograph by Meredith M Howard

Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives Perspectives THE STREETS

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José Mercado

JOSE MERCADO PHOTOGRAPHER

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Lo que vemos en los demás no di

José Mercado

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ice mucho de nosotros mismos.

José Mercado

What we see in others tells us a lot about ourselves.

The outside acts as a mirror for our mind. In it we see reflected different qualities or aspects of our own being. When we observe something we don't like about someone, we feel aversion and rejection. No doubt this indicates that somehow the aspect we dislike exists within us.

Psychological projection is a mental defense mechanism by which a person attributes to others feelings, thoughts or impulses of his own that he himself denies or is unacceptable to himself. This mechanism is set in motion in situations of emotional conflict or when we feel threatened internally or externally.

When our mind understands that there is a threat to our own health and mental stability, it throws all these qualities outward, attributing them to an object or subject external to ourselves. In this way, our mind apparently succeeds, although not in reality, as it is rather a matter of self-deception to expose these threatening contents. These projections are valid for negative characteristics – hatred, resentment, envy, etc. – as well as for positive – admiration, idealization, affection, etc.

– José Mercado

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José Mercado

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José Mercado

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José Mercado

You say in your bio that you are self-taught. How did you learn photography?

I learned photography, as you say, alone and without classes. Fortunately, today with the internet and multiple publications of books, with a lot of desire and effort, you can learn photography on your own. It is not easy, but it can be achieved. Throughout the learning period, it was common to see me reading photography books or watching videos on YouTube. I went to bed and got up thinking about learning more and more.

This continues still today.

You are a brand ambassador for Sony. Tell us about your favorite camera.

I've been working with Sony for three years, and I've been an ambassador for almost a year. Since I tried the first mirrorless camera a few years ago, I knew it was the future.

Today, I think I got it right. I usually work with three Sony models. Indisputably, to take my street photos, I stay with the Sony A7S for its silent shooting, size, and incredible ISO. For my sessions with athletes in which I need fast focus and gusts, I work with the Sony A9. For my study sessions and personal projects in which I need the highest quality work, I use the A7R3.

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José Mercado Your website features a lot of work done with flashes and strobes. What draws you to street photography in your personal work?

Ever since I started taking pictures, I have liked street photography. In fact, my favorite photographers are all street photographers – William Klein, Winogrand, Catala Roca, etc. Street photography has always helped me to escape from my normal life. I use it as an anti-stress activity. Although, at the moment I am somewhat discouraged. The laws are making this activity in danger of extinction, and it is something that I think is very serious. We live in a society in which we believe we have the right to use our cell phones to photograph any scene that is news in our streets. We even publish or share photographs of other people in compromised situations that we interpret as comical and if we were the protagonist, we would not accept (such as accidents, falls, etc.).

But on the contrary, we do not accept that professional people photograph us in an artistic way without our consent. What good is street photography if we have to break the scene by asking for permission to take the shot? In my country, there are laws that forbid you to take photographs of people in the street. You can only do it if they are in a public act. All of this has made me wonder if it's worthwhile to continue working in the street. I know it's sad, but that is how it is.

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José Mercado

Is there something that happened in your life to prompt this particular project on psychological projection?

It's a very personal project that comes from the depths of my being. For years every day I struggle to be a better person and to eliminate from myself certain aspects that make me unhappy such as envy and anger. When I discovered the concept of psychological projection, I realized that I myself was doing these things – judging people by things that I didn't have resolved inside of myself. This helped me a lot and made me meditate on all of these issues.

"Everything that bothers you about other beings is only a projection of what you have not resolved about yourself." – Buddha

Follow Jose on Instagram @jose_mercado_foto

"Todo lo que te molesta de otro proyección de lo que no has re 20

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José Mercado

os seres es sólo una esuelto de ti mismo." – Buda THE STREETS

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Luca Paccusse

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Luca Paccusse

Photograph by Luca Paccusse

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LUCA PACCUSSE P H O T O G R A P H E R

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"I love the light and shadow play."

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Luca Paccusse

Where do you live and how would you describe it?

I was born and live in Rome. The capital of Italy needs few descriptions, I think, but from my point of view I can say that it’s a unique city, beautiful to visit and at the same time a bit stressful and chaotic to live. When you go to work, you hate it. When you take your time to walk through the streets of the center, you love it. I imagine that this may be a feeling that many of us feel in our respective cities, but in Rome I think it’s even more remarkable. From a photographic point of view, I can add that the mild climate and the often peaceful days favor long walks and for those who practice street photography like me, it’s certainly a great encouragement. Moreover, I love the light and shadow play, and here, there isn’t lack of light for sure!

How did you get into street photography and how do you feel when you doing street photography?

Like many street photographers, I approached this genre during the years, getting closer to people and being interested in the particular aspects that are seen in everyday life. Curiosity, life in the city and the need to tell something through images pushed me to focus on it. Right now I wouldn’t be able to take pictures of a setting in which a human element is not present, even if only mentioned as a shadow or a silhouette, with the same passion.

The fundamental thing for me is to shoot where there are subjects or situations taken up spontaneously. This is fundamental in street

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photography in my opinion. Sometimes I am closer, other times farther away, but I always try to "steal" people's expressions or behaviors in their spontaneity. I often instinctively snap and the situations happen to me under my eyes without me having studied anything. Other times I stop and wait, if I have smelled something interesting in the air. You can predict or decide to take what you want, but there is also a lot of luck in this type of photographic work. The beauty of street photography is just that: sometimes you come home empty-handed, while at other times you have taken a picture that you would never have imagined.

This gives me satisfaction and excites me a lot.

"I try to steal people's expressions or behaviors."

Luca Paccusse

"Sometimes you come home empty-handed, while at other times you have taken a picture that you would never have imagined."

You seem to travel a lot. What takes you to all of these different cities, and how does the culture feel different in different areas of the world?

Actually, I would like to travel more. So far I have mainly traveled in western countries, while I would like to visit other countries and different cultures in the next years. However, despite an apparent uniformity that our metropolises are taking on, we can still find differences between London, New York, Rome or Lisbon. It is increasingly a question of subtle differences because in an urban context the elements can be repeated from one city to another. Obviously the differences are more accentuated in small towns or in countries significantly different like Cuba. What I can say is that traveling enriches me, and I think it also enriches my photos. Seeing different cities, peoples and cultures is a way to always have new ideas. We are different from one country to another or from one continent to another, for the stories and cultures that characterize us. The important thing is that these diversities are a starting point to compose our personal and human puzzle without canceling our peculiarities.

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Luca Paccusse

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Luca Paccusse

"These diversities are a starting point to compose our personal and human puzzle without canceling our peculiarities."

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Luca Paccusse

Many of your photographs have a feeling of isolation – a feeling that even though the person is out in public, they are alone. Do you sense that? Are you seeking out something particular or trying to convey something with your photographs?

Indeed, I often isolate a subject, as in the photos that we presented in this magazine. The reason why I do it is to focus on an expression or a gesture, or because I am interested in bringing out details through the play of light and shadow. Sometimes photographing people isolated from the context even in a public place is completely random and depends on the situation of the moment.

For example, a man dressed as a cardinal with a very long red cloak passes . . . I couldn’t avoid to photograph him! Other times I give an aura of mystery or enigma to the photo, peculiar characteristics of street photography that fascinate me a lot, as well as irony and surreal elements.

I don’t exclude that there is an intention, perhaps unconscious, to describe human conditions or moods, even personal ones, but generally when I take pictures I feel very free. I isolate my problems of the moment. In any case, I am not doing that kind of conceptual photography where I can project my psyche nor am I carrying out a social survey on our cities.

These are images taken from everyday life, spontaneous and immediate, that can sometimes be subject to different interpretations. For example, could the little girl who covers her face with her arms have been scared, was she crying, or was she just tired? Is the person wearing red jacket and sunglasses a woman, a man, or is David Bowie fallen back to Earth? I enjoy the different reactions of those who look at my photos.

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Luca Paccusse

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Luca Paccusse

Can you tell us about Funky Avenue?

Funky Avenue is a street photography collective that I helped form a little less than a year ago. We are all in Rome and we are still trying to set our goals in a panorama that sees the multiplication of collectives and groups dedicated to this photographic genre. We have projects in the pipeline, such as publications and exhibitions, so you can follow us on our website www.funkyavenue.com and on our Instagram page @funky_avenue. On instagram we also manage the Generation Street page @generationstreet, in which we feature photos of other users that we believe deserve to be seen.

What do you want to do in the future with your photography?

I will certainly continue to do street photography, perhaps approaching new themes or different styles. For example, with the photographic association of which I am a member, Officine Fotografiche, I’m participating in a laboratory in which we have to take pictures in the manner of William Klein. It's a different approach from mine, but I'm sure it will contribute to enriching my work. Among the upcoming projects that I have in the pipeline there is a book in which I want to present my work and I would also like to dedicate myself to a medium-long term documentary project. Where? I don’t know yet!

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"I don’t exclude that there is an intention, perhaps unconscious, to describe human conditions or moods, even personal ones, but generally when I take pictures, I feel very free."

Luca Paccusse

Follow Luca on Instagram @lucapaccusse or on his website at www.lucapaccussephoto.com

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Luca Paccusse

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WaneOne

WaneOne

A r t i s t

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D e s i g n e r

| D o c u m e n t a r i a n

Wane has been painting graffiti since 1983, first in the Bronx and now all over the world. He appears in our 2018 Collection in two photographs taken by Henry J Parsons (HJP). After the Collection was published, HJP connected us.

Wane and I got the chance to sit down and talk in Atlanta about his evolution from being a kid painting graffiti to a man making a living from his art. All of the photographs in this article were taken by Wane. – Meredith M Howard

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South Bronx tracks, 2011

WaneOne

"It's a lifestyle."

Dmote PS @dmoterola, Detroit, 2012

Meredith: You're a graffiti artist, so how did you get into photography?

Wane: I’m not a professional photographer, but I’ve always documented. I’ve been shooting since I was 13.

Mostly documenting graffiti because I was just a big fan. My brother and I used to watch the subways, and I’d say, “I wish that would just stand still.” And he’d say, “Take a picture.” And I was like, “Genius!” Really not genius, but you know. So, I started taking photos. And then I started painting graffiti. I always drew, but I started being a part of the movement, and it began taking over my life, basically. It’s a lifestyle.

Meredith: Why are you here in Atlanta right now?

Wane: My mom lives here now. And now my mom is like 78, so I try to spend more time with her. I live for my art – between graphic design and actually selling art. During the year I’m always hustling to stay up with jobs and deadlines and networking, so in November I kind of shut it down and come to see my mom and my brother. He’s a lawyer. He's the smart side of the family. For all the crime that’s in New York and how people used to take advantage of my mom, he said, “I’m going to be a lawyer and change all that.” We owned a house that my mom was renting, and people would not pay rent. My brother just woke up one day and said, “I’m going to be a lawyer and stop all this nonsense.” And he really did. He’s in criminal law. It’s cool. He’s very straight-edge, so he doesn’t like that I write graffiti. It’s really funny. When I was a kid, I did get him to go paint a train. Got him in trouble. Yeah, my mom was really pissed off. One time I got arrested. My brother got away, but he sprained his leg, and my mom was really mad at me because I peer-pressured him to go. He doesn’t talk about that though. He acts like it never happened.

Art by Wane, Detroit, 2011

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JonOne @jonone_156 painting at the original Graffiti Hall of Fame in New York circa 2000

WaneOne

WaneOne Meredith: Where are your parents from?

Wane: West Indies. My mom was born in Aruba, and her parents moved to Grenada.

My dad was from Barbados, and since those are both British colonies, they were able to go to London to study. They didn’t even need a passport.

That’s where they met. They had me and my brother. My HIMS @himsagin Queens, New York, 1987 mom wanted to go to America because she saw that London wasn’t really a striving place, as far as opportunity, even though she was a nurse there. They decided they would leave us with our grandmother. So from one to three years old, I lived in London, and then from three to seven in Grenada. And once they got situated in the U.S., they came and picked up me and my brother, and I’ve been living in New York since 1978.

Meredith: Do you remember your first impressions of New York as a kid?

Wane: Yeah, as a kid everything seems big. It’s funny because what I really noticed was graffiti. That’s how I got into it. The neighborhood we lived in was in the North Bronx, so it was a very mixed neighborhood. It was very Jewish, Italian. The trains in The Bronx are elevated, so you are able to see the trains. So, I saw the graffiti. I didn’t know it was graffiti. I just saw this color on the train. And then after time, kids that I played with told me, “Ah, yeah, that’s graffiti. They do it illegally at night.” People were just feeding me information.

I really grew to love it more and more and started knowing what things said. You begin to understand it the more you look at it. I started doodling on paper, but I didn’t really want to do graffiti because it was illegal.

All the stories about it were weird and dark. It seemed like a lot of stress.

Meredith: Like what were they saying you had to do?

Wane: You would have to cut a hole in the fence. You would have to steal your paint. You would have to go really late at night, and as a kid, the story was just horrifying. You could get chased by cops. Cops will beat you up and spray paint you. If they catch you, they would spray paint your face. These things actually really happened to people.

I mean, it didn’t happen to me. A lot of other things happened to me. It wasn’t until I got to 7th grade where I met someone and they took me. Until then I was just drawing on paper, doodling and drawing cartoons. And then they started taking me, and I never stopped.

B-girl Renegade (Rock Steady Crew) holding boom box art by Wane in front of KET COD piece in Brooklyn, 2009

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Art by Wane and WIPS on the 2 Line, The Bronx, 1987

"I felt like it kept me grounded, and it kept me away from a lot of drugs and crime."

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Meredith: Do you remember when you painted your first train?

Wane: I painted my first train in 1984. In 1983, I was just painting in the neighborhood. A group of us had a clubhouse where we danced and drew. Some of those kids were going by themselves, and eventually they dragged me along. Actually, my brother came the first time.

It's a very addictive thing. I can’t say that the experience of going is what gives you the addiction. The experience of seeing your name running on this big steel thing is what’s addictive. Kids saw it, and they were impressed with it. You didn’t even have to be good. You just had to be adventurous at that particular time. At the same time, people that were older than us – these older guys who were maybe 16 or18 – were really talented. And there were some guys who had been doing it for a while, so they were in their late 20s, but we didn’t know that. Because you just know the work, but you don’t know any personal information about anyone. They were like grown adults. When you find that out, you’re like, “What?” Because most people back then did it for like three or four years and then quit to join the army or go to college, but once we knew there were people who did it longer, some of us kept painting. We liked doing it. I felt like it kept me grounded, and it kept me away from a lot of drugs and crime that was rampant in New York at that time. A lot of kids that I grew up with starting indulging in drugs or selling drugs. When people were like, “You want to do this?” I was like, “Nah, I’ll just do graffiti.”

"The city was their playground."

WaneOneCOD

Young graffiti writers, San Diego, 2011

Meredith: People thought the graffiti was encouraging the crime when it was really keeping the kids away from more serious crime?

Wane: Honestly, I think when society looks at graffiti, just like with anything, there’s a good and a bad. Here you have a city of 8 million people and maybe 10,000 of these kids are painting because there’s not a lot of outlets for them. There’s very few boys and girls programs. There was just none of that. Everything was run down. So, the city was their playground. The subway system became their playground, and they painted in it. A lot of kids just wrote their name, which was something to do at the time. And some kids realized, “Oh, I can draw.” We didn’t really didn’t know we had talent in the beginning. You just did it because it was the cool thing to do. If every kid’s got a skateboard, then every kid’s going to skateboard. But then you see five kids out of the fifty kids that are good at doing tricks, and you’re like, “Oh, he’s different.” You know what I mean?

Then, you realize that, and you pursue it.

Art by Wane and WIPS on the 2 Line, The Bronx, 1987

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WaneOne

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WaneOne Wane: It became a competitive thing without any structure. The trains would run from The Bronx to Brooklyn, and you’d look at all these Brooklyn guys painting and think, “Damn, that’s really good. We got to go tonight and do something better.” And then you’d go with your crew and you’d try to do something better. But you're not telling them that you’re trying to outdo them. You’re just trying to do something better and someone will see it and say, “Oh, these are the best kids.” For a long time, that’s what was going on. But also since the city was in such disarray, there was a lot of elements that were negative that came with it. And that’s why I think society was saying, “Oh, this is so bad.” And also the insides of the subways were really intimidating.

Especially looking at it now as an adult and having traveled and seen the rest of the world, you're like, “Oh, I thought everything looked like this.” People don’t realize that. If you’re not exposed to something, if you only know one thing, that’s all your going to think of.

My dad left my mom when I was ten, so we only went on one family trip that I can remember. We went to Virginia Beach. When we went to Virginia Beach, you didn’t see any graffiti. It was just beautiful. I saw houses and residential, and then you come back to New York and you see all of these buildings and run down apartments and the train station – everything was just run down. Even Manhattan. Manhattan seemed to be a better version of it, though. If you went to Times Square, it was a different Times Square than it is now. I mean, there was prostitution, there were all these scams, people selling drugs, and there were police standing right there. There was maybe five theaters and four of them were porno theaters. We thought that was normal. It exposed kids to something too young.

You shouldn’t be exposed to things like that at that age. So we were hanging out in places where we shouldn’t have been. We were going to clubs, places where you had to be 21, at 13 or 14 years old. They were letting you in. There was alcohol. So most kids indulged it because you didn’t know better. There was no guidance. Our parents were out trying to make ends meet.

Art by Wane, DM, 6pack, and Know, B Line, Queens, 1988

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WaneOne

Abby TC5 @abbytc5, The Bronx 1994

"Going to him was like looking at the internet."

Wane: Outside of Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, there’s only a few people that have documented subway art. Henry was a sculptor and had studio space in Soho. And photography was a hobby. He had these beautiful portfolios and would allow kids to come into his studio look at trains. Some pieces would run for three or four or five years, but some would run for only a day because people would cross them out or the subway system would clean them. Henry documented them. So, going to him was like looking at the internet. You had to know him or know someone who knew him. I knew a guy that was older, and he took me to Henry’s studio. And Henry was very warm and welcoming – “Oh, come on in.” So, we’d go in there and look a the photos and see some of the past work that had been done and kind of get an idea of where we were going. And Henry was very encouraging of things. Also, if we painted a train, we’d say, “Hey, Henry, we just painted a train,” and if he had time, he would go out and take a photo. So, he had a lot to do with just cultivating the culture. And then a lot of kids came from broken homes. Some kids, their parents left. This one guy, he came home one day and his mom was gone. Henry did a lot for kids like that. He gave them money. He tried to help them find their way in life. Everybody talks about the beautiful photos, but he really did a lot. If kids got arrested or they were homeless, he’d let them sleep in the studio. Crazy. He’s a really good guy. His studio was a studio for every writer in the city.

You know how you stitch photos together? We would just take photos on the angle, and Henry would say, “Oh, you got to take it like this. You stand on the station and you take it moving down in sections. And then when you get home you tape them together." I still have them taped together since I was 16. It’s crazy. But now, your iPhone does all that.

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WaneOne Wane: Graffiti is about painting your piece in the most visible place possible. Taking that risk. Not that people didn’t paint in abandoned places – they did. But it was limited because if you didn’t show the pictures to somebody, it didn’t exist. Right now, abandoned places are great because with Instagram you can post a picture, and more people are going to see that than are going to see a billboard. It's backwards now. Instagram opened up a whole new audience.

And there’s a lot of people who travel to cities just to do street art tours. They're paying $40 to walk around and look at graffiti. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but, you know, from where I started, it’s pretty funny. When police chase you and all that shit, and then fast forward, you would never have thought this would happen. Not in a million years. If someone had come out of a time machine and said, “In 2018, there are going to be graffiti tours,” I would have said, “You need help. That will never happen.” Because it was so looked down on, and the only people that loved it were the people who were doing it.

Tony RIP, Tats Cru, 1986

"Instagram opened up a whole new audience."

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WaneOne

Dero TFA @dero_tfa painting at the 238 Bridge in The Bronx, 1986

Meredith: I read that you got into airbrushing clothing. How did that come about?

Wane: On that trip to Virginia Beach, there was a bunch of guys airbrushing. I saw that and thought it looked just like spray painting. I had just started spray painting maybe two years before. So, I went back to the Bronx and I was telling my older brother – like I said, he’s the smart one in the family – I said, “This airbrush thing – where can we get that?”

Everything back then was the yellow pages. You know, there was no internet. He was clueless. But he was best friends with this guy Colin, and Colin always seemed to have the “in's” with everything.

So, we asked Colin and he said, “Yeah, airbrushing is for hobbyists.” We looked in the phone book and found a hobby shop. We went there and bought an air brush and just started to practice in the house. And at first it was really, really hard. I didn’t get it. As a kid, I just put it down and didn’t bother with it. That was like 1986. I just kept painting graffiti. And then in like 1988, I started to get in a lot trouble with the police and other graffiti writers.

Because people would cross your stuff out and you would cross their stuff out and you’d end up getting into fights. So, I had all of these problems going on, and my mom was stressed out from this stuff, obviously. So, in ’89, I was like, “Maybe I just need to pull back a little bit.” I still had the love to keep painting, so I’d just go down into the basement and airbrush.

"This airbrush thing – where can we get that?"

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WaneOne So, I started painting on shirts. And kids on the block were like, "Hey, how much for one of those." And I’d be like, "$10." I was just happy to keep painting. And slowly but surely it became a business. A guy at an art store downtown gave me the name of a really popular place in the Village called Unique Boutique. The guy that owned it was selling vintage clothing. In the 80s and 90s, all the lofts in Soho you could buy for cheap.

Nobody wanted to live down there. So, a lot of artists moved in and people would throw a lot of parties. You had your punk crowd. And house music was really big. People would dress wild. People with mohawks. So much personal style. A lot of people from the outer boroughs wouldn’t go there. It was also very liberal. You’d see the gay bars. You didn’t see that anywhere else.

So, there were two guys that had a vintage store. They were brothers. One brother was very into art. So, you’d go into Unique Boutique, and there were sculptures hanging off the ceiling and everything was very colorful. And he had a section where people painted denim jackets and t-shirts, and it was really popular.

The section was called Art Wave. The guy told me, "You’re good. You should go there. Tell them Mike sent you.” I went there, and I showed him a little book I had. Remember when you would develop a roll of film, they would give you a little booklet – like a cheap album. He said, "Come around the counter and paint a shirt right now.” I said, "What do I do?” "Anything you want.” So, I did something that said "House Music.”

And some guy came by and said, "How much for that?” I said, "$40.” It sold. And they guy was like,

“You’re hired.”

Art by Wane, Baltimore, 2010

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WaneOne

Wane: I was working with like nine other guys. A few of them also went to Cooper Union, which was a very good art school in that area. They were super talented. I started progressing. I was learning a lot without even knowing it. Sitting there watching them paint and going, "Oh, let me try that.” They were doing grid techniques and stuff like that, and I would say, "How are you doing that?” And they would just show me, and I would practice.

We started doing it for a lot of popular teen stars like New Kids on the Block, Vanilla Ice. All those people would come in the shop and we would just paint things for them. We didn’t think much of it at the time, but now looking back, it was pretty amazing. Like New Kids on the Block came in, and we didn’t even know they were coming in. The funny thing about it was all these teen girls would be there, and we were like, "How did they know?” There was no Instagram.

It became a super popular place. And from that, it led to other things. I went to college. I learned advertisement design which later turned into graphic design. Everything kind of organically happened.

There wasn’t a plan. I was trying to stay positive and evolve. My mom always said, "Go to college. Go to college.” She always wanted me to do something else. So, I thought I’d go to college for something I liked to do. And I then I get there and I’m taking these classes and maybe you realize that’s not the exact thing you’re going to do. Like I got introduced to computers and ended up doing graphic design for a lot of companies in fashion. So, it was a snowball effect. But I always kept painting graffiti because I felt like it kept me grounded. Plus, I was getting invited to Europe.

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WaneOne

238 station, The Bronx, 1993

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WaneOne

Meredith: What were you doing in Europe?

Wane: In Europe, they do festivals. It has been going on since the 80s – mostly London, Paris, Germany. Germany is really huge with graffiti. I met a German guy in New York in ’88 under a bridge. We did some graffiti and hung out and he told me there was graffiti in Germany, and I was like, “Really?” We went to his hostel, and he showed me pictures. So, we became pen pals.

Lyons, France

"So, we became pen pals."

In 1990, he said, "I’m organizing an event. I’d like to invite you to come."

I said, "Invite? How am I going to get there?" He said, "We’re going to buy you the ticket. We’re going to put you in a place to stay." I said, "OK, what do I have to do?" He said, "You just have to paint a piece." I said, "What do you mean – paint a piece?" He said, "You’re going to be doing what you do when you go paint graffiti, but this will be legal. And there will be hundreds of people watching you." I was like, "Get out of here." I was 21, and I hadn’t been out of the country, so I said, "Fine. You’re going to pay for it? Sure. I’ve got a passport."

He sent the ticket. I went to Munich. He met me at the airport and from that I met people from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, all over Europe, who I’m still friends with some of those people today. I’m meeting all of these people and they’re showing me pictures of their cities with graffiti. And I’m like, “Wow.” What was even more amazing, being in New York and being in The Bronx, we thought things were a certain way, and going to Europe and meeting all of these people, I became very open-minded. Everybody was really nice and friendly and this guy speaks three different languages and there are graffiti writers that are 60 years old and people were working together. It was different from what was going on in the New York.

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WaneOne Wane: Everything in New York was like – "Don’t trust that person. They’re going to set you up.” Or – "Only stay with a certain group.” Even though New York’s a melting pot, the city was so dangerous that I was hanging around with people in different neighborhoods but only with people I knew. But in Europe it was more like – "Hey, Wane, you should come to France.” And I would say, "That sounds good, but I don’t know anyone who lives there.”

And they would say, "Oh, you can stay with me or my friend Mike. As a matter of fact, let me call him up.” And then they would tell me, "Meet Mike at the main station, and he’ll let you stay at his house.”

And literally that’s how I traveled Europe – like on some Airbnb but way before that existed. And then people were coming to New York and staying with me and crashing at my mom’s house. And my mom’s like – "What the hell’s going on?” And I’m like, "Oh, he’s from Germany. He’s from Italy.” She would say, "What are you guys doing?” And I would tell her, "We’re just doing a little graffiti.”

"That’s how I traveled Europe – like on some Airbnb but way before that existed."

After party in an alley in Melbourne, Australia

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WaneOne

ADEK BTM throw up on the wall on the lower east side, New York

Wane: That’s how a lot of things about me personally changed for the better. Years later, I look back and I’m grateful to have met all of these interesting people and just start thinking differently. And they were also doing graphic design, and I thought, “Oh, I can do something like that here.” I thought maybe I’ll never really be an artist, but if I do graphic design, I will still be in a creative field. That helped me a lot. Hey, it’s all about being happy. Yeah, sure, I’m not making a lot of money, but so what? I’m paying my rent. I get to travel a ton. People are inviting me places. You just evolve as a person.

In New York, you don’t really say hello to people you don’t know. When I first came down here [Atlanta] in ’95, I was walking down to Underground on Peachtree and people are like, "Hey, how you doing?” And I was looking at them like,"What?"

Because the only place that had ever happened to me was in Europe – people from across the street waving at me in Europe. In Munich, there were very few black people. So, I’m walking and I get on a trolley with my friend and I see this black guy and he’s waving at me. And I’m thinking, "What the hell is he waving at me for?” And I realized years later that he was waving because I the only other black guy. It’s just the experience that led me to say really the world is not what people think it is. Not everything is fucked up. Not everybody is out to get you. You know what I mean? No matter what, you have to keep an open mind. You can’t just be so negative all the time. That’s what keeps me going. I’m always on a positive note. You know what? It can always be worse, so let me be grateful for what I have.

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Dmote signing a kid's book with a sketch in Detroit

WaneOne

Nekst forever RIP, New York

Meredith: After college you started doing logos and design. I saw some shoes you designed for Reebok.

Wane: This is all within 36 years, so it didn’t all come at once. When I was working at Unique Boutique, since we were meeting people in the music industry, we also met some people that were doing hip hop and had just signed record deals and needed logos. If someone puts an opportunity in front of me, I’m always like, "Let me give it a shot.” So, a few people hit me up. And then there was my friend Todd Reece who writes graffiti, but his dad was an artist. And he had already done some logos. Like he helped create the Beastie Boys’ logo. He’d give me advice. So, we’d draw it and then cut it with a razor blade and use copy machines.

Everything was hand done. And then when I got to college and had the computer, I learned Photoshop. From going to school for advertising and design I learned how to do graphics.

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WaneOne

Smash137, Detroit

Wane: All along the way when I was in college I got jobs because I was already doing this custom clothing thing. Sometimes I would just walk into record labels. I would look on the album cover to find the address – 400 Broadway – and then go there and say, “Hey, I do graphics.” And they would be like, “What kind of graphics?” And I would say, “For hip hop artists.” Because that’s all I knew. And they would say, “Yeah, we’ve got this one guy,” and they would give me the phone number of his manager, and I would call him.

It’s pretty funny that some of that stuff worked out because I had no clue how to do it. It’s not even that somebody told me to do that. I just thought, “Well, the address is there . . . ” Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t. It never upset me when it didn’t work.

"It's pretty funny that some of that stuff worked out because I had no clue how to do it."

Also, what was really cool is that some of these offices that I walked into, I got to see how the business operated. They would allow you to come into their operation without being intimated. There was no security in the lobby. At most, a secretary.

And she would go, “Oh, yeah, talk to the A&R guy. He’s right there.” And you would just go up to him, "Hey, I’m Wane, and I’ve got a little portfolio, and this is what I’m doing. I painted trains.” And I showed them a lot of trains. It’s great that I showed them the trains because some of them would go, "Oh, you actually painted on the subway? That’s fucking cool.” People would really freak out about that. I just figured that’s what I’ve done. It’s part of the portfolio. And then eventually the trains moved away into it’s own thing, and I started having graphics, and I actually had a portfolio. But in the beginning, I thought it was cool. You show them the stuff that you really do. I showed them shirts. Like if I did a shirt for New Kids on the Block, I would say, “This is me and Donnie Wahlberg. This is me and Ice T.” So, they thought, “Oh, he’s already doing something.

Alright, let’s see what we’ve got. We’ve got this new artist coming out.”

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WaneOne Wane: And in the beginning the pay was nothing. It was like $20 a logo, but it gave me that experience and the motivation to know that it is possible. You’ve got to have the insight to know that it is possible for you to work in that field. And back then, it was very hard to imagine that from being a kid growing up doing graffiti. It’s not like I had an uncle who did graphic design or somebody in the neighborhood. No one knew anyone who did that stuff.

Now, when I speak to kids I tell them, “You’re living in a great time because your phone is a computer. You can design on your phone. That didn’t exist.”

My first computer cost me $8,000. And they’re like, “What?!” And let me tell you, it didn’t come easy to get that money. I did a lot of airbrushing to get that. And it was a risk. No one had a computer in their home. When I attempted to do it, people were like, “You’re crazy! You’re going to spend that much money? For what?” I said, “If you have one, you can learn quicker. I have two computer classes a week for two hours. Those two hours go so fast. If I have a computer in my home, you best believe I’m going to stay home and learn it because I just spent all this money.” I believe it was ’93 when I invested in this computer, printer, scanner, everything. Back then, getting set up, even installing the software, was a whole new experience.

So, we had an older friend who worked for the Wall Street Journal, he set me up, and I just practiced everyday. I didn’t know what I was doing. But then slowly but surely, the jobs came.

"It gave me that experience and the motivation to know that it is possible."

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WaneOne

Art by Wane in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2014

Wane: After that I started a small brand called Writer’s Bench making hats and t-shirts that was based on graffiti. The name Writer’s Bench actually is a station in New York in the Bronx where writers congregated and hung out and shared ideas. Some of the same German guys would have me order for them and then they would pick it up at my house. So, I thought, “I could do something with this.” I figured I already know graffiti, so I can do graffiti related graphics. You know things that graffiti writers understood. Even though it was a small market, I know that kids loved it. I started in ’96, and then in ’97, I met a Japanese guy, and he became my distributor. So for like the next six years, I sold a lot of t-shirts and hats and some book bags in Japan.

Meredith: That’s awesome.

Wane: Yeah, the first order was for like 6,000. The second order was 10,000 then 20,000. I even got orders up to 60,000. The crazy thing about that experience was the Japanese would make an order for 60,000 and say, “Here’s check for 30,000. We’ll see you in a month.” They would pay you 50% up front.

So, they were financing the cost of it.

So, me and half a dozen other people that came from the graffiti culture were doing that – brands that reflected graffiti and that reflected New York and the hip hop culture. But it’s funny that it was culture from America that was shipped to Japan, and they just ate it up. To me, that’s what’s weird. I’m like – “What is their connection to the culture?” They just loved American culture. I went to Japan in 2008, and I realized there’s people in Japan that look more fashionable than in New York. It’s crazy. New York has always had the coolest fashion, but in Japan, they look better than you do in your own designs. They really embrace the culture. They love it more than we love it.

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WaneOne Wane: I think like 20 years ago, companies like Nike started doing collaborations with artists.

And lately it’s been street artists. What happens is that companies that have been around for a while, they get to be so huge that there’s a demographic or age range they can’t reach, so what they say is, “Oh, street art is cool with the young people.” So, they find a street artist and do a collaboration.

Like the first solo show I did in Sydney, Australia, and it was called Tate Gallery. It was inside of a hotel that had been around for decades. That hotel has a gallery and has residencies for street artists. So, I come in, and they let me keep 100% of whatever I sold. The objective of that project was to reach young people. They couldn’t get young people in the hotel and in the bar. So, they thought, "If we have a gallery, they’ll come to the gallery and then down to the bar."

Same thing with Reebok. I believe the shoe was called the Reebok Classic. It was a classic shoe from the 80s. They wanted to add a new life to that shoe. They offered us a program. My friend Stash curated the program because he’s a shoe designer, and he pretty much pioneered the street art collaborations with brands. He’s been doing it since 1990. They called him up, and we picked a bunch of artists. You know the guy Totem? He was the Atlanta artist. The process is they give you a CAD of the shoe. You create a painting and then you take a picture of the painting and then you design it into the CAD of the shoe. And then you change the colors according to what season it’s going to come out or what might be hot for the next season. So, that’s what we did. That was a great project.

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WaneOne

Meredith: How do you feel the graffiti world is changing?

Art by Wane in New York

Wane: I feel like you appreciate things for what they were, and nothing lasts forever. You have to still fit in – especially now that I’m making a living off of it. If it’s just a hobby, you can always do one style of graffiti. But I think for me, it’s always painting with different people in different places. I have people that I’ve painted with for years, and I still paint with them. But I like painting with new people because you learn new things. You learn the way things are done now and you apply it to what you’re doing. It’s important to stay relevant.

Meredith: You kind of changed your tag or your name over the years. Do you just try out different things?

Wane: For me, in the beginning, there were only a few styles that went on. Graffiti really started in Philadelphia. People hate to say that, but the actual tagging and writing your name started in Philly and then it came to New York. And because New York is such a driven city, it boomed in New York. And then it went around the world. There are certain styles that are very simple and developed in New York, and that’s the foundation. For me, I have a classic New York style. Some people say, "Your style has changed so much.” I don’t really see it like that. It still seems very classic. It has the foundation, but I also try new things because you have to evolve.

If you took a photo at 15 and then you took a photo at 30, you’re seeing it differently. It’s just how we evolve as people. It has nothing to do with wanting to change. Change is just going to happen. Some people hit me up – "I love those pieces from the 80s on the train. I’m not really into what you’re doing now. You should go back to that.” What they don’t realize is you can never go back. Not that you can’t copy something, but to naturally do it? No. Because you are a whole different person from who you were then. It’s a beautiful thing.

"You can never go back."

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WaneOne Wane: With the different names, it was just a way to practice. Back then, every time you did a piece, you tried to do a different outline. In the present, a lot of people do one good style and one good outline and then there’s version of it. It’s not so different from the last one. But in the earlier times, you had to really do something different because everyone would criticize you. You worked harder to do a different outline every time you did a piece. So, if you’re doing one name, I don’t care how good you are, that’s really hard. There’s people that were older than me that were doing different names because if you do different names, you have a better chance of doing a different outline. And doing different names you get better. And then if you come back to the old name after a particular time, then you’re able to construct it differently.

We always draw from left to right and I remember one time I thought to myself – "What happens if I sketch it from right to left?”– because now your brain’s thinking differently.

So, the whole sketch came out totally different than anything I had ever done. It was just really an exercise that worked.

Now as an artist, I work in the studio doing paintings, and that’s what I try to do sometimes. I say, "I’m so used to doing it this way using a spray can, let me use this messy-ass brush here." Or "Let me use a stencil here." There’s nothing wrong with that.

These things are all tools to help us evolve and become better. It’s still us. We’re just trying to find ourselves and to add more meaning to what we’re creating. You have to be open to that. You have to be able to see that.

"These things are all tools to help us evolve and become better."

Some people are such purists, they’re like, "No, if you don’t use the old spray cans Krylon or Rustoleums with the stock caps, it’s not authentic.” I’m not saying it’s not, but hey, if you’re going to move on, we need to at least attempt different things. Let’s create it and then have a dialogue about it. Sometimes, I don’t like people to know what I’m going to do. If they’re able to say, "Oh, I know what he’s going to do” – what’s the excitement in that? What’s the experience of them coming to a show if they know what you’re going to do? Yeah, you need to build a style, but then at times you need to be able to change to give the audience a new experience. That’s what keeps art interesting. Like if you did all your street photography with hand held cameras and then for the next two years you're using tripods every time, it’s going to be different. Someone’s going to say, "Wait a minute. There’s something different about her photography. What is it?” And now they want to look more into it. They don’t know what you’re doing, but now they want to learn and get more involved in what you’re doing.

So, we have to continue to do that because it could get boring. And boring for us if we keep doing the same thing. I like to try different things.

Art by Wane in New York

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WaneOne

Jick @jick_frost taking a photo of his art while Smash137 is painting in the Freedom Tunnel, New York

Meredith: Do you have any projects coming up?

Wane: I have a few things coming up. Right now there’s a mall in China that they just built, and they have a huge wall that they want six or seven street artists from around the world to paint. My friend Stash is curating.

We’ve got a guy who lives in Berlin and a few other people. That should happen in March.

And also in Japan we’re doing this thing with a friend called Wet Paint. He’s from San Diego and lived in New York for a few years. And being from New York, we always painted on the subway maps, so he wanted to do something just as cool but he didn’t come from that era. He noticed that every time they buff graffiti in the subways, they put a sign that says “Wet Paint”, so he started taking the signs and painting them and now it’s become a thing. I got him a show in New York, and it became really big. So, now DC Shoes wants to help us take that to Japan. They are trying to develop an art program within their brand, and he used to work for them. When his daughter was born, he developed this character called Bunny Kitty, which is a cartoon character of a kitty and a bunny put together. And, ah man, kids love it. He wrote a story book and published it. So, it’s kind of like his whole persona and that character and the "Wet Paint" thing. They even want to put clothes around it. We’re like 80% in on all of this. We’re still trying to lock down the gallery, tickets, the exact budget – the things that are really going to make it move.

I'm also working on a book. It’s going to be photos of one name that I did in the 80s and 90s shot with pointand-shoot cameras only. More like street photography. It’s going to be 6 x 9 and hard cover, 144 pages. I’m excited about that.

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WaneOne Wane: When we started going to Detroit and places like that, I realized, "Oh, this is so great photography-wise for when I do the book, because now I can tell a different chapter and make it more interesting.” Because at the present time there are hundreds of graffiti books. I still want to tell the old story, but how am I going to bring something fresh to what I’m doing?

In the abandoned spaces, I’m like, "Oh, this is beautiful. I might be the only one who’s going to document it with shooting it and creating these beautiful photos.” Because a lot of people don’t get to see abandoned places. If the place stood abandoned for 15 years, it’s like time stood still. And then you get mother nature and corrosion and then here comes this bright contrast piece, so now you’ve created something that people normally don’t see.

Even if they know graffiti, they see it on the street, but they’re looking at it differently because it’s now in the new space. I like that about abandoned places.

I’ve been documenting graffiti for so long that I have so many archives of photos that I don’t do anything with. And at the present time, I don’t like to put some of these photos on Instagram because then people take it and they don’t give credit and it ends up like ten grams down and before you know it, people have filtered it out. I’ve got a bunch of photos from the 80s online that people post all the time, and they’re clueless as to who took that photo. You want to share the photos, but it should be shared in the right forum. And when I look at what you do, I was like, “This is great!” I think that this is how it should be shared – showcasing different photographers, showcasing the whole street photography thing, and you also get to hear what people are thinking. Digital things have taken over so much that hard copies have disappeared. I love the digital, but we still need to appreciate printed matter.

Follow wane on instagram @waneonecod

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WaneOne

Chinatown, New York

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Photographs by Meredith M Howard

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Mr and Mrs Decorum

M

n a r

Photograph by Acielle @styledumonde

Deco

Mphahlela Mokgatle

Mr. and Mrs. Decorum have appeared in several issues of our magazine dressed in matching suits. We finally caught up with this stylish duo to ask them each their perspective about their style, their business, and their life together.

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?

I grew up in the heart of Soweto, Meadowlands ko Ndofaya, just a stone's throw away from where Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu resided in Vilakazi street. My childhood was one where my mother strived to give me the best gift of life, which is a solid education. I went to Mayfair Convent Primary School where I excelled in academics and sports being in the top three academically and playing first team soccer. From there I went to Jeppe High School for Boys where the suiting world started appealing to me as we wore the black and white blazer daily Monday to Saturday.

What did you dream of doing when you grew up?

I dreamt of being a chartered accountant and a business leader.

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d n

Mrs

Mr and Mrs Decorum

orum

Rethabile Makhetha

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?

I grew up in Tladi, Soweto, in a modest household with young happily married parents, an older sister and younger brother. I had a happy childhood. My sister was my best friend and we had a lot of other friends and spent most our time carefree playing indigenous games in the streets of Soweto.

My parents also sacrificed a lot to ensure that we had the best possible education, which I am the most grateful for.

What did you dream of doing when you grew up?

Nothing. I didn’t have a specific occupation in mind and whenever this question would come up, I would always just copy what the other kids would say or say the first thing that popped into my mind, like a doctor, a teacher, or a lawyer; but that was not my dream, it was just the easiest answer at the time.

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Mr and Mrs Decorum How did you meet each other?

Rethabile and I met at Wits University during a power outage. She was new at the residence.

I had been there for a year before, so I knew where to look for the switch plug to get the lights back on. She walked out not knowing where to head, and I was the hero who got the lights back on and as they say, the rest is history.

Him Photographs on this page and next page by Alex @_parispics_

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Mr and Mrs Decorum

How did you meet each other?

We both began our first year at Wits University in 2009, and we met at a university residence that we were both staying at a couple of years later in 2011. I had moved to the residence that afternoon. It was my first night living away from home, so you can imagine how petrified I was when our whole floor had a power outage, and I was sitting in my room all by myself. I remember loitering around the corridor, where there was some light, waiting for someone to walk past so I could ask for help. That’s when my knight in shining armour appeared . . . with his troop. There was a few of them and they all offered to come and help me find the fuse box and turn the lights back on. I think I was a bit intimidated by their number, so I wasn’t lovestruck at first sight, but that was the beginning of our friendship, which blossomed into romance about one year later. Oh, and I should mention that I did all the courting.

Her

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Mr and Mrs Decorum

Can you tell us about Decorum Stylists and why you started the company?

Decorum Stylists is a passion and dream that is being realized through encapsulating a His and Hers bespoke suit making company. The entity was a brain child of being one the best dressed individuals from varsity days. When we sat and looked at the market, sartorial wear was something that’s was not being done here in South Africa. Decorum looks at redefining the corporate world with tailor made suits for both females and males.

How did you come up with the idea to dress alike?

Him

When I would get a t-shirt, I would also get one for my cupcake. It was simple math for us – what you do to the left you do to the right.

So we sat and said, "Why do females not have suits that fit them well?" And we realized it’s because mainstream doesn’t get the cut correct. Because we always dressed alike it was like symphony to make His and Hers suits. When Decorum was born in 2016, It was a no brainer that we had to disrupt the market. The theory was genius but no one sees the creative sessions that happen, the balance of two individuals into one.

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Mr and Mrs Decorum Can you tell us about Decorum Stylists and why you started the company?

Mphahli co-founded Decorum Stylists in 2016 with a male business partner and the company was primarily focused on mens’ accessories. I came on board as the Creative Director (Females) about a year later, after his business partner left the company. Shortly after I joined the company, we transformed it and began catering to both males and females and we introduced the signature his and hers suit range.

Her How did you come up with the idea to dress alike?

Dressing alike is natural to us. It’s something that we have been doing since varsity. The earliest memory that I have of us dressing alike is when I bought him a pair of sneakers for his birthday in 2014, and I bought myself the same pair a few months later because I just loved how they looked on him. I think this started a pattern of us thinking about one another whenever we’d buy clothes individually. So we’d buy one another the same or similar thing whenever we’d go shopping (thank heavens he has a good fashion sense!), and before we knew it, we had similar wardrobes.

Photographs on this page and previous page by Tendai Spencer Mhlanga @tendai_mhlanga

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Mr and Mrs Decorum Being Mr and Mrs Decorum isn't your only job, correct?

Yeah, I head up business development at BDO which is an international financial services firm specializing in audit, tax and advisory.

How do you balance Decorum Stylists with your "day job?"

Balancing the day job and the business was quite difficult in the beginning; however, we have mastered working the night shift at Decorum where we have evening appointments at from 6pm to about 9pm. We also utilize the weekends quite effectively by having shoots, attending to personal shopping for key clients and delivering suits as well.

How do we get one of these beautiful custom made suits? Do we have to be in Johannesburg?

In order to get one of the suits you do not necessarily have to be in Johannesburg if you can find a really reliable individual who can take your measurements. Then we will work with those measurements. The trick is that the measurements must be spot on. A lot of trust takes place in this instance.

The best option to have an individual come to our showroom and so we can take the measurements.

Then we would have a first and second fitting for exact fit.

We can not wait to get advanced AR technology which can actually navigate around a human body for the international market.

We will be embarking on trunk shows around South Africa and eventually soon around the world.

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Photographs on this page and next page by Tumi Wadinepe @wadinepe

Mr and Mrs Decorum

Being Mr and Mrs Decorum isn't your only job, correct?

Yes, I am a practising lawyer and a commercial mediator.

Her

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Mr and Mrs Decorum What has been your biggest challenge in life?

The biggest challenge is living in a country which has a hang over of apartheid where your ability is doubted merely because of the color of your skin.

Him

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What are your dreams for the future?

To build a lovely family with Cupcake and realizing the dream to have Decorum be an international His and Hers bespoke boutique.

Photographs on this page and next page by Mayra Navarrete @mayra.e.navarrete

What has been your biggest challenge in life?

Mr and Mrs Decorum

Thinking about what my biggest challenge in life has been . . .

Her

What are your dreams for the future?

To build Decorum Stylists into a legacy that we can leave behind for generations to come.

You got engaged at Pitti Uomo in Florence. Rethabile, were you really surprised?

I was so surprised . . . but, I think he was more surprised to see me balling my eyes out like a baby when he popped the question. I’m not much of a crier, so my reaction was quite out of character. I was so overwhelmed with joy and it felt like an out of body experience that I still can’t explain to this day. I am truly blessed to have him.

Find out more information at www.decorumstylists.co.za and follow them on Instagram @decorum_stylists, @pat_cwa (Him) and @mrs_decorum (Her)

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N A D Y N E

Nadyne Bispo

Interview and photographs by Meredith M Howard

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B I S P O

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Nadyne moved from São Paulo, Brazil to Atlanta in September 2018 to dance with the Atlanta Ballet Company 2 for nine months. She won this opportunity through the Youth America Grand Prix. This was the third time she has won a ballet contract. The previous year, she danced with the Boston Ballet. I wanted to find out what it is like to move from another country to be a professional ballerina, so we got together on a very cold day in Atlanta to dance in the streets . . .

Nadyne Bispo

"I just started doing it and never

stopped."

Meredith: Did you like Boston? How is that different from Atlanta?

Nadyne: I like Boston. It’s a beautiful city, but it’s so cold. So, here [Atlanta] is better.

In Brazil, it’s so warm all the time. Here, it’s so cold all the time. I’m freezing. But I like it.

Meredith: If you could pick any city, where would you like to dance?

Nadyne: I like here. Atlanta. It’s not too cold. It’s not too warm. It’s not too many people. New York – it’s so crazy. It’s too much.

Meredith: Would you want to move to the United States permanently?

Nadyne: Yes, I would. Because we don’t have a good ballet in Brazil . . . Actually, we have, but we cannot get money. So, we can’t survive there with ballet. You need to have another job.

Meredith: When did you start dancing?

Nadyne: Four years old.

Meredith: Did you see other people doing ballet? Is that very popular in Brazil?

Nadyne: No. I don’t know why. I just starting doing it and never stopped.

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Nadyne Bispo Meredith: How else is Atlanta different from Brazil, other than the weather? Are the people different?

Nadyne: Yeah, the people are different. In Brazil, everybody is so happy all the time.

Meredith: Really?

Nadyne: Yeah, all the time. Everybody talking, talking all the time. But here, everybody’s so quiet and not too happy.

Meredith: I wonder why that is . . . What about the food. How is the food different?

Nadyne: Oh, the food is so different. I make my food everyday because honestly, I don’t like American food. So, I cook every day Brazilian food.

Meredith: What types of things do you cook?

Nadyne: Beans, rice, potato, meat.

Meredith: What types of spices do you use?

Nadyne: Oregano. Do you know oregano?

Meredith: Yes. Nadyne: I use too much.

"In Brazil, everybody is so

happy all the time."

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Nadyne Bispo

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Nadyne Bispo Meredith: How old are you now?

Nadyne: Twenty.

Meredith: Did you go to college?

Nadyne: Yes, in Brazil. But I stopped it because I came here.

Meredith: Do you think you will finish college or will you do ballet and finish later?

Nadyne: Probably I will finish later. I want to finish. I feel like it’s so important.

Meredith: What were you studying in college?

Nadyne: I was studying Pharmacy.

Meredith: Do your parents miss you when you are here?

Nadyne: Yes, I talk with my parents every day. And my boyfriend, too. I miss them and they miss me.

Meredith: Do you live with friends or with people from the ballet?

Nadyne: I live with people from the ballet, but now we are friends. I live with another Brazilian and a Japanese girl.

Meredith: So, she’s here from Japan or was she born here?

Nadyne: She’s from Japan. Sometimes, when we talk, I don’t understand her and she doesn’t understand me. Because my English is not very good and the same with her, so it’s funny.

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Nadyne Bispo

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Nadyne Bispo Meredith: You are in Company 2 with Atlanta Ballet? How do you get to Company 1?

Nadyne: The first thing, if the Director likes me. It is so important. And I need to work because there is a difference technique in ballet. I studied Vaganova, but it is a different Vaganova. I need to learn this Vaganova and then I feel like it’s fine – I can join the first Company.

Meredith: So, it’s a different technique?

Nadyne: Yeah, there’s Russian Vaganova, French, Cuba.

Meredith: Where does Vaganova come from?

Nadyne: It is a mix of the French and Russian. It’s hard…When you think, “I am good now,” no, you’re not. I need to work forever.

Meredith: How many classes do you take during the week?

Nadyne: We have class in the morning and then we have rehearsal for the Nutcracker. We work on Sunday, too, and just have the day off on Monday. It’s too much rehearsal. We start at 11:45 and then at 2:45 we have one hour for lunch. And then we come back and dance until 6:45. It’s a new Nutcracker, so we need rehearsal.

Meredith: I heard about that. What do you think about the new Nutcracker?

Nadyne: It’s totally new. I love it! It’s amazing because it’s a mix of choreography – a mix of contemporary and ballet. It’s so cool.* [*I saw the new Nutcracker, and it was very cool. The set design, projection design, and lighting was fantastic. Very unexpected. And the choreography and dancing was modern and really well done.

– Meredith]

"When you think, 'I am good now,' no, you're not.

I need to work forever."

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Nadyne Bispo

"If you could pick any city, where would you like to dance?"

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Nadyne Bispo

"Atlanta."

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Enter the

Ring

Words and photographs by Rudy Mondragón

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Enter the Ring My father formally introduced me to the sweet science of boxing on September 12, 1992. That was the night of the mega fight between Julio César Chávez and Héctor "Macho" Camacho. We went to my uncle Felipe's house to watch the fight because he was the only member in our family who had a "black box" to access free illegal cable channels. For a seven-year-old Mexican-American, seeing this fight was a big deal.

I remember watching in awe as Chavez warmed up in his dressing room.

I related to him mostly because my father was rooting for him but also because of our mutual connection to Mexico. However, it was Camacho's pre-fight theatrics that caught my attention. I saw him pacing in his room yelling "Macho Time" with his hands raised in the air. His outfit was spectacular. It was a refashioned Captain America super hero boxing robe. Looking at it now, I realize he wasn't emulating Captain America.

He was introducing himself as Captain Puerto Rico – proudly representing his family, friends, and fans from Spanish Harlem. The sounds of "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" filled the arena as Camacho made his way into the ring and fans viewed him in all of his performative glory.

That was the night I fell in love with boxing.

"That was the night I fell in love with boxing."

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Enter the Ring

Now, as a doctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, I have the opportunity to study the sport of boxing. Ever since the night when the performance of Camacho caught my attention, I have been fascinated by the way boxers use their ring walks to tell the world who they are. Beyond creating hype, the ring entrance is the space where the boxers communicate their identity and politics through music, fashion, and entourages.

One part of my research, which I love very much, is visiting boxing gyms. In the beginning, when I would visit the gyms, I would take notes and pictures on my iPhone mainly to remember the things I learned during my visit.

Eventually, I decided to take my camera with me. The more photos I took of boxers , the more curious I got about their stories. What was their life like before they started boxing? How did they find the sport of boxing? Why do they fight? Who do they fight for?

I have photographed both amateur and professional boxers. Some of these include Jonathan Walley, Deontay "The Bronze Bomber" Wilder, Andre "Son of God" Ward, Brandon "Bam Bam" Rios, Abner Mares, Maricela "La Diva" Cornejo, Seneiesa "Super Bad" Estrada, Leo "El Terremoto" Santa Cruz, and many others. Most recently, I had the opportunity to photograph and interview Carlos "The Solution" Morales and José Carlos Ramírez. These are their stories.

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Enter the Ring

Carlos "The Solution" Morales Carlos Morales is a 29-year-old boxer signed to Golden Boy Promotions. I had the privilege of being inside his dressing room and walking to the ring with him during his most recent fight. Carlos likes to keep things simple. He prefers peace and quiet instead of blasting music during his warm-up. He intentionally keeps a small entourage.

Carlos and his family migrated to California from Tulancingo, Mexico when he was only ten years old. His passion at that time was soccer. But soccer wasn't enough to keep the energetic Carlos busy. One day, Carlos's brother Raul was watching television when Mike Tyson appeared on the screen hitting the speed bag. Raul reacted and said he wanted to become a boxer. This prompted Carlos's father to sign both Raul and Carlos up for boxing. At first, Carlos was not into the idea of fighting but was eventually motivated when he saw the many photos, trophies, and championship belts in the gym. He was eager to earn some of his own.

Carlos participated in both soccer and boxing up until college when he went to play soccer for two years at East Los Angeles Community College. After that, he had scholarship offers from midwestern universities; however, he made the difficult decision to pursue boxing and leave soccer behind. The main reason was to earn money to provide for his wife and young son. He turned professional in 2012. In 2016, he won the NABA super featherweight title against Luis Franco.

While I was shooting photos of Carlos's warm-up in the dressing room, I wondered what song he would enter the ring to. Moments later, the inspector informed the team that it was time to make their way to the tunnel.

I remember walking with Carlos and the millions of butterflies developing in my stomach. I was nervous and wanted to see him succeed in the ring. This was a new experience for me – developing a close bond with a professional fighter and then being expected to take ringside photos of him.

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Enter the Ring

Carlos Morales in Fantasy Springs Resort Casino

As he stood behind the curtains, I noticed Carlos's outfit. He was wearing colorful boxing trunks and a robe with the colors of the Mexican flag. Printed on the back was his name written in the iconic font of the 1968 Mexican Olympics. All of a sudden, the sounds of Queen's "We Will Rock You" took over the casino arena.

Using a classic sports anthem, Carlos made his way to the ring in a calm and dignified manner. I caught up with Carlos a couple of weeks after his fight and asked him what his ring entrance meant to him – "It's just something that you dreamed of all your life...There's no word to describe it...If you train hard and dedicate yourself, look where it brings you – walking down the ring entrance, people screaming your name and watching you. It gets you excited."

"People screaming your name and watching you.

It gets you excited."

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Enter the Ring

Though he did not come out victorious, Carlos put this fight into perspective. He knows that win or lose, he is an entertainer and one of the important things is to give the fans a good show. That is easier said than done because a boxer endures the physical, mental, and emotional struggles that come with defeat in isolation.

Though he has a team, it is only him in the ring who gives and takes the shots. But there's a purpose and reason to why he fights – "I fight for my family, to give them a better life, and for myself."

Carlos provides for his family by both boxing professionally and managing Nick's Cafe, an iconic breakfast diner located near downtown Los Angeles, as well as Rock 'N Egg in Highland Park. The task of juggling a job and a boxing career is not an easy one. He said, "I still get my training done, but maybe not enough rest.

It's just what I chose. I chose to be a dad at a young age and get married. I need to work to support my family."

I asked Carlos what he has had to sacrifice – "My family. I don't pay as much attention to my wife and kids as much as another parent would, because I have a job and have to train and fight and focus. Most of the time, when I'm home I want to rest. That's probably the biggest sacrifice right now. It makes me feel sad at times, but I know I'm doing it for them."

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Enter the Ring

José Carlos Ramírez José Carlos Ramirez has been boxing since the age of seven. He grew up in Avenal, a small town in the central valley of California with a population of about 15,000. Many residents find work at either Avenal State Prison or on local farms. When José was young, he got a job in the bell pepper fields. He described a day in the fields as consisting of a ten-hour shift in 100-plus degree heat and constantly bending down to pick bell peppers off of plants no more than three feet tall. José told me about an impactful moment when he saw a woman faint on the job – “She unfortunately was dehydrated or something and in her 50s. She just collapsed...This lady was back the next morning. That’s when it helps you build character because you understand that even though these jobs are difficult, they [the workers] have a different mentality.

There’s no room to complain in their lives. They got a family to feed.

She’s responsible for someone at home. That’s when my respect really grew as a young guy for my parents and anybody out there.”

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Enter the Ring

José became Avenal’s claim to fame when he represented the United States in the 2012 Olympic Games and then turned professional that same year. In March of 2018, he won the WBC light welter-weight belt in Madison Square Garden. On September 14, 2018, I was ringside when he defended this title for the first time. I watched him enter with a large entourage and a powerful pro-immigrant message. His supporters wore “Pro-Immigrant and Proud” red hats – a direct response to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” hats. Chuy, Jr sang into the microphone a corrido about the boxer himself – Yo Soy José de Avenal (I am José from Avenal). When I asked José what the song means to him, he said, “It’s a reminder of where I come from and to be reminded that all the people from Michoacán are warriors. That’s again a reminder of my bloodline. A confirmation of my bloodline.”

José is using his platform to unite and mobilize people against xenophobia and anti-immigration politics. He is attempting to bring people together because he is well aware that Trump's tactics are to divide and conquer people.

His fans are responding. Harris Family Enterprises, a large farming business in the Central Valley, bought 80 tickets for their workers to attend the fight.

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"If I win, they all win."

"It's quite an honor for me to create that excitement, that unity between the fans that go out there and enjoy themselves in my boxing matches," José told me. "I hope a lot of people can relate to me. If I win, they all win.

The message is to remind them that they are someone. That they should be proud that they are immigrants and doing something positive."

His respect for the migrant workers who worked next to him in the fields stays with him as he boxes. He advocates for comprehensive immigration reform, supports an affordable plan for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and deferred action for undocumented parents. He has raised over $50,000 for the José Carlos Ramírez Scholarship, which gives preference to students who graduated from Avenal High School and participate in the College Assistance Migrant Program at Fresno State University.

José is only 26 years old and is currently undefeated with 23 wins and 16 knockouts. He feels the pressure to remain undefeated in order for his political message to remain strong, but worries about the physical risks of the sport.

“People just feel more comfortable when there’s a winner in front of them...I know that the momentum, coming from someone who is winning, the momentum is bigger. But I hope to remain the same person, win or lose. And I hope people see the good I’ve done and my intentions. At the end of the day, I do it because I believe it’s the right thing to do. I don’t do it to get credit or get awards.”

As a researcher of boxing, the ring entrance provides me with the opportunity to excavate these deeper stories that often remain unexplored and untold. I just hope that I always represent the fighters, who trust me with their intimate stories, in a just and humanized way.

Follow Rudy @boxingintellect and www.rudymondragon.com

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BASED ON A TRUE STORY

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I think i'm going to drop out of school and become a photographer .

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Not the End

Get out of your bubble and back on the streets . . .

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Not the End

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Photograph by Meredith M Howard