Huck Magazine - Smarteez

Huck Magazine asked me to submit a pick of the Smarteez for their 50th issue. Floyd Manotauna is part of the iconic Soweto based collective. I had a fresh shot for the story too, Floyd was one of the featured collaborators in the NOT X CS exhibition which recently showed at Wallplay New York and The MOAD in Johannesburg. 

Check out the article above. 

CT 2015

NOT X CS: INTRODUCING FLOYD MANOTANA

Over the past couple of weeks leading up to the NOT X CS exhibition in New York cities Wallplay gallery Another Africa have been posting a story a week on the collaborators involved in the project. This week they have introduced well known Sowetan street wear design Floyd Manotana AKA Floyd Avenue, I have documented him many times before this as he is one of the founding members of The Smarteez collective. 

Below is exert from the Another Africa article: 

'  Behind the veneer of fashion, well the business of it, we sometimes see the creative impetus. After all in a world saturated by clothes, what makes a designer pick up their sketch book?

For many a creator, an anthropological introspection is part of their habit and routine, though they’d hardly refer to is as such. They are likely to describe it as observing or seeing; it could be a small gesture, or a certain attitude they’ll say. However big or small, these details that often go unnoticed, are the very things that become the inspiration to create. And so fashioning fashion sometimes becomes a catalyst for the making of a new rhythm and self-imagining. ' See more on Floyd at http://www.anotherafrica.net/design/fashion/floyd-avenue

CT 2014

Street Style Johannesburg June 2012 - Spin.com

Spin magazine in the US recently commissioned me to shoot a street style photo series in Johannesburg. A great opportunity to explore whats happening in Winter fashion trends in South Africa. It is up on the  Spin magazine website, you can see the story at Spin.com 

Thanks to all the characters aswell as the Smarteez in Soweto and The Unicornz for helping hook things up, as well as looking good. 

CT 2012

Okmalumkoolkat, (Smiso Zwane), 27, Musician

Bogosi Sekhukhuni, 21, Visual Artists Student

Chipo Mapondera, 25, Fashion Publicist 

Christopher Wagner, 23, DJ 

Constance More, 20, Model

Floyd Avenue, 26, Designer & Stylist (The Smarteez)

Junia Tsekiso, 26, Stylist

Kepi Mngomezulu, 26, Fashion Designer (The Smarteez)

Kgomotso Dihutso, 17, Scholar (The Unicornz)

Kubelo Moleko, 23, Data Assistant

Lebogang Sedikwe, 20, Fashion Student

Lesego Sdizo, 21, Self Employed

Lethabo Tsatsinyane, 27, Fashion Designer & Taylor

Linda Kubheka, 17, Scholar

Louise Hilderbrand, 32, Creative Director 

Mandisi Lean, 22, Visual Artist

Manthe Ribane, 23, Dancer

Mohau Molope, 18, Scholar (The Unicornz)

Mosa Mphore, 24, CEO of an NGO

Mpfariseni, 23, Fine Artist / Illustrator 

Tshepo Mokoena, 18, Scholar (The Unicornz) 

Nolan Dennis, 24, Architecture Student 

Nutty Kgdoe, 18, Scholar (The Unicornz) 

Saidi Gondwe, 21, Part Time Photographer and Blogger 

Sandile Mhlongo, 18, Scholar (The Unicornz) 

Sibu Fdb, 28, Fashion Designer & DJ (The Smarteez)

Siya Ndzonga, 24, Aspiring Businessman 

Siyabonga, 20, Journalism 

Skhumbuzo Mefene, 24, Model 

Tshepiso van Wyk, 25, Fashion Designer

Teekay Makwale, 34, Stylist

Tyrel Roxolid, 24, Performing Artist

Zama Nthethwe, 23, Shop Assistant

The Smarteez & Friends, Jabulani Soweto.

The Unicornz, Doornfontein Johannesburg. 

Exhibition in Edinburgh Coming to a close

Last month I was asked to put together a collection of my work and exhibit it at The Institute in Edinburgh, this was all put together by the No Globe Collective, a group of young creative people from Edinburgh who believe that the arts should have no borders. The show was part of a mini festival with my exhibition opening the night before Spoek Mathambo performed. 

It was a resounding success and the exhibition will be open till the 10th of June. It includes a collection of my Photographs, from the Smarteez to the Panstula work shown last year in the S'Phara Phara exhibition and some of the new Rolling Stone work of Spoek Mathambo as seen in the poster above. 

If your there please check it out. 

Rolling Stone Magazine - Spoek Mathambo

I have been waiting to release this for months. My first cover of Rolling Stone magazine South Africa featuring Spoek Mathambo. The shoot was a collaboration between myself and The Smarteez. The Smarteez styled the shoot and we shot on location in Soweto.

' Songwriter? Surely in an era where God is a DJ once again (take a bow, Guetta) and the producer his son (stand up Skrillex), "songwriter" might seem like an old-fashioned, even anachronistic title to aspire to? Not for a sonic architect and rhythm scientist like Spoek, for whom songwriting remains the Holy Ghost, the key to resurrecting the poetics of the archive. A space where the sound, rhythm and temporality of digital "storage space" can be reworked until it yields dimensions of intimacy, beauty, even reality. For Spoek travelling the spaceways isnʼt some nostalgic impulse. Itʼs a presence. ' Miles Keylock - Rolling Stone Magazine Editor

Photography - Chris Saunders

Styling - The Smarteez

Photographic Assistant - MJ Turpin
Rolling Stone Story Written & Edited By - Miles Keylock
Rolling Stone Creative Director - Georgia Gardner

CT 2012