AFRO-PORTRAITISM: EXHIBITION

Art by Nxsh (Instagram: @nxsh), Afro-portraitism April, 2017

Hey Guys, Steph here again. A couple weeks ago I went for this exhibition at the Republic Gallery in East London and it was a one of kind exhibition. Artist, Designer and Curator, Hamed Maiye ( Instagram: @mai_ye) coined the term, "Afro-portraitism" for an art movement that captures black people in their various identities. It's a movement for black people by black people *cues F.U.B.U.* Maiye also happened to curate this exhibition which he also his work in and as you can imagine it was called "Afro-portraitism". It was an incredibly inspiring show with amazing energy in the gallery space and the works on display felt very introspective and self-reflective.

MENTAL HEALTH IN FILM.

Kirtsen Dunst, Melancholia 2011, Lars Von Trier

Hey guys, Steph here. So in light of being in a very rocky place with my mental health, I've decided to look a little into the representation of mental health in films. I'm trying to break this into two extremes but I don't think my examples are extreme enough. But personally speaking, up until about 2015 films and media in general shaped my ideas of what being mentally ill meant so my ideas of mentally ill people were either people who were criminally insane or people who were suicidal, which while yes both are true it's not all that's there. I'll be giving examples of films that shaped the aforementioned mindset and ones along with a lot of memes that reshaped my thinking. Oh and happy Mental Health Awareness month, isn't May awesome? (p.s. my birthday is on Wednesday so send gifts :*).

BROODING BOYZ

Hi all, Steph here. So a while ago I promised (debatable) y'all a review of one of my fav films Moonlight (dir. by Barry Jenkins) buttttttt, uni has got your girl down so I don't have time to do a detailed and proper review. If you didn't know already, a lot of the themes present in Moonlight revolve around black male intimacy, masculinity and sexuality. So while you wait I'd like to share a couple other artists in the mix that recapture the image of black men in contrast to the stereotypical representation we usually get.



1) IGGYLDN "BLACK BOYS DONT CRY":
IGGYLDN is a spoken word artist who came together with a creative collective to create visuals to his piece titled, "Black Boys Don't Cry", which as you can imagine from the title addresses the masculinity ideals attached to being a black man. watch below.

GTK (LONG DISTANCE): TOBELLIOT

Hey, guys! Steph here. Eme and I are excited to introduce a new sub-section to our interview category "Get To Know". This new sub is called "Long Distance", here we will interview some of our fav artists that we are not able to contact in person, via facetime or skype so that we can still delve into their minds! I mean it's the 21st century so why the blip not.

Our first interviewee is the illustrator, Tobelliot who currently lives in Massachusetts, USA. I sat down with him we had a lovely virtual conversation about his art, movies, life and sushi I hope you enjoy this. Disclaimer: Strong language is used *a lot*.

FRAGMENTS X IBRAHIM MAHAMA

So I thought I'd share a trip I took a while back to White Cube gallery to have a look at an exhibition by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama (West African gang whoop whoop).  The exhibition was largely installations which touched on themes of migration, globalisation as well as economic exchange. The exhibition is inspired by a book by the artist, also titled "Fragments" which explores the atmosphere in newly independent Ghana particularly in reference to materialism and corruption. He explores themes of capitalism and production contrasted with decay and disintegration. Through out his exhibiton, Mahama explores potential and hardship through materials and their traces- using them for some other purpose in order to convey a positive outlook on the future of Ghana.

Non Orientable Nkansa

MY A-LEVEL SKETCHBOOK: Part One.

Hey Guys, Eme here! Just thought for today's post I would share some pages from my Art & Design A-level sketchbooks! I have about 5 sketchbooks over the span of two years of a-levels, so I thought I would turn it into a little series

Note: I show mostly the introductory pages before I had picked my Unit 1 topic. The theme I ended up choosing was African Art which you see a bit of at the very end. I didn't love where I went with it hence why I chose to exclude the rest of the sketchbook from the video. I've just included pages which I thought would be nice to talk about. (If you'd prefer the next video to be more detailed on the developing theme then let me know in the comments!)

Also in case anyone was wondering,  I got an A* at a-level art. I admit my skill wasn't that great at the time but I think getting that grade was largely to do with loads of experimentation, not being afraid to try new things and fail and succeed either way! If you're an A-level student needing some tips I'd be happy to help!


Enjoy xx

DAVINCI THE EASTER BUNNY

Hello all, Steph here, and happy Easter Sunday, Christ is risen and that yeah. So for an easter special, we are discussing the man that has shaped your idea of the last supper, my main man, Leonardo DaVinci. While technically or biblically speaking the last supper falls on Good Friday (I think) we still want to talk about this iconic piece of art. I'm unashamedly obsessed with Leonardo DaVinci, he was a man ahead of his time. It is his wittiness and fearlessness that sparked my interest in renaissance art and art history, especially after reading 'The DaVinci Code' by Dan Brown (p.s. if you haven't read this book what are you doing with your life, at least watch the movie, but the book is better okay I'm done). So shall we get right into it, oh and possible The DaVinci Code spoilers ahead:

The Last Supper, 1495-1498, tempera on gesso, pitch, and mastic. Leonardo Davinci. Currently located atSanta Maria delle Grazie, Milan.

Okay so let's discuss this, the significance of the Last Supper. As the name implies it was the last supper before Jesus was gonna be crucified, you know when Judas would kiss him and tha po-po was gonna pick him up and take him out. Obviously, the rest of the disciples didn't know this so it was Jesus' opportunity to give them a sort of farewell and be good to church. So they drank wine and broke bread to commemorate the Passover (oh btw it was the feast of the Passover, it's a Jewish celebration, look it up). In the account of the Bible, there was only one cup (chalice) which Jesus anointed as the cup with his blood and which he passed around to his disciples to drink from (but when you read the passage(s) it's definitely open to interpretation), and here's where controversy 1 comes in and how DaVinci put you on an easter egg hunt and you didn't even know it: