This month 35 years ago, South African death squads ended the life and career of artist and activist Thami Mnyele. Since 1990, an Amsterdam artists residence welcomed 127 African artists in his honour. ‘I liked him from my very first meeting. He had vision, was talented and skilled. A great organizer and fundraiser. In 1982 in Botswana he set up the most important artist's conference South Africans has ever held. For the first time, they discussed their future, without their skin colour playing a...
This month 35 years ago, South African death squads ended the life and career of artist and activist Thami Mnyele. Since 1990, an Amsterdam artists...
Kirvan Fortuin was murdered on Friday 12 June, 2020, in Macassar, near Cape Town. On her Facebook page, Artscape CEO Marlene le Roux wrote: ‘Kirvan, beautiful son of Macassar, you left us too soon. We lost a talented artist, a voice of vigor. Against all odds you challenged stereotypes in South Africa, also as an advocate of gay rights. You defied all odds, son of Macassar and became a world renowned dancer and choreographer. My beautiful son you left to soon’. Kirvan Fortuin is the recipient of...
Kirvan Fortuin was murdered on Friday 12 June, 2020, in Macassar, near Cape Town. On her Facebook page, Artscape CEO Marlene le Roux wrote: ‘Kirvan,...
Dutch documentary filmmaker and journalist Serginho Roosblad follows Jonathan Calm's search into America's past and present. Calm, a photographer and professor at Stanford University currently photographs all so-called ‘Green Book’ locations in the US. The Negro Motorist Green-Book was a travel guide published between 1936 and 1966. The book listed locations such as gas stations, motels, garages and roadside restaurants where African-American travellers were welcome at the time of the official...
Dutch documentary filmmaker and journalist Serginho Roosblad follows Jonathan Calm's search into America's past and present. Calm, a photographer and...
It’s been exactly five years since Juul van der Laan’s documentary Multiverse Ghana premiered. This is a wonderful anniversary to celebrate. ZAM Magazine and Juul van der Laan have teamed up to offer you a chance to watch Multiverse Ghana for free for the next month (ending 23 August 2020). Multiverse Ghana introduces you to a wealth of scientific insight and experiences, as well as the obstacles obstructing academic growth in a country that has produced one of the world's greatest scientific...
It’s been exactly five years since Juul van der Laan’s documentary Multiverse Ghana premiered. This is a wonderful anniversary to celebrate. ZAM Magazine...
Since December of last year, the Moroccan artist Adam Belarouchia has been a resident at the Thami Mnyele artist studio in Amsterdam – much longer than expected, since all the flights home were cancelled. This is a portrait of a young artist, who gets his inspiration from the streets of Rabat. It is a powerful image. Thami Mnyele, painted in black and red, with a halo of eleven holes around his head. Moroccan artist Adam Belarouchia (26) reveals his work in the Amsterdam studio where has been...
Since December of last year, the Moroccan artist Adam Belarouchia has been a resident at the Thami Mnyele artist studio in Amsterdam – much longer than...
The work of Nigerian artist Abdulrazaq Awofeso is the main attraction of the exhibition City Life in the Dutch city of Arnhem. Two thousand small faces to tell you that one shouldn’t generalise. At nearly 650 years old, it is the oldest church in Arnhem, an important Dutch town near the German border. But the Sint-Walburgiskerk no longer serves as house of prayer. Instead, it is a sanctuary for art. The Arnhem Museum, currently under renovation, makes temporary use of ‘De Kerk’ for its exhibitions....
The work of Nigerian artist Abdulrazaq Awofeso is the main attraction of the exhibition City Life in the Dutch city of Arnhem. Two thousand small faces...
Shortly before the inaugural ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture started, an iconic picture of the South African freedom fighter and statesman found its way to the stage of the Amsterdam City Theatre. It was shot by George Hallett, who died in Cape Town on July 1 st 2020. ‘You asked if I had an idea for a background image with the lecture’, said Sisonke Msimang on the morning of the lecture. It is February 10, 2019, just hours before this South African writer will deliver her lecture. The title: Rescuing...
Shortly before the inaugural ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture started, an iconic picture of the South African freedom fighter and statesman found its way to...
A fashion book by transgender sex workers from Cape Town. Life on the edge of the Castle of Good Hope. At a concert in New York, Coco meets Lady Gaga. She would like to appear out of an egg, and would also like to be the flame in the Statue of Liberty’s torch. She dreams that Lady Gaga will understand this vision, adopt her as her muse and become inspired to write a song titled The Flame of Liberty . Coco is a member of SistaazHood, an organisation that was established by Netta Marcus and Cym van...
A fashion book by transgender sex workers from Cape Town. Life on the edge of the Castle of Good Hope. At a concert in New York, Coco meets Lady Gaga....
The 'Terrible Ones', those young Angolans who collaborated with Apartheid South Africa during its border wars, re-enact the Biblical story of Judas. In its 'border wars' with neighbouring countries, Apartheid South Africa recruited young Angolans to fight against the black population. After all these wars were lost, the so-called 'Terrible Ones' live in Pomfret, a deserted village in South Africa. In the feature film Lamentations of Judas the late filmmaker Boris Gerrets revisits the tragic story...
The 'Terrible Ones', those young Angolans who collaborated with Apartheid South Africa during its border wars, re-enact the Biblical story of Judas. In...
'Suddenly I turned out to be black. Yes, I knew but after moving to Arnhem (The Netherlands) I got reminded of my skin colour all the time'. In her Dutch production Stamboom Monologen , actress Joy Delima explores her growing awareness of racism and exclusion. In this soli, presently on stage in the International Theatre Amsterdam, Delima interrogates her experiences as a young, black women in the Netherlands in a series of short, personal and sometimes hilareous monologues. Watch a preview here....
'Suddenly I turned out to be black. Yes, I knew but after moving to Arnhem (The Netherlands) I got reminded of my skin colour all the time'. In her Dutch...
Internationally acclaimed South African dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma has managed to continue paying the 20+ dancers and staff of his Vuyani Dance Company in Johannesburg for four very long months of corona lockdown. He intends to continue doing so but he needs our support. Maqoma and his company have impressed audiences worldwide, most recently at the ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture on March 1st in Amsterdam. It's difficult to imagine a future without the energy and inspiration of this great...
Internationally acclaimed South African dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma has managed to continue paying the 20+ dancers and staff of his Vuyani...
Images from Mozambique, the DRC and Angola offer the viewer a window from which to observe the brick-and-mortar residue left by the collapse of regimes. Preview the exhibition here .
Images from Mozambique, the DRC and Angola offer the viewer a window from which to observe the brick-and-mortar residue left by the collapse of regimes....
From the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing to the International Booker Prize to Pride Photo Award. Winner of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing On July 27, 2020, the prize was awarded to Nigerian-British writer Irenosen Okojie for her story 'Grace Jones', from her recent short story collection, Nudibranch , published by Dialogue Books in 2019. A brilliant and moving story, the judges – Kenneth Tharp (Chair), James Murua, Gabriel Gbadamosi, Ebissé Rouw, and Audrey Brown – described 'Grace...
From the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing to the International Booker Prize to Pride Photo Award. Winner of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing On...
One of my ambivalent pleasures is visiting museums in African countries. There is a sad side to it. Maintenance could often be better. The dust on floors and in showcases creates an atmosphere resonant with the streets outside. A visit is made even more enjoyable if a class of school children is also on tour. The collections seem hardly changed since independence. In national museums, you find amazing objects, but more striking is the absence of the truly great traditional art—the masterpieces that...
One of my ambivalent pleasures is visiting museums in African countries. There is a sad side to it. Maintenance could often be better. The dust on floors...
Nimbe is an anti-narcotic frontier film recently released on Netfilx. It exposes the country's moral and social anarchy. In 2019, when the Nigerian Afro-pop artist, Olamide Adedeji, released his song ‘Science Students’, it generated a galling public reception and attracted the State’s legislation: the video was banned. Whatever position one takes, there is an obvious point that the narcotic surge in the last decade is a symptom of social failure of postcolonial Nigeria, where more than 14 million...
Nimbe is an anti-narcotic frontier film recently released on Netfilx. It exposes the country's moral and social anarchy. In 2019, when the Nigerian...
In Future for the Past , Sites of Memory founders Jennifer Tosch and Katy Streek bring together artists from both countries. Join the musicians, poets, visual and performing artists chewing on a shared history of colonial oppression. During this interactive walking tour, live performances will intersect with 360 degree video and audio segments to be followed on a tablet provided to the audiences. Future to the Past will take you along a range of historical sites in the city. You will experience how...
In Future for the Past , Sites of Memory founders Jennifer Tosch and Katy Streek bring together artists from both countries. Join the musicians, poets,...
‘We have become more of who we are because governments all around the world are showing us exactly who they are’.—Chuma Sopotela (Performance Artist & Theatre Practitioner) Since the fall of Apartheid in 1990, South Africa’s arts sector has been recognized worldwide for its vast and revolutionary talent, fueled with a well-pronounced history of activism to fight the many inequalities in its society. South Africa, and more specifically, Johannesburg, is the African continent’s economic hub. It is...
‘We have become more of who we are because governments all around the world are showing us exactly who they are’.—Chuma Sopotela (Performance Artist &...
This year's edition of the annual Afro_Vibes festival has it all. It's not only corona-proof — performances on stages for limited audiences as well as live streaming online — the dance and music productions will take you to Senegal, Uganda, Tunisia, Ghana, the Netherlands and South-Africa. The theme of the festival is both intriguing and well-chosen. 'Entanglements' will connect the inseparable - the worlds, the countries, the cultures and the people. ‘There is an unstoppable entanglement that...
This year's edition of the annual Afro_Vibes festival has it all. It's not only corona-proof — performances on stages for limited audiences as well as...
The CAP Prize is the international Prize for Contemporary African Photography awarded annually since 2012 to five photographers who's works were created on the African continent or which engages with the Africa diaspora. The winners of the 9th annual CAP Prize are: Cesar Dezfuli, Spain Rahima Gambo, Nigeria M'hammed Kilito, Morocco Gosette Lubondo, Congo Ismail Zaidy, Morocco
The CAP Prize is the international Prize for Contemporary African Photography awarded annually since 2012 to five photographers who's works were created...
In recent years a great number of movies have come out in South Africa which have centred on the concept of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the still very macho and patriarchal South African society. For example, the captivating and mesmerizing movie The Wound (2017) by director John Trengove, starring Nakhane Mahlakahlaka, dealt with issues of tradition, modernity and masculinity. The movie Skoonheid (2011) narrated the secret double lives of gay men amidst staggering homophobia....
In recent years a great number of movies have come out in South Africa which have centred on the concept of masculinity and what it means to be a man in...
Can you put your own interests aside and really fight for a better world in the interest of future generations, or is it easier if you imagine yourself to be part of that unknown future? In her essay 'What if We’re All Coming Back?' in The New York Times of October 2018, human rights lawyer Michelle Alexander tries to imagine the world you would end up in if you were to reincarnate at a random place and under random circumstances. Her essay forms the basis of the exhibition. Out of this thought...
Can you put your own interests aside and really fight for a better world in the interest of future generations, or is it easier if you imagine yourself...
