Art in Africa

Msanii - Screening

2008-11-16T01:44:00.002+03:00

What: Msanii - Screening
When: 12.30pm, Wednesday, 19th November (this Wednesday)
Where: Erskine College, 31 Avon St, Island Bay, Wellington
Who: Students, tutors, friends, family, sponsors, anyone.
How much: Free to all.

Please come along if you're interested in art, volunteering, Africa or just interested in a great story.

Branch Out Media Website Up

2008-08-24T11:59:00.004+03:00

I have recently been putting together a website for my company Branch Out Media Limited, it is coming together slowly but is now a working site. If anyone has any CSS or HTML tips for me (after they look at my hideous code) please feel free to share. It's growing all the time, and will be get more interactive as I learn more about web design. Feel free to check it out.

Kudra

2008-05-03T08:10:00.002+03:00

Kudra, an artist and chicken farmer talks with me about his business plan which involves selling artworks and using the profits to purchase young chickens to then sell in order to maintain a sustainable business

In the video Kudra makes an application for sponsorship to a potential business partner, to aide in building his business, so it can become self-sustainable and reach out to help other artists in the area. Kudra can be contacted at zillyman@yahoo.com or you can organise support through me

First Step

2008-03-12T15:46:00.006+03:00

So in a mad rush to make festival deadlines I've completed an offline final cut. Nat and I are frantically working on all the peripheral paraphernalia, press-kit, website, labels, cases, production stills and numerous other unforeseen obstacles, but it's nothing that a few late nights won't solve.

The film is called MSANII: ARTISTS OF BAGAMOYO and has, through the edit, moulded itself into a multi-plot doco following the stories of five different artists amongst other fleeting and interesting characters. Throughout the edit I have become even more enamored by the people and impressed by the depths of their stories, their openness and their talent.

Chado (Pangea Day Entry)

2008-02-21T06:40:00.002+03:00

Above is a short documentary piece, cut together from the documentary, about Chado, one of my students in Bagamoyo.

Day 97 Kibera

2007-12-28T10:32:00.000+03:00

This entry begins a few hours before I leave Tanzania for Kenya with a fellow volunteer Amy, who spent 6 months volunteering in Kibera at the beginning of the year.

Day 95 Christmas Wishes from Kibera

2007-12-25T12:38:00.000+03:00

The shift from Bagamoyo, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya 5 days ago has been considerable, quite apart from the 18 hour bus ride across the border. Nairobi is a City of extremes, Three out of our last four days have been spent walking into Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa, which holds over a million people.

This is the view from the School of Hope: an NGO School 25 minutes walk into Kibera. The teacher at the school, Gabby, is responsible for teaching over 88 students, and providing them with one meal every day, and even though we are visiting well into the “holiday” season, Gabby is still looking after close to 40 students. I am interviewing him this week in order to make a promotional video for the school to gain much needed financial support for this literally life saving project.

On the other side of the coin I also had my first real Matatu ride the other night. Now in theory a Matatu in Kenya is the same as a Dala Dala in Tanzania, a broken down minivan that holds up to about 30 people. But oh no, this Matatu was red and black with underlighting, mags, a spoiler, red interior lights and a black light that made my white shirt glow, not to mention two flat screen TVs playing music videos in synch with pumping hip hop through a pair of 8 inch subs - all for the grand fee of 25ksh or 50c (NZD) Weaving through scattered and disorganised cars into the city centre in the middle of the night was one of the highlights of my trip so far, my naki roots involuntarily showing through here.

As for departing Tanzania, I felt it was a good time to leave, with the year drawing to a close it felt like a natural break. And it was nice to think that some of the students will go on to become teachers in the new year. We spent the last week or so working on a large painting project together which reflected the perogative of the studio, about the plight of street children and practice of child labour, and the importance of education in breaking the cycle. We worked through every stage beginning with drawing the setting out at one of the villages markets called Magu Meni, which caught the interest of many of the children there, and was something I wished we had done from the start. We went right through to enlarging and finishing.

All the students got involved, and I felt it was a good end to the year and could potentially make for a good end to the documentary aswell. You can see the painting in progress in the previous vlog.

So Merry Christmas and I hope you are all well, I am looking forward to seeing you all again soon, only one week to go now.

Day 89 Final Project

2007-12-25T12:25:00.000+03:00

Above is a timelapse of a collaborative project with the students at AMAP. The painting is 11x3 feet and will be used to promote the school and bid for sponsorship at the student's exhibition early next year.

Day 82 Serious Manizzle

2007-12-25T12:13:00.000+03:00

So I've managed to complete the music video with a few days to go until I leave for Kenya. If you are interested in contacting the band you can visit the studio's website at www.baobabstudio.net

They are planning to release an album in the new year and I will be continuing to work with them to help get their music for sale over the net, if you're interested purchasing the album I'll continue to post details about the progress made and how you can get a copy.

Day 72 Iringa

2007-12-23T17:14:00.000+03:00

Travelling to Iringa to visit an arts program for people with diabilities called "Neema Crafts"

Day 65 Kondoa

2007-12-12T10:26:00.000+03:00

Day 50

2007-11-22T07:47:00.000+03:00

The Serious Manizzle pulled together a blinding performance for the shoot the weekend before last when we shot their first music video. Unfortunately, lacking the ability to be in two places at once, I was unable to shoot both the video and the “making of” the video which could have been quite a fun doco in itself. Though with some quick “to camera” sections, some outtakes and a sneak peak at the edit in progress you might get an idea of what it was like to shoot a music video in Africa. With no occupational safety and health authority to speak of, the serious men performed from a converted motorbike taxi for about 4 hours, don’t ask me how they managed to stay on… oh wait…

I'll be sure to post the completed video when it is finished, and hopefully try to get it screened in New Zealand!

Day 44

2007-11-06T20:40:00.000+03:00

This interview was filmed during the festival as part of a video workshop I was running with the students at the Chuo Cha Sanaa College. We worked through scripting, interviewing, shooting, editing and uploading. All the footage was filmed by the stidents.

Day 39

2007-11-03T18:42:00.000+03:00

Big Drys and Tsotsi Flies

2007-10-31T09:15:00.000+03:00

The water is out again, I am left with no clean clothes, and my bottle of Lynx “Africa” deodorant is dwindling. I am resorting to using excess insect repellent to mask the body odour. No one likes the smell of deet but at least it’s idenifiable…

My dirty feet.

Before we left for Safari some of the volunteers felt they should warn us about the “deadly” Tsotsi Fly, which is attracted to moving vehicles, and is in abundant numbers in East African Safari parks. So after an (always) hairy ride through the African countryside our driver Jacob (or Jacko, as we were all, at the time, mistakenly calling him) pulls up at the check in desk and I feel a sting on my ankle. I look down to see a large fly perched on my ankle seemingly unphased by my shocked reaction. “What the fuck is that?” I politely ask Jacob who laughs and replies “Yes, that is a Susi Fly”. Not quite relieved by his amused reply, I seek clarification “a WHAT fly?”.

“That is the Tsotsi fly”.

Jacob continued to attempt to alleviate my stress by saying things like “no, it doesn’t kill you… straight away”. Eventually, I managed to get out of him, after making myself nausious psychologically, that the Tsotsi fly is only a danger with prolonged exposure and a weak immune system, so some healthy westerner loaded up on immunisations and antibiotics should be able to handle a bite or two.

Other highlights of the Safari were, taking a leak in the open park looking frantically over my shoulders as I tried to drop a litre in record time. Finding a beautiful black centipede in the undergrowth, a courting process between lions, complete with commentary from Caitlin, and the animals in general were nice.

The documentary is beginning to take shape now with some key characters revealing themselves. One of the members of “Present is Absent” (a local music group) described himself as "multi-purpose", which, despite the charmingly broken translation, sums up the approach to creativity here in Bagamoyo. If you meet a drummer he’s not just a drummer, he’s a painter, sculptor, soccer player, and guitar tutor. If you meet a dancer she’s bound to run a stall at the market, study law and make a mean kanga.

The Chuo Cha Sanaa arts festival last week was a great opportunity to see some of the locals I have met performing with an audience. I focused mainly on people from the area so that I can follow up later with interviews and construct a story - the best footage I have so far has come from personal relationships, impromptu visits and local settings. The turn out of visual art at the festival was a little disappointing, the same mass-produced tingatingas and Masai heads that you can find anywhere in Bagamoyo or Dar. This is fine though, the documentary seems to moving more towards the personality and creative approach of the people here rather than the final product.

Art plays a very central role here, especially in Bagamoyo, and is actually a viable career, which is more than can be said for many places in the west. Paintings or sculptures that take a week or two to complete may sell for around tsh100,000 (about NZ$100) which will keep someone fed and clothed for up to 3months. So I am really interested in building the student’s skill levels to the point where they can make a this kind of sustainable living from selling artworks.

Watakuona meme baadaye kidogo (you will see me again soon)

Day 25

2007-10-19T23:20:00.000+03:00

On Wednesday on the way back from work I ran into Matiga, our neighbour and local musician and asked if I could film him playing one day. He immediately took me to a small collection of houses where he and some other musos jammed for me. The video is a quick edit of one of the songs. I plan to use some of the music in the doco, and go into the role of music in the cultural and artistic landscape of Bagamoyo.

Day 20

2007-10-14T14:24:00.000+03:00

The budding video editor towards the end is Hansi, the son of the Elisa the maid. He is this cute at all times, I'm getting him to give me dancing, drumming and swahili lessons.

Day 15

2007-10-09T13:52:00.000+03:00

As part of the documentary filming I am trying to pull together some sound-bytes about Zukri, the volunteer organisation. Amy is one of the other volunteers, and in this segment she talks about three boys that she is looking after during her 6 month placement.

Day 13

2007-10-08T20:31:00.000+03:00

Apparently regular blogs might be a stretch, the internet has been down here for the last four days, but hey, this is Africa. So it is two weeks since I left New Zealand, I am starting to look at Bagamoyo with familiarity now and have to remind myself to film those things that seemed so new and different to me in the first couple of days. I have found many subjects for the documentary, and have begun shooting interviews this week.

Regarding my own art practice I am being courted for portraits by patrons of the bar opposite my flat, so there is no shortage of subjects. One subject I will paint is Asma, a daughter of Saidi, and possibly the most beautiful child imaginable.

Saidi has a good bunch of students at the African Modern Arts Park (AMAP). Everyone is different and has a different approach but all are keen to learn to master drawing and painting. It has been two months since their last volunteer and it looks as though they are rediscovering some skills that they developed then, they all seem to be on a steep “learning curve”, and I plan to keep up the momentum.

Day 6

2007-09-29T13:16:00.000+03:00

Day 1

2007-09-26T20:55:00.000+03:00

A make-do first blog, due to some baggage "complications". All sorted now though, and I have some new pics already for the next blog.

Tanzania Vlog 16

2007-09-17T00:09:00.000+03:00

This weekend I am having a play with some sample masks sent to me to try out for a class while I'm in Africa, turned out to be an interesting problem-solving activity. Check out their website if you're interested in these masks for youself, here: Maskworx

Tanzania Vlog 15

2007-09-13T23:51:00.000+03:00

If you'd like to check out idn or John Badcock's site, just click the links.

Tanzania Vlog 14

2007-09-13T06:37:00.000+03:00

This one is for die hard fans only folks, picture me reading broken Swahili from a piece of refill for four minutes on the subject of art, form, context and originality. Not for the faint hearted, or the short of attention span.

And anyone out there that might speak some Swahili, please feel free to correct me on my numerous mistakes, mispronunciations and inaccuracies. And for those of you english speakers out there, I have no interest in your feedback regarding the the art-wank I am spouting, I very rarely spout art-wank and when I do one quickly learns why I do so rarely.

Tanzania Vlog 13

2007-09-09T10:45:00.000+03:00