In case you missed it we present to you the July/August 2009 issue of Italian architecture and design magazine, Domus. For your inspiration we found this awesome spread of African illustration spearheaded by South African design agency, The President. The illustrations done by Hannes Bernard were inspired by Dutch wax fabric. Enjoy!

Andrew Footit is a self taught designer from South Africa. In many ways Footit is the ultimate African digital artist with modern design concepts and a wide range of digital projects. His work is dynamic and colorful. As usual we believe that his work should speak for itself. Enjoy!

The 31st Durban International Film Festival starts July 22nd to August 1st. Of the slew of thrilling and thought provoking films from all over the globe, I wanted to highlight two trailers among the list of movies showing in the festival.

“Life Above All” by Oliver Schmitz, is based on the international award winning novel “Chanda’s Secrets” by Allan Stratton. The film is an emotional drama about a young girl (first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. The film captures her enduring strength of loyalty and a courage powered by the heart.

The other film I was enthralled with is “A Small Town Called Descent” by first time feature director Jahmil XT Qubekas. The plot takes place somewhere in a remote part of South Africa where heinous crime is committed. Against the backdrop of Xenophobic riots that have swept across the country two Zimbabwean brothers along with a local girl are brutally attacked. Three investigators form the elite crime fighting unit known as the Scorpions are deployed to A Small Town Called Descent. Their mandate is clear; uncover the truth. However, are they the right men for the job? This film picks on some true events that happened In May 2008 (in a series of riots left 62 people dead; although 21 of those killed were South African citizens). It also builds up fictional characters who investigate these crimes and try and tackle the case.
The film director gives a brief interview after his trailer (see above) about his process and reasons behind writing and shooting the film.

Films that reveal a side of humanity which we often close blinds on, that touch on the mystery of human beings, question who we are and how we relate to each other when our friction buttons are pushed reveal incredible moments. See these films and others from film-makers in Tunisia, Kenya, Tanzania, England, Indian, China, France and numerous other countries.

Film poster designed by Disturbance Studio.

Film poster for Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom’ (The Unbelievable Adventures of Hanna Why) designed by Craig Hunter Parker.

I missed this little gem made a while before the world cup. Featuring heavily on the Black Stars (Ghana’s National Football Team), cameo shots from Samuel Eto’o and other African teams, Syrup a New York based agency, spear head its direction alongside their client PUMA. “Love = Football” was inspired by Pele’s last words in a speech before a final career game which drew 75,000 fans in New York. He left masses with these three words: “Love, Love, Love.” The culture of football unites a world audience with one thing they share in common, and this campaign makes this phrase “Love = Football” very fitting. With the World Cup just ended, this video seems a suitable nod or a hat tip to the games.
(Song: Going On by Gnarls Barkley)

Syrup are the same studio that were commissioned by PUMA to film, Of The Same Earth. The short features painter/artist Kehinde Wiley who created limited edition sneakers and African themed clothing for PUMA. Drawing from african print & sculpture for inspiration, the short chronicles his process. It also featured star footballers, John Mensah (Ghana), Emmanuel Eboué (Ivory Coast) and Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon) all wearing the PUMA Unity Kit designed to be won by all 12 African teams that PUMA sponsors.

“Stingo” means “style” but is an out-dated swahili slang word. Yet nothing is out dated with this experimental project of friends and photographer Jim Chuchu. Together with stylists Kepha Maina and Sunny Dolat, Producer, Lucille Kahara and Kangai Mwiti doing make up, plus a few good looking models, this team makes things look good! Hinging loosely on the sense of a fashion blog / workshop / experiment or I would add 20% free time. This productive exercise has taken off quite successfully with stylish low key black & white photographs, a few sexy attitude images and a mix of soft light photos.
Catch up on Jim Chuchu’s interview on DESIGN (A South Africa based Art & Design Magazine). Its available in digital form (pretty cool!). See Page 72

A few months ago a friend of mine, Kate Bomz told me about a creative project that would illustrate the streets  of Dar es Salaam. I recently discovered the sketches on one of my favorite creative blog’s Creative Roots. Here is a little more information about the project.

About the artist

Sarah Markes trained at Central St. Martins in London as an illustrator and graphic designer. She has lived in Dar es Salaam for the last seven years, working on an array of educational and creative projects.

Background

The project started with an interest in the older buildings of Dar es Salaam city centre, and a desire to capture some of their essence before they are all too rapidly demolished. As an artist and illustrator, I believe drawings can capture a different and sometimes more vibrant image than photographs. While the architecture creates the context, the vibrancy of Dar street life is a wonderful, rich and quirky realm all to itself. So the drawings have developed to include whole street scenes as well as portraits of street vendors, daladala’s, overloaded bicycles, sign art and much more.

‘Street level’ would like to be a forum for creative writing about Dar es Salaam. Short stories, poems, musings, even two line thoughts and interesting facts would be very gratefully received for consideration. Pieces could be inspired by the artwork or vice versa.

In honor of the world cup games, stonewall + created a cool world cup visualizer to catch up on the games, times and events of the FIFA World Cup 2010. You can try out the visualizer on Facebook. If you enjoy it don’t forget to ‘like it’.

For your inspiration we found this awesome ad campaign done by DDB, Maputo, Mozambique. The ad campaign was created for the Mozambique Fashion Week in 2009.

Found via Creative Roots

An animation for Vital Voices, an organisation working globally for women’s independence. This film tells the childhood story of Kakenya Ntaiya, a Masai woman who negotiated herself out of an arranged marriage and convinced her village to collect money for her to study in the USA. She has since returned to the village and built a girls’ school there. Directed by Aaron Kisner and Pistachios. Music by Dan Radlauer. Produced by Blacklist.

The piece chronicles the real-life and inspiring story of Kakenya Ntaiya: a young girl who —throughout her childhood— escaped dogmatic African traditions toward women by pursuing a higher education and fulfilling her dream of becoming a teacher.The style does not deviate too far the signature Pistachios aesthetic. The look is abstract, graphic, and sparse, which recalls the emblematic patterns and geometric taste of African design that has become globally acknowledged.

- Motiongrapher

On Thursday  & Friday night the world enjoyed a visual feast with the Fifa World Cup Opening World Cup Celebrations. As soon as I saw the first few moments of the celebration I had to find out who did the artwork and poster for the concert. It came to no surprise that the poster was done by none other than South African AMICOLLECTIVE. South Africa’s illustration house. As usual we let the images speak for themselves. Enjoy. Let us know what you enjoyed about the opening celebrations.