BODEGA BLUES

Portland, OR 2019.

Life in Violet, Tizta Berhanu, 2018

Very Rare

King Alphonso, 1983, Jean-Michel Basquiat

Johannesburg, South Africa.

The start of my African journey started in the capital. The city has the most contrast of anywhere I went in Africa and it certainly felt the most alive, the youth are driving change.

Township Funk

Township Funk is an ongoing curated fashion editorial series exploring youth street culture in South Africa’s underdeveloped racially segregated urban areas.

A post-apartheid documentation of a newly found urge for expression. Contrasting the traumatic history of the location is a newly found enthusiasm to strive for more. 

Inspired by DJ Mujava’s 2008 hit single “Township Funk” these images seek to embrace the influx of information via social media and the internet at large, which has meant that young people now have a wide variety of aesthetics to choose from while avoidingstereotypes. 

Photography & Creative Directions: @bambathajones

Styling: Sindi Mlangeni

Model: Ntate Phakela