Zika Crowned

Would like #feedback as part of my #creative #art process

Music Video: Noir Thwasa

The protagonist is going through what is called in Xhosa, ukuthwasa, which some regard as a form of madness. This is when an individual is picked by their ancestors to be a medium between this seen, physical world and the unseen spiritual world. She is selected to become a diviner.

The story is simple. An urban African girl is experiencing "the calling" (ukuthwasa) and she attempts to deal with it the only way her in her modern context knows how. By drinking away her sorrows. Her resultant intoxication however does nothing to make her forget the visions and voices she is experiencing but rather exacerbate them and she goes on an other worldly trip where the lines of reality and her visions is blurred.

Conceived by Zika Crowned

Actor: Zika Crowned

Filmed by Cassandra Lobban

South Africa / Culture / Music / Red Bull Studios / Little Dragon

Little Dragon Touch Down in SA

After what seemed like a long wait, Swedish Electronic Pop act Little Dragon has finally landed on South African soil.  In collaboration with Red Bull Studios Cape Town, the band is set thrill the masses with their catchy and progressive sound.

Cape Town (South Africa) - Following a one-year break to record in their home studio in Gothenberg and straight off a European tour, Little Dragon have disembarked on our shores for a local two-city tour that will start in Cape Town at the Founders Garden on the16th of October and move to Carfax in Johannesburg on the 17th of October 2015.

Little Dragon will be joined on stage by some of SA’s most talented local artists. Card on Spokes will collaborate with jazz-soul-funk singers Bonj Mpanza and Nonku Phiri as well as jazz keyboardist Bokani Dyer for a truly mystic musical experience.  The lineup will also see Red Bull Music Academy Alumnus King Bruce and his classic deep house sound as well as Leeu featuring Lazarus Man.

Shane Cooper aka Card on Spokes has been preparing extensively for the tour: ”My set is going to comprise of the material on my most recent EP, Sunwalker as well as a bunch of unreleased material with Bonj and Nonku.”  

Tickets are available at Webtickets.

RED BULL STUDIOS CAPE TOWN:

The Red Bull Studios Cape Town is one of 10 in the Red Bull Studios global network, which include studios in London, New York and Sao Paulo. Established in 2005, the Red Bull Studios Cape Town aim to be a platform for growth in the ultra dynamic South African music scene.

Nestled in the heart of the mother city, Cape Town, it’s the perfect space to explore the local musical potential. The studios house fully-fledged recording studios that can accommodate everything from a full live band recording to an intimate DJ/producer session working with unknown up-and-coming talent to already established artists.

Having seen the like of artists such as Khuli Chana, Black Coffee, Sibot and Das Kapital record and produce in the facility, the Red Bull Studios Cape Town have also hosted workshops by formidable names in the international music business – Steve Aoki, Public Enemy and Colin Greenwood (Radiohead) to name but a few. Over the years the Red Bull Studios have curated stages at some of the country's finest festivals and venues including Oppikoppi, Rocking the Daisies, Synergy Live and Earthdance.

I am looking soooo forward to covering this event

Little Dragon has my heart

Future Afro Movement Event Microsite Animation

Melanite Logo Design

Work done by Zika Crowned

This is a logo I designed for my start up fashion consultancy

Check the brand here

https://www.facebook.com/melanitestyle

Culture Curator

This in app design to help formalise the informal trading industry in South Africa and help to give vendors exposure

Work by Zika Crowned

Culture Curator is an African continent specific, travel experience app with two distinct users who would be connected through the use of the app. There is the consumer named the Curious Curator and the vendor who has been named the Culture Creator. The Culture Creator would be the main generators of the content of the app and the Curious Curator would be able to be specifically guided to the information they are interested in. There is more control for the consumer of their travel experience and an opportunity for business development and self branding for the vendor.

The concept of the app takes the consumer out of the position of being the ignorant buyer, neither knowing the authenticity of the goods they are purchasing or sensitively wishing to learn about a culture they don't fully understand. The vendor would get to build their business and differentiate themselves from their peers, through a more personable approach, something which is particularly African.  Where one gets to engage more with the human who is providing them with a service as opposed to just getting what you want from a vending machine.

Urban Decay Campaign Poster 

targeted at drag queens

Work by Zika Crowned

Urban Decay Cosmetics is an alternative make up brand based in the USA. This is reflected in the brand tagline, beauty with an edge. Their brand story talks about how they saw a gap in the market to provide an alternative to red, pink and beige, colours that were and still do completely dominate the make up industry. It is a brand that is for the girl who is not afraid to stand out, in fact she wants to, her beauty is on her own terms and does not have to fit into a traditional mould. They have branded themselves as a brand that is exciting and anti the status quo, with product names such as Smog, Kush, Roach and Pulp Fiction. Inspired by the urban world, they are not afraid of what is considered ugly, counter the norm or not glamorous and this is revolutionary as a make up brand.

They lack of fear for controversy is what I had in mind when coming up with a concept for the print ad campaign. Looking at alternative forms of beauty, the one that stuck out for me the most was drag queens. With shows such as Ru Paul's Drag Race, where even though men dressing up as women is taboo in the conservative world, it is something that is becoming more established in the mainstream. This phenomenon is that something that resonates strongly with Urban Decay as something alternative and counter culture. It is also an opportunity to show the sheer versatility of the product range and its transformative powers, on both a surface level and in terms of the internal process of transformation. Make up is often advertised as something that covers up imperfections. By doing a print ad campaign showing how men have completely changed their look, hence reflecting what is already inside and often concealed by traditional masculinity, it talks to how the brand is something that can benefit the user by giving them the power to become who they really are inside, no matter the skin or body they were born. It also gives the permission to the user to not hide their true selves.