Drum Magazine Issue 5 | Page 53

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26/7/05

7:04 pm

Page 51

Drum: ENTERPRISE 51
1

” It isn’t hard to trace our genealogy. Starting
in the 60s, the young, gifted and broke left
Africa in pursuit of higher education.”

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African. Where our parents sought safety in traditional
professions like doctoring, lawyering, banking, engineering,
we are branching into fields like media, politics, music, venture
capital and design. Nor are we shy about expressing our
African influences (such as they are) in our work. Artists
like Keziah Jones, Trace founder/editor Claude Gruzintsky,
architect David Adjaye and novelist Diran Adebayo exemplify
what Gruzintsky has called the ‘21st Century African.’ What
distinguishes this lot and its like (in the West and at home)
is a willingness to complicate Africa – namely, to engage
with, critique, and celebrate the parts of Africa that mean
most to them. Perhaps what most typifies the Afropolitan
consciousness is this refusal to oversimplify; the effort to
understand what is ailing in Africa alongside the desire to
honor what is uniquely wonderful. Rather than essentialising
the geographical entity, we seek to comprehend its cultural
complexity; to honor its intellectual and spiritual legacies;
to sustain our parents’ values.

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1. Rap artist MC Solaar 2. College de la Sagesse by
Cherie Samba, Courtesy of The Jean Pigozzi Collection
© the artist 3. Kunhinga Portraits by Guy Tillim. Courtesy
of Michael Stevenson Contemporary, © the artist 4. Down
by the River by Ingrid Mwangi © the artist

South African marketing magician Refiloe Hoohlo is a case
in point. Trained in marketing and married to a Trinidadian,
Hoohlo has developed Ethnic Fusion, a collective of London
fashion designers toying with indigenous themes. Ethnic
Fusion is Afropolitanism at its best: funky clothing that
plays both with African aesthetics (e.g. batik-trimmed Alines) and Western assignations (e.g. a T-shirt line called
‘Native’). But ask Hoohlo what Ethnic Fusion stands for,
and her tone is far from playful. “Quality,” she says quickly,
sipping her wine. “Ethnic Fusion is about quality.” We are
taking a break at Iron Bar after some reconnaissance in
Portobello Market. Apparently, Afropolitans aren’t the only
ones wearing Afropolitan clothing; African influences are
everywhere. Portobello-based P-Kai (a Japanese artist)
makes a killing off batik handbags; designer Anisa Johnny’s
‘Africa’ line debuted at Topshop last summer.
Nor do designers like Hoohlo or Johnny apologise for their
‘mainstream’ success. By demanding that Africa-themed
clothing exceed Western fashion standards, the designers recast African art as art. »