Well I have about 5 days before I finish my studies at Camberwell College... It's been really good. With the end of one thing comes the birth of another... So at the 90th post of this, my blog is stopping... not forever... I just have a new website and new blog, where I will hopefully sound like I know what I am doing this time, and perhaps a bit wiser... much bigger and better projects coming as well... We are nearly finished our first film, wesharethesamesun which I'm really excited about... it's a truly cross continent collaboration... there is also new big project I'll be starting soon as well, which I'm pretty excited about... it's all about heroes in this world... the new website has a shop too, so please by all means, go and buy some of my stuff man dayum! T Shirts, Prints/etc... all sorts happening... for now, go to the new website...come to the shows... and drop me a line to say hello in my new home...



I wrote this manifesto out last August in Cape Town... i'm not sure if it reads, but i was trying to get my head around something at the time ... I cant exactly explain the fort rixon concept yet... its been brewing in my head since i was hospitalized two years ago... one day it'll make sense... but for now it's just got to take some sort of shape gently and slowly...

Eyes Sharp, Hand Steady, Heart Strong.


www.fortrixon.com

WeSharetheSameSun: a Trailer...

Some stills of the work in progress...

Put together by the incredible Benjamin Kaufman... here's a trailer of what is too come...

Still in the editing process, then to grade then it'll be ready...

It is essentially a film that makes a comment about the problem of Xenophobia in South Africa which has sprouted up in the last few years. Something that is very close to my heart as I am one of many poster boys of born free migration... Very excited about this film. Hoping for the best... Using words to be the difference...

HOSH: Research...

HOSH... If youre from Cape Town, I need not explain what HOSH means... if you aren't, which if youre reading this you probably arent, wait till the summer and all will be revealed...

Here is what I have been looking at and referencing for this project. This project is actually a 1/2 of my whole personal project. I proposed doing a book and a film. The film is called We share the same sun, whilst the book is called HOSH... always more to come with both...

For this project, it's all about colors and feeling. I really love the craziness of Afrobeat covers, and Barbershop signage. Sub Saharan in particular, owing to a significant portion of my childhood spent in Botswana, teenage years spent in the bush and three months in Cape Town as a young adult... (I know all the words to the Sarafina album. True story)... So this will be a nice story of all the weird and wonderful things I saw on my travels in Cape Town... What a beautiful city... but crazy...

Women Are Heroes: First Drawings...

A very small sample of the primary research for Women are Heroes... Many stacks of unscanned drawings... I am still working out the final outcome of this project. I like the idea of a series of miniature murals, screenprinted on wood that I can then post up around the city. I also like the idea of different formats, perhaps looking at lightboxes as well. One of the main attractions to old handpainted signage is that they literally last a lifetime. In this city, one is only too familiar with walking past old brick buildings with the boots logo painted on and only just starting to fade away. I like this idea of being able to ensure that your idea never fades away, even after you've long gone...

One of my third year interest is largely based around the communication of ideas that can change society, and presenting new cultures to a new audiences... For this reason, I will film this process and document it. I figured out that an idea shared through the annals of Web 2.0 can be incredibly effective. More to come soon...

First Things First: WOMEN ARE HEROES: Research

Since my time in Cape Town I've taken a bigger interest in Hand rendered graphics, and have become a true fan of this trade. So I've been researching really old school graphics/advertising/signpainting/etc, and as my work is developing I feel it will go in this direction more and more.

When I'm not drawing I try to write. In fact I probably wrote alot mroe than drew when I was a young 'un. I actually met Stephen Powers painting in the street in Shoreditch near the end of last year. For those who dont know him, he's the king of the old school. He grew up bombing trains in Philadelphia under the name ESPO. When he was older he initiated a project called "a love letter for you", which is nothing short of amazing... punch that into google and see what you find. When I met him, he was painting a huge piece above the Village Underground that said, ' Let us Endure and Adore each other '. beautiful. I really appreciate the way he is finding a way to merge words and imagery together to convey complicated ideas, such as love. I'm forever scribbling notes down in notebooks which are stacked around my life, between here and Africa, but never really doing much with them. Highly frustrating. But trying to fuse the two, I've figured out is the perfect route to combine both my love of imagery and of words; the bridging gap of both worlds, as I try make words become images and images become words. I have many ideas in my head, but with the merging of imagery and words, I can make them more accessible to everyone, and relieve the stress of an idea being stuck in my head for ages with no means of an outlet...









For the Course unit, I took up Austins brief entitled First Things First. Using Ken Garlands First things first manifesto (1936 i believe), as a starting point, the brief was to create a believeable campaign for 'charitable causes'... This was right up my alley, so i took this one without thinking too much about it. I remember having a conversation with my girlfriend and one of her best friends about the idea that with a few simple ideas on womens empowerment, the world could change entirely for the better. So I decided to create a project entitled Women Are Heroes (cue all the screaming mums who finally get some recognition...) I had also begun to read Amartya Sens Development as Freedom and Nicolas Christoff + Sherrly Wudunn's book half the sky... both amazing reads, and definately for anyone who is into different solutions for world changing like I am... they both champion ideas of womens agency, i.e if we would only allow Women to be what they intrisically desire to be, be it mothers, daughters, leaders,etc we just might see things change. Sen's writings especially makes those links between his ideas of agency and the world changing. For example the power of agency we allow our women in any society has a direct link to child mortality rates... surprise, surprise...


(Pictures include work by Johnny Hannah, Stephen Powers, Faith 47, Joel Birch, Amartya Sen, Sheryl Wudunn + Nicolas Kristoff)

We Share the Same Sun: Addressing a Dignity Deficit in our time...

I was working in Cape Town a few weeks back, and as usual I knocked off work at about 5ish, anxious to catch a train home as I was quite tired, not really eager to be dealing with people of any kind (selfish much!). So I got my Train; 17:59 to Simonstown via Fishhoek. I paid my 7 Rand. and I sat in a slump in my seat. The train left, and nothing too interesting was happening. Suddenly from no where a blind man and his daughter walked into the carriage from the other carriage. The man had his left arm on his daughters right shoulder, and carried an acoustic guitar, Willie Nelson style in his right. Black sunglasses like Ray Charles, he began to play Kumbaya My Lord… Instantly from his accent I could tell he was a Zimbabwean… Now my first honest thoughts, were embaressment. I wanted no association with this man for the one reason that we were both from the same country trying to make our hustle else where cause life is too hard at home...
There was the story of a Malawian man whose head was smashed in on the steps of the train because he could not speak isiXhosa. All through the news all we ever hear about is how many foreigners there are in this city, and in the country flooding in from the Northern neighbors who can’t sort themselves out. This man kept singing though, and though I am no stranger to Poverty or suffering, this man’s voice spoke to me; cut through me. Suddenly when he stopped, and the ritualistic cup full o coins banging happened like a surreal dream I awoke to one single thought… that this man, had trekked all the way from Zimbabwe to beg on a train in Cape Town… He had forsaken all for whatever reasoning, but the truth was for him this was his way out … Begging on a train thousands of miles away… Then the next thought occurred to me… Where is this man’s dignity? Why was this allowed to happen? All sorts of questions ran through my head. In a sense, I began to think of ways in which we could do better about this, how do we understand the importance of dignity… and so I went home and wrote out all my thoughts… in the next few days I had a few meetings with some friends, who helped and guided me… and thus We Share the Same Sun was born…

This is the first project under the Fort Rixon which I am relly excited about. In collaboration with WriteonAfrica and Plascon Paint South Africa, we will be producing a set of murals to champion diversity and make people feel good about themselves, despite where they come from. Their dignity matters and their contribution to society is valued, as is their individuality. After all we all share the same sun…

wesharethesamesun... an introduction

Been working hard in Woodstock... Well trying to. A new project, which is certainly one of the biggest projects I've ever had to take on... Not enough time either. But should be fun... here's a snippet from the press release...

" My inspiration comes in the form of the masses of people inhabiting the Mother City Metropolis of foreign descent, myself included. Their lives and stories add an abundance of color to this landscape in the face of daily trials. Though we are all different, we all walk the same ground, we swim the same ocean and we breathe the same air.

This project endeavors to be a celebration of that spirit. We will be creating a series of murals across the city in the form of painted statements and pasted posters to champion the worth of every person in their day to day as well as bringing those unique colors to life. When we drop the borders of our hearts and unify our spirits, everyone can feel good about themselves.

After all, the moon and the stars belong to all of us.

We share the same sun."

In a nutshell we are literally painting love across this city... starting on saturday fingers crossed...

Will keep you posted, but should be fun...