Tell me a little about yourself as an artist or creative?
My name is Kgomotso Kiggy Kholoane. I’m 27, and I am an artist. My medium is mainly fashion, but I do all sorts of other cool things.I’ve always been a creative kid. I don’t remember an age in my life when I wasn’t doing something expressive. I feel that the more I grow up, I am becoming a lot more considerate of weighty and substantial life-things, and how I feel about them or how I want to interact with them always comes out in artistic expression somehow.
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READ MOREFranky's story
"Having been encouraged into musical theatre as a pre-teen in order to help a shy kid out of her shell, I soon found myself as a result falling in love with the stage. I soon gained a singing scholarship and was signed with an agent before going on to study acting for 3 years. During my 6 years of postgraduate London life and experiencing the actor grind, I worked as the UK programs lead for a Performing Arts charity based in New York, recruiting and heading up a London team for the show. I moved to Hull to allow myself time to explore playwriting and subsequently applied and gained a place on the ‘Middle Child Theatre’ company’s new writers apprenticeship. This led to an invitation to join a course in Hull and have since been able to explore my own voice more, from poetry to plays and pipe dreams..."
READ MORETell me a little about yourself as a designer?
I am Thabo Kopele, a 23 year old designer from a small town in the Vaal triangle south of Johannesburg. I studied fashion design at the London International School of Fashion (LISOF) in Randburg last year and my parents were unable to continue paying for my tuition fees and I was forced to drop out. That motivated me to work harder and made me even more passionate about what I do.
Fashion to me is about much more than just clothing and looking good. It’s about telling a tangible story that will last for generations to come. Growing up I wasn’t always able to express myself the way I wanted to and fashion was my way of setting statements without saying a single word. I also believe that I was able to bring more of my personality forth through clothing but above all, I’m a huge art fanatic.
READ MOREPlease tell me the name of your project and who you've started/collaborated or work on it with?
The project is called the Three balloons and so far I’ve worked with local designer and stylist Nao Serati.
Please give me a brief project description?
The three balloons is an extensive body of work that explores the generational and ongoing traumas of Black bodies, the everyday experiences of queer black bodies and black bodies ability to embrace the gift of life through celebration portrayed by a balloon.
The work puts a spectacle on the exploitation of Black bodies in contemporary art spaces through the lens of white bodies for the white gaze and how that has shifted the way Black bodies have to express themselves through art, in order to be palatable for contemporary art spaces. It looks into how Blackness is now viewed as a commodity or rather a can of beans you can buy off the shelves, and the erasure of black bodies.
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