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The Black Female Visual Artists on Our Radar

The Black Female Visual Artists on Our Radar

LERATO MBANGENI BLURRING the lines between disciplines and mediums is what we like and the following women have got it down to a fine art. These creatives are on our radar this week: Lunga Ntila (@lunga_ntila) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_TenjFjZkP/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb3BzeEFs3_/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B0yVe0bp1L7/ Puleng Mongale (@pulengmongale) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBKq2_3DaSw/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CADONPlDjf8/   Natalie Paneng (@nataliepaneng_) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Fd0hJj1wJ/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CBkczENDXOT/ Azania Forest (@azaniaforest) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBQJtBeDOyz/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B_z4z40DZrZ/ Tony Gum (@tony_gum) https://www.instagram.com/p/BdvnyY6FFaI/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcd1yjbgP5D/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BcKP4I_A6fO/
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Will Smith denies giving August Alsina blessing for affair with his wife

Will Smith denies giving August Alsina blessing for affair with his wife

WILL Smith has reportedly shot down singer August Alsina's astounding claim that he gave him his blessing to have a long-term affair with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.The Sun in the UK today reported that Will's representatives called the claims "wrong", while a spokesperson for Jada vehemently denied them to celebrity website Page Six, branding them "absolutely not true". During the astounding revelation to radio host Angela Yee, the 27-year-old singer said he was in love with the actress, 48, and had been involved with her for years. A representative for Jada said the claims were “absolutely not true”.It is…
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Netflix announces Kaepernick drama series

Netflix announces Kaepernick drama series

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE DRAMATIC life of the US National Football League (NFL)’s player-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick is to be immortalised in film. Kaepernick has been captured in a new limited drama series on Netflix. Titled “Colin in Black & White” is a scripted series that follows the life of the all-star football player, from adolescence through his influential high school years.  Academy Award Nominee and Emmy Award-winning director Ava DuVernay has teamed up with Kaepernick, who will also be the narrator, to create the scripted limited series, with Emmy Award Nominee Michael Starburry, who has previously worked with DuVernay in…
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African stars take home 2020 BET awards

African stars take home 2020 BET awards

STAFF REPORTER FOUR of Africa’s big artists won big at the 2020 edition of the BET Awards, reflecting the ever-growing impact of African music in the world. Nigerian Afrobeats hitmaker Burna Boy walked away with the first award, the Best International Act presented by supermodel Naomi Campbell. Burna Boy beat out South Africa’s Sho Madjozi, the DRC’s Innoss'B, U.K’s Brit Award winners rappers  Dave and Stormzy, as well as France’s S.Pri Noir and Ninho.  Burna Boy, whose most recent work is his 2019 Grammy-nominated African Giant album, thanked his fans from a live stream and added that “In order for…
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Film Review | Cook Off

Film Review | Cook Off

PERCY ZVOMUYA On 1 June 2020, Cook Off, a Zimbabwean-made feature film, had its debut on Netflix, the first time a picture from the country was showcased on the streaming platform. The date is a significant one for Tomas Lutuli Brickhill, the film’s director and scriptwriter. “That had some meaning,” he told New Frame in an interview on Zoom. On 1 June 2015, exactly five years before Cook Off’s premiere, the iconic venue Book Café, founded by his father Paul, shut down. By the time Book Café closed, it had become one of Zimbabwe’s important cultural institutions. It was at once a meeting place,…
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Zozi celebrates pride month

Zozi celebrates pride month

STAFF REPORTER TO MARK the end of pride month, a few popular personalities took the time on social media to hold open discussions regarding equality and respect for members who are not cis-heterosexual but are gender-conforming or non-binary.  This discussions has been spurred on by the battle for legalising same-sex relationships within the African continent where it is still banned and punishable with jail time in a number of countries.  Some of those personalities included Miss Universe’s Zozibini Tunzi, who has been using the pageant organisation’s Instagram profle to host conversations regarding the efforts for the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Trangender,…
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A street art mural in Zimbabwe exposes a divided society

A street art mural in Zimbabwe exposes a divided society

THE Shona and the Ndebele are Zimbabwe’s two most dominant ethnic groups. Explaining the ever-present tension between them, historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni points to the abuse of the post-colonial state by the ruling Shona-dominated government “in its drive to destroy Ndebele particularism”. He explains, “This sets in motion the current Matabeleland politics of alienation, resentment and grievance.” This continued marginalisation of Matabeleland (a region in southwestern Zimbabwe inhabited mainly by the Ndebele people) by the ZANU-PF-led government has rendered Zimbabwe so fragile a nation that even a street mural can expose its disunity. Author BARNABAS TICHA MUVHUTI, Ph.D. in Art…
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Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slap

Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slap

LISA RICHWINE HOLLYWOOD'S film academy banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars for 10 years after the best actor winner slapped presenter Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony 12 days ago. The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took the action at a meeting held one week after Smith pre-emptively resigned from the group over his outburst at the live, televised event. "The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year," academy President David Rubin and Chief…
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Grammy star Black Coffee: winning the world, losing at home

Grammy star Black Coffee: winning the world, losing at home

I first saw Nkosinathi Maphumulo aka Black Coffee perform at Amaros Night Club in Pretoria, South Africa during the late 2000s. Dressed in a casual T-shirt, no one would have guessed he was destined for global glory. Beneath strobe lights, bathed in throbbing house music, clashing voices and perspiration, he could have been just like any other struggling deejay on the make. But he seemed impervious to the spectral faces, shapes and vapours swirling across the ceiling, walls and floors. In the middle of the Pretoria club, Black Coffee manned his throne in a scene where everything hangs in the…
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Tsitsi Dangarembga’s art and activism

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s art and activism

BARBARA BOSWELL THE artist and activist elaborates on her work and the intricate, necessary relationship between her artistic production and political action in Zimbabwe. The last week of July 2020 was one of extreme paradoxes for Tsitsi Dangarembga. Three days after her novel This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, the Zimbabwean writer, playwright and filmmaker found herself in prison after her arrest in Harare. Dangarembga, part of a two-women protest, was standing next to a highway, silently holding a placard protesting against state corruption and the imprisonment of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono. Dangarembga and her friend, Julie Barnes, were…
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