Surprise Party, 1964 By Malick Sidibé My interest in the politics and aesthetics of photography started from an unlikely source: Dambudzo Marechera, the enfantterrible of African literature. In his seminal text The House of Hunger, a coming of age novella set in the 60s and 70s, he writes about Solomon, a township photographer who could...
Tag: marvinkindaguy
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Marvin Conversations: The Thing and The Fight to Fall (Power FM 98.7)
The Thing and The Fight to Fall – When you have spent your life ducking and diving commitment for whatever reasons and unexplainable fear, until you find that one person who makes you want to fight to fall. Join the Marvin conversation with Aphelele Somi as she grapples with issues of commitment. What are the...
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Black Economics …
I have often heard one of my favorite speakers, Vusi Thembekwayo, exclaim “Black people judge success by the car you drive. Fact”. While not necessarily quantifiable, that statement certainly rings true in our townships. Hands up anyone who knows someone that drives a posh car but stays in a shabby looking place. Without counting hands,...
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The Day I Drove A Bargain With My Ancestors …
A few days after I was hijacked in 2015, I sat in my flat, physically unhurt by the incident, not angry with the perpetrators and not stressed about losing my car but confused as to why izinyanya, my ancestors, would allow this thing to happen to their child and how something so dangerous could happen...
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The Thing, and The Fight to Fall …
I have never been good at relationships. Particularly, I have never been good at romantic relationships. Something about them seems to me unnatural. Actually, a lot seems unnatural. There is the rushed togetherness. There is the relentlessly pursued sense of oneness. There is the expected sharing of the self, the packing into little conversations of...
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Quattro Wins For R8: Chosen “WORLD PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR”
Audi caps its New York Auto Show appearance with a prestigious award bestowed upon its halo model – the new R8. It drives off with the most important award in the eyes of ZTR. With a total of four awards, the Audi R8 is the most successful model in the history of the World Car...
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Indoda Yesimanje Manje (Modern Man)
When the resident office trickster, George, asked me to write on the modern man, I was very reluctant. In fact, I turned the piece in at the last minute because the word “modern” is devoid of meaning to me. Instead, I started thinking about manhood itself, and my very identity as a human being, as...
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The Experience – Steven Onoja
Good morning readers. I’m writing you all from New York City where the trees are sprinkled with frosting and the air is thin and crisp. Every time I look around I can’t help but to think I’m in a painting, it’s surreal. I have captured a lot of content throughout the past few days,...
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How I Came To Understand My Male Privilege By Experiencing Racism …
A few months ago, I was watching a documentary about the history of the formation of our country with my son . It touched on topics such as slavery, colonisation and apartheid. While we were watching he turned to me and asked, ‘Papa, why did white people do this to us?’ It is not that...
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Ten Commandments for the Modern Man ….
Well, you see I have a lot of male friends. In fact, I can count the number of female friends I have on one hand. I’ve always been drawn to men. Even when I get to a mixed group of people, I always find myself gravitating towards the men. I find women strange and rather...