October is Black History Month, so of course we will be highlighting and celebrating work by Black Creatives, as we hopefully already do. We want to reflect the creatives we have in college, and I hope you can find things that you find interesting in this and subsequent blogs. This week's WOW explores collaborations and interesting ways creatives respond to identity. Some thought provoking work and some fun, vibrant work. It doesn't always have to be serious to get an important message across. As always, the articles are a starting point for you to explore and discover for yourself, I have added a number of hyperlinks to more articles, I feel you'd like too. How might the work inspire your own? Could you produce a great photoshoot, or turn that drawing into a vibrant poster? Plenty to get you started, so explore and enjoy.
Brand:Daily Paper
Daily Paper are a creative collaborators, artists and designers. They produce their own fashion line, but also work with Brands, musicaians and artists to create interesting and inspiring pieces. There is much information on line for you to discover, but I've selected a couple of collaborations I was aware of.
The Ajax pieces celebrate the diversity and cultural impact of Eastern Africa on Amsterdam's community. There are loads of great photoshoots and articles to read on their website.
Many of you will know these items already, but did you know about the Daily Paper connection? You can find plenty of other artciles about other collaborations on Hypebeast and Highsnobiety
A great way to see how to style and display your artwork?
BLACK ATLANTIC
In this series of videos from the Tate presented by Ekow Eshun, he discusses a wide range of artists who explore the idea of the Black Atlantic a concept from a book of the same name by Paul Gilroy. Tate explores this idea through artworks created for and by descendants of slaves and immigrants, who are an important part of British Culture what is the Black Experience in a white world. Each video explores different aspects of the theme and also discusses the cultural context of the time from Music to new reports and social economic and political movements.
The Tate describes it ........ "In four parts this series explores Tate's collection and the impact of the Atlantic slave trade through the lens of the Black Atlantic. It gives an accessible introduction to the Black Atlantic, how it can help us to understand British identity and how we can acknowledge and learn from history to look towards the future."
A really interesting selection of works are on show, many you can see in Liverpool and the rest in London. Why not try and visit and see what else you can discover.
GRAPHIC DESIGN: TEMI COKER
temicoker.co says.....TEMI COKER IS AN ABSOLUTE FORCE OF CREATIVITY, DEPICTING LAYERS OF HIS NIGERIAN CULTURE WITH COLORS, PATTERNS, DIMENSIONS AND TEXTURES. HE DOESN'T JUST CREATE ART, HE CREATES POWERFUL EXPERIENCES THAT MOVE AND CHALLENGE BEAUTY STANDARDS. HIS WORK IS A MOVEMENT.
Temi's work is exciting andhighly successful Graphic Designer working with brands like Apple, Google and Peleton to create bright and impactful images. His use of colour and pattern reflect his, and the sitters cultures. Could this be a way you respond to indentity and culture in your work?
Temi also does Photoshop tutorials on social media, insta and tiktok especially. Here is a link to his YouTube page, which also has a wide range of potential experiments.
FASHION INNOVATION
Bella Hadid Has Her Futuristic Coperni Slip Dress Spray-Painted On Live On The Runway
Many of you will have seen this on your socials. If not it is worth a look. The high end brand Coperni worked with a company called Fabrican who have created a spray on textile that hardens and can be turned into an item of clothing instantly. The performance itself was more performance artwork than fashion show, where Fabrican's creator Dr Manel Torres, sprayed Bella Hadid's dress before styling it into a haute couture garment. Is this the future of fashion or just a stunt? Either way it was pretty cool and if you've not seen it worth a look and at the rest of Coperni's collection, there are some great shapes in their too.
An older one, you'll know the song, but have you watched the short film beforehand on this video. A beautiful, reflective and defiant spoken word piece with great visuals and dance moves. The song itself, discusses many of the issues raised in the rest of the blog, worth a revisit or a good starting point for Kojey Radical if he is new to you.