Articles
Muhubo Suleiman ✿ A home within a home
In her Melbourne flat, Muhubo Suleiman has re-created the aqal, thatched hut, her childhood home in Somalia.
Kultur-All Makaan: A cool place for African warmth
Kultur-All Makaan is a wondrous tent for bringing together refugee cultures of Central Victoria, including the Sudanese singer Dabora Dout whose beads welcome visitors.
Simb, or the rise and fall of the Fake Lion in Senegal
Joseph Ndione laments the demise of the man-lion street performance that once celebrated the power of nature.
Articles
Stepping out: Africa Fashion Week Middle East
Ansie van der Walt talks to organisers of a new fashion festival in the UAE and profiles leading fashion designers from the region
Articles
Anniina Sandberg shares her experience of living in a Tanzanian Maasai family compound with the goats and an occasional scorpion.
Articles
Nyibol Deng uses her African connections to create unique textile products from a combination of recycled jeans and Malawi wax prints.
Articles
Muhubo Suleiman ✿ A home within a home
In her Melbourne flat, Muhubo Suleiman has re-created the aqal, thatched hut, her childhood home in Somalia.
Articles
Kultur-All Makaan: A cool place for African warmth
Kultur-All Makaan is a wondrous tent for bringing together refugee cultures of Central Victoria, including the Sudanese singer Dabora Dout whose beads welcome visitors.
Articles
Egypt reclaims niello: A craft for kings and sultans
On the banks of the Nile, Passent Nossair finds the source of a quintessential Egyptian craft.
Articles
Ndomo: Beauty from mud in Mali
Rebecca Hoyes visits Segou on the Niger river to learn the secret of bogolan, mud cloth.
Articles
Simb, or the rise and fall of the Fake Lion in Senegal
Joseph Ndione laments the demise of the man-lion street performance that once celebrated the power of nature.
Articles
“Only room for one in the house”: My Ankyianpoma language sticks from Ghana
In Ghana, Claire Dale commissions a ritual object for talking to Chiefs.
Articles
My father was an elephant: Clay dreams in Nigeria
Ngozi Omeje shares her journey through the soothing medium of clay and how it helps honour her family and inspire good works.
Articles
Nigerian artists Jennifer Ogochukwu Okpoko and Dr RitaDoris Edumchieke Ubah are inspired by colonial photographs to make new textile work drawing on the heritage of uli body and wall painting.
Articles
Iziqhaza: Designs that open your ears
Hlengiwe Dube recounts the elaborate Zulu tradition of earplugs that inspired her baskets.
Articles
Litema, the pride of a Mosotho woman’s home
‘Matsooana Sekokotoana is inspired by the litema designs on the homes of her country, which reflect daily life in the villages of Lesotho.
Quarterly essays
Moffat Takadiwa: The art of small things
Jenan Taylor returns to her southern African roots, drawn by the mysterious smell of soap, to discover the place where Zimbabwe's iconic sculptor gathers his materials and community.
Articles
Quarterly Essay ✿ Moffat Takadiwa: The art of small things
Jenan Taylor returns to her southern African roots, drawn by the mysterious smell of soap, to discover the place where Zimbabwe's iconic sculptor gathers his materials and community.
Articles
The Eastern Cape made visible through jewellery
Joani Groenewald reflects how her jewellery is drawn from the South African landscape in which she is embedded.
Articles
Lara Daryl Landsberg re-creates letters from her Oupa to create a jewellery series that reconnects with her childhood.
Articles
New Zulu beads to be worn with pride
Mbuso Zondi's commitment to his Zulu culture is reflected in his project to create new beads that use more traditional materials that those imported in the past.
Articles
Ordentelikheid: South African baroque jewellery
Taryn Sadé Joseph is inspired by the “Coloured” aesthetic of her upbringing, reflecting an intense desire for respectability, ordentelikheid.
Articles
Izandla Zethu: Fine jewellery with what’s at hand
Izandla Zethu involves gathering materials at hand in a South African township to craft jewellery that combines honesty and elegance.
Articles
Urgent Adornment in South Africa
Beverley Price explains the creative principle of her expedited jewellery and how it is grounded in South African life.
Articles
Isifociya: The revival of Zulu adornment that protects and beautifies
Khanya Mthethwa transforms the traditional Zulu girdle into a fashion item for proud South Africans
Articles
"Culture is not only a heritage. It is a project". Benin philosopher, Paulin Hontongji This issue heralds a new generation of Africans who are seeking to recover their culture in a way that is fresh and relevant to their lives. The core is a group of graduates from the jewellery department of the University of Johannesburg, led by Farieda Nazer, which has seen the emergence of the African Contemporary Jewellery Association. The concept of "umswenko" comes from their involvement a Joburg scene which is stylish and inventive, which contrasts so much with outside perceptions of the city forged during Apartheid. Khanya Mthethwa's re-design of the isifociya girdle reflects other forms of revival found during our journey across the wider [...]
Articles
Wissa-Sophy: Back to the woven garden
Passent Nossair returns to the refreshing gardens of El Harraneya in Giza, Egypt, where she learns the remarkable story of Wissa Wassef, whose belief in the inner creativity of children helped build a weaving workshop of international renown.
Articles
25,000 knots: The hands that make Baba Tree baskets
Awuni Ayine tells us about the fans she makes that were traditionally used for funerals.
Articles
Fulu Muziki ✿ Kinshasa noisicians + eco-culturists
Gary Warner begins his series #AfricaMade_n_played with a Congolese ensemble featuring the exuberant instrumentarium of Pisko Crane.