Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Mike Schreiber
takes photographs for ARISE. The New York-based lensman snapped all the backstage action at AMFW Lagos and he also captured Erkyah Badu for issue 11. Last year he released a book of photos, True Hip Hop, and he's launching it in London this week with a show at Shoreditch's Protein Gallery.
J: I don't really want to ask why you did the book, as it pretty obvious why someone would want to do a book of their photos. But why now?
M: I did a show in 2009 with Alex Emmart from Mighty Tanaka gallery in NY and he suggested that I do a book, so I put a proposal together and submitted it to the publisher. They liked it and… boom! A book. Also, I haven't been shooting very much hip hop these days, so I saw the book as kind of a chronicle of that particular body of work.
J: What are your favourite pics in the book? (I know, they're all favourites, which is why they're in the book... but if you had to pick)
M: My favourite is the picture of Biggie's mum, Ms Voletta Wallace. To the general public Biggie is a larger-than-life icon but to her, Biggie is her son. She was a very nice woman. Very strong and very proud of her son. I like that portrait because I think all of those things come through in it.
J: Any juicy tales from when you were photographing them?
M: Actually they're in the book!
J: Any tales about... anyone?
M: Ha ha! Nope!
J: What makes a good photo for you?
M: I like photos – and all art for that matter – that conveys something truthful. Whether it's photos, music, movies, writing…I want to believe that what I'm saying has some kind of truth to it. http://www.mikeschreiber.com/
Words Jane Fitzgerald
no crystal stair...
still isn't supporting a film about her life starring Jennifer Hudson, but she tells CNN that it has nothing to do with the Oscar winning actress.
“I have absolutely nothing against Jennifer, but I have everything against the movie itself,” she told CNN’s Nadia Bilchik.
The film, titled “Winnie,” has sparked controversy not only because an American was cast in the role rather than a South African actor, but also because Mandela sought to impede the film’s production.
“I was not consulted,” she tells CNN. “I am still alive, and I think that it is a total disrespect to come to South Africa, make a movie about my struggle, and call that movie some translation of a romantic life of Winnie Mandela.”
Director Darrell Roodt ("Cry, the Beloved Country") has described the film as "the ultimate women's movie" and "an amazing love story," as he did to the press at Cannes last year.
"I think it is an insult," Mandela told CNN of the film. "I don’t know what would be romantic in our bitter struggle.”
Hudson never met with Mandela, but a rep for the actress told CNN that it wasn’t because Hudson didn’t want to. The singer, most recently cast in the "Three Stooges," would have loved to meet the activist, her rep said, but the producers thought she shouldn't. The film is based on the book "Winnie Mandela: A Life," and a producer said they wanted to uphold the integrity of the book on which the story is based.
The daughter of a history teacher, Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela moved to Johannesburg in 1953 to study pediatric social work. She met Mandela in 1956, became his devoted coworker, and married him in 1958. At the start of her husband's long imprisonment (1962–90), Madikizela-Mandela was banned (severely restricted in travel, association, and speech) and for years underwent almost continual harassment by the South African government and its security forces; she spent 17 months in jail in 1969–70 and lived in internal exile from 1977 to 1985. During these years she did social and educational work and became a heroine of the antiapartheid movement. Her reputation was seriously marred in 1988–89, however, when she was linked with the beating and kidnapping of four black youths, one of whom was murdered by her chief bodyguard.
After Mandela was released from prison in 1990, Madikizela-Mandela initially shared in his political activities and trips abroad. In May 1991 she was sentenced to six years in prison upon her conviction for kidnapping, but the sentence was later reduced to a fine. She made a political comeback in 1993 with her election to the presidency of the African National Congress Women's League, and in 1994 she was elected to Parliament and appointed deputy minister of arts, culture, science, and technology in South Africa's first multiracial government, which was headed by her husband. Madikizela-Mandela continued to provoke controversy with her attacks on the government and her strident appeals to radical young black followers, however, and in 1995 Mandela expelled her from his cabinet. She and Mandela had separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996.
Madikizela-Mandela was reelected to Parliament in 1999. She resigned in 2003, however, after she was convicted on charges of fraud and theft stemming from her involvement with fraudulently obtained bank loans, many of which benefited economically disadvantaged persons. Madikizela-Mandela was partially vindicated a year later when the conviction for theft was overturned because she had not recognized any personal gain from her actions.
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