Illustrations

Am I Afrikan?

My passport is green. The glorious green of aloe leaves or trees in late summer.

My skin is freckled. Flickered with flecks of moments spent under this sun.

My heart breaks. A hurting history means I watch flowers grow from stained mud and feel petals fall on graves. (more…)

The War in the Sky

I watch the lightening explode the sky and scatter shadows and light with a shattering clap of growls and rumbling clouds.

Whatever did the first people think that this magnificent spectacle meant?

The sky thunders and the soles of my feet feel the earth’s reply.

How did they explain it? What stories did they tell?

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Dark King

The only thing darker than the writing was the ink used to print the words on the page.

The girl finished the chapter, closed the book and placed it on the bedside table.

She reached for the light switch. Click. The room was drenched in nothingness.

The book fell from the table and she flinched as the paperback hit the floor with a muffled thud. Burying herself in the blankets and squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to escape her writhing imagination. But shadows licked the walls and the darkness smelt of horror.

She sat up, switched the light back on and snatched the book from the floor.

With her index finger, she traced the cover of the shabby paperback and quietly chanted to herself.

Stephen King. Stephen King. King Stephen. The Dark King.

She opened the book again – but it had changed. It was blank. There were no words or printed stains. The dark marks were not there.

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Chronicles of a Dreamer 2

An imaginary world of ink and ideas

Week 2 (more…)

Art is where the heart is

There is so much beauty in this world,

That it cannot be contained by a single heart. (more…)

A Living Star

Before these words,

Before your breath,

Before rain fell to the earth,

There were stars.

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Jodi Bieber’s 10 tips for photographers and writers

Jodi Bieber’s photographs are silent stories, dressed in colour and captured light. Her years of experiencing and photographing a beautifully complex and twisted world have led to incredible images, international exhibitions and valuable advice. (more…)

Chronicles of a Dreamer

I escaped reality by filling a notebook with dreams, ideas and ink. Would you like to enter my imaginary world? (more…)

The South African Art World according to Riason Naidoo

“I took a bit of an usual route,” says Riason Naidoo, who was appointed as the first black director of the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town in 2009. “I’m trained as an artist – as a painter, but I’ve done a few different things in the art world after graduating.”

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