Gaze

‘Who Is Gazing?’

Inspired by ‘commoners’, office cleaners, clerks, factory workers and general laborers GAZE is a reflection of the everyday ordinary.

A look and discovery of self, informed by the idea of being ‘watched’. The question being; “what happens when the ride is no longer a means to an end but rather an end in itself?”

What does it mean to make clothing in South Africa today?

The question, without a doubt, generates a reflection on the status of artistic practice in a country that most people around the world GAZE at, mostly with documentary ideas of the height of historic struggle or, the contrary landscape showing both the depictions of trauma and/or beauty.

The country awash in new clothing. These clothes are not just the ones that have flooded all corners of the globe from cellphones and digital cameras by ordinary clothing-makers. Rather, what we have here is a new economy of clothing produced with the status of art in mind. With variety, complexity and the sheer number of new practitioners – from across every social, cultural, political and economic demographic – it could be argued that the GAZE of this place is the most compelling anywhere in the world today.

photography by: @ankeloots

styled by: @styledbylthiiz & @oratile_moh

Models: @ponahalo
@lazyluke35
@fakamatah
@taylormakhoba
@queenlohaanda

Make-up: @_bobbypineapple