Bright lights spark Kagiso’s creativity
Lucky Dube concert inspired life-long passion
The founder and president of Blackmotion, a Johannesburg-based audio visual production company fell in love with lighting by chance.
A then 13-year-old, Kagiso Moima wa Masimini had accompanied his mother to a music concert and was amazed at how the bright stage lights shone on late reggae legend Lucky Dube’s dreadlocks while performing on stage.
“I remember seeing the yellowish glow on his dreadlocks and kept asking myself; how’s that possible?” remembers Moima wa Masimini. The curiosity he had then instilled a passion that saw him later pursuing a career in lighting.
Moima wa Masimini, 38, was born and bred in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga, and matriculated at the township’s Somkhahlekwa Secondary School in 1998. He went on to study at Technikon Pretoria’s (now Tshwane University of Technology’s) renowned school of Performing Arts Technology, Sound and Lighting.
After graduating with flying colours, he joined the entertainment industry in 2001 as a lighting technician at MJ Event Gear. He also cut his teeth at Urban Brew Studios and Franz Marx Films, where he learnt about the industry, before jumping ship to venture into entrepreneurship.
In 2005, Moima wa Masimini founded Blackmotion, which specialises in providing lighting, LED screens, AV systems and stages. “Blackmotion has already sparked a positive foundation in the past 12 years, with over 8 000 events and 14 TV shows,” Moima wa Masimini says.
“Blackmotion now employs 14 people and has 20 freelancers that it utilises on a weekly basis,” Moima wa Masimini says.
The main challenge in the industry is the “rapidly changing” technology, which means emphasis has to be put on training.
When asked about where he finds inspiration, Moima wa Masimini says: “My passion derives from people like Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo, Tupac Shakur, my mother and other individuals who pursue their deeply held goals and purpose in life.”