BLOWING SMOKE AT NORMALCY
Wandile Mabaso and Azael Langa have united to provide artistic opportunities to talented locals through fundraising exhibitions with a difference, writes Lisa Witepski
Seams, song, spices and smoke
... what do they have in common? Each play an integral role in paying homage to the African continent in an installation created through the Mabaso Langa Foundation.
Wandile Mabaso and Azael Langa are artists. They may work in very different mediums, but both like to excite, innovate and see how far they can take an idea.
That’s probably what drew them to each other, at first on social media, then in real life. Chef Wandile says for him the relationship was rooted in a fascination with visual art that started when he moved overseas. “For the first time, I was exposed to important works in the Louvre, the
Sistine Chapel ... When I returned to South Africa, I was fascinated to see how local artists were expressing our culture.”
Azael’s work, in particular, intrigued him, because Azael doesn’t hesitate to do things differently. His work, primarily created with smoke — a technique called fumage — is nothing if not distinctive. More than that, Wandile was drawn to the spiritual, deeply personal nature of the work. “Often, people shy away from this because they’re scared it won’t sell, but Azael is willing to take a risk. He shows humility and a willingness to learn and work with others.”
Azael, meanwhile, was attracted to Wandile’s eagerness to try anything. “He’s the kind of guy who’ll build the parachute while he’s jumping.”
Small wonder then, that when the two met at an exhibition hosted by a mutual friend, they hit it off immediately. Beyond their love of creating though, it was their determination to give back that united them, which is why the Mabaso Langa Foundation was created, to provide opportunities by training people in all sectors of the arts. Importantly, candidates are selected on the basis of talent rather than academics, because Azael believes top marks aren’t the best criteria for success. “Having both grown up in townships, we’ve experienced first-hand the challenges people face. We wanted to use who we are and what we have to help others,” he says.
Their grand visions are translated from concept to reality by Kenosi Malebye, pastry chef at Wandile’s Bryanston, Johannesburg, restaurant, Les Creatifs, and the foundation’s creative director. That’s not always easy: their first event was a tribute to those who died of Covid. They were honoured with edible candles that were lit, then passed from hand to hand before being eaten.
Kenosi admits that grounding Wandile and Azael’s flights of fancy can be difficult, but it’s always exciting and interesting.
Take the pair’s latest installation. Some Call It Africa, We Call It Home was hosted at residential lifestyle estate Steyn City, a venue they chose because of its affinity with art (in addition to the recently opened The Gallery there, the development is home to an outdoor sculpture garden featuring nearly 50 pieces of magnificent land art). It made a fitting backdrop to a celebration of the African aesthetic expressed through food, painting, fashion and music, which included a series of fundraisers, from a cocktail evening to an exclusive dinner and golf day.
All events included auctions, with proceeds benefiting the Steyn City Foundation, Azael Langa Foundation (particularly the Women In Arts & Educational Programme), Wandile Mabaso Foundation and Mabaso Langa Foundation.
The exhibition’s elements were cleverly woven together: each dish on the menu was crafted to reflect the story behind Azael’s displayed artworks, while the fashion reflected the colours on the artwork and the plate.
But it wasn’t an ordinary showing. Wandile says the idea was to demonstrate that traditional icons of African culture — think Nelson Mandela, Cape Town’s Table Mountain — may have their place, but our aesthetic is evolving into something unstoppably exciting.
“This initiative is all about changing the way Africa is viewed, which, if we’re honest, isn’t always in the most flattering light. We want to show that this continent is anything but stagnant. We’re more than poverty and hunger — we’re dynamic, innovative, driven, vibrant. We’re still honouring everything that made our forefathers who they are, but packaging it differently.”
Wandile refers to this new ethos as “Afrique modern”, acknowledging that all aspects of culture are intertwined and respecting their yesterday while looking forward to tomorrow.
Having given South Africa the first taste of what to expect from Some Call It Africa, We Call It Home, the exhibition now travels overseas, where it has a secondary goal: uniting members of the diaspora and reminding them of the magic of their home. From last month, the designers and musicians who formed part of the collaboration with Azael and Wandile travelled to France, then Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta, and will wend their way home around December.
Then, another exhibition will be launched, this time with different collaborators, themes and host cities worldwide. Wandile says the foundation is working on a five-year plan and already interest has been expressed from a plethora of potential partners, including destinations like Dubai, Kuwait, China and Switzerland.
This is what the duo hoped for. “There’s potential for our tourism industry, once we’ve sparked interest in what Africa is about,” Wandile says. Culture is a great medium for conveying this message, he adds, because it “forms a thread” connecting all elements. Azael agrees, adding that culture appeals to all of us.
“It’s universal.” And for Kenosi, culture is magic glue because it immerses all of us in what it means to be African by appealing to our senses.
Also exciting is that culture isn’t static. While the Mabaso Langa Foundation takes a little piece of Africa to the world, the artists will bring a taste of the world back here. “Art shifts and grows all the time — it has to. It changes as we change,” says Azael.