‘Insta-bition’ honours women

RUN THE WORLD: ARTIST FEATURES ‘AMAZING’ LADIES DAILY FOR MONTH ON INSTAGRAM

Digital portraits from past three years showcased at One Eloff.

David Tshabalala, a Johannesburg graphic designer, illustrator and creative director of Suketchi Creative and Design Agency, has been chosen as an Emerging Creative at the Design Indaba, nominated in the Best Young Gun category at the 2015 Bookmarks Awards and was also on the 2015 Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans list.

The 28-year-old artist, also known as Slaying Goliath on social media, has been profiling women he aspires to on his Instagram page throughout Women’s Month.

He has shared, daily, illustrated profiles of women he feels need to be celebrated for doing amazing things.

In previous years, he has drawn honoured women of our times such as writer Panashe Chigumadzi, budding creative Tony Gum and poet Lebohang “Nova” Masango.

The annual event, Run the World, which has been dubbed an “insta-bition”, was inspired by requests from his female friends.

More often than not, these requests would be around August so he decided to use the opportunity to initiate a project honouring women.

Today, Tshabalala will be showcasing digital portraits featured in the past three years on Run the World at One Eloff on Joziburg Lane.

There will be prints of all the ladies he has profiled.

He chose Instagram as the medium for his exhibition because he liked how the artwork looked on the platform.

He feels it’s time to expand Run the World to a bigger platform. “I have had a lot of requests already from big galleries to expand on my work and share it on bigger platforms.

“Supporters of my work have also shown me so much love and this is so heartwarming,” he said.

“I’d love to have the events bi-monthly at really cool venues, where the DJs are all ladies and the best female emerging artists showcase their work in the space.”

Tshabalala’s art is as vibrant as his personality.

“My style of art is fun, colourful and pop-inspired.

“It is exciting and resonates with the youth of today,” he said.

To succeed as a creative alternative, Tshabalala has had to network and associate with people who are where he wants to be and to push himself every day to keep sharpening his skills.

Now, he runs a successful design agency and has paved a path for aspiring graphic designers.

But like every other successful person, he has faced challenges along the way.

“Some of the challenges are learning to accept rejection.

“Then there were challenges with a steady income and the dangers of being taken advantage of by big corporates when you’re considered to be an influencer,” he said.