Editor’s Note

The second you become a mother your emotional centre of gravity shifts. It’s the most normal and natural thing in the world, but it changes you in the most fundamental way. Any child, from three to 73, will agree that it’s hard to imagine what their mother was like before she was their mother. Likewise, most women will say that once they’ve become a mother, it’s hard to imagine ever being anything other. In this issue of Lifestyle, the last during Women’s Month, we asked six people to bring us pictures of their mothers before they were their mothers so that we could recreate the scene and style of a time before they were born. A lot has changed in the world since those pictures were taken — and the children of those women have become adults, each with their own amazing achievements, thanks in part to the possibilities provided by a much more open-minded world — or at least, we’re moving in that direction. And while there’s more opportunity than ever for self-expression, we’re also starting to appreciate that part of that freedom is being able to choose to be as conservative as we feel comfortable being, too. Lisa Witepski charts the rise in popularity of modest fashion — even big labels are realising that it’s a growing market.

Most of the mothers in the pictures of our main story would have been teenagers when Francis Ford Coppola released his classic anti-war movie, Apocalypse Now; their children are adults now as a new version comes to the big screen. Tymon Smith tells you what to expect in our Review section. Zolani Mahola has spent most of her adult life as part of the popular local group Freshlyground. Now she’s ready to go it alone, and shares the story of her solo career with Leonie Wagner. We also look at the musical side of William Kentridge’s latest art exhibition at the Zeitz MOCAA in an interview with his longtime collaborator Philip Miller. There’s plenty to enjoy this Sunday. Have a good one.