THE ZANZIBAR RED COLOBUS...

I’ve been extremely blessed to be staying at a friend of mines fantastic guesthouse whilst in Johannesburg aka Jozi and they also found me a pretty damn fine wall to paint.

It was a late start on the wall, after an afternoon of running around fabric shops in the city collecting some new fabric snapshots. By around 2pm I started laying down the foundations of the painting.

A Zanzibar red colobus, (procolobus kirkii) have been registered as endangered for 26 years, since 1986. They are rapidly declining in numbers and it’s not the only colobus suffering from the same sad plight. This species is endemic to Zanzibar Island where it occurs at elevations of 0-110 m. They may once have lived on the mainland, but are completely extirpated there now. Red Zanzibars are now found mainly in the South Eastern part of the island in Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park. In 1974 approximately 14 animals were introduced to Ngezi Forest Reserve, Pemba Island, where the species is believed to persist in small numbers but has never managed to sustain itself successfully to rebuild numbers.

Today’s population is estimated at 2,000 individuals but is decreasing rapidly mainly due to deforestation but occasionally as a result of hunting, sport and supposed pest control.

By the time it got dark, I was only half finished the wall so returned the following day to continue and decided that I wanted to introduce a second endangered guy to the wall; an Amatola Malachite or Basking Malachite. These insects are also decreasing rather rapidly, with no more than 1000 adults left. Unfortunately when the farmed cattle arrive at the river banks, they trample these little guys to death and they only live in a few sites, ten sites has recently decreased to two and the future of these beautiful insects is unknown.

lots of love to the elfin for continuously fixing my scrawls and making them legible...
im off to safari today so the next blog is all about what i find...iv been waiting to go on safari since i was about seven years old...bittttttt excited....

one love

NEW ERA INTRODUCING - PRESERVATION

NEW ERA INTRODUCING - LOUIS MASAI MICHEL amongst about another 120 odd artists including my empress LINDA ZINA ASLAKSEN.....

THE SCULPTURE IS CALLED....PRESERVATION....

. PRESERVE OUR CULTURE
. PRESERVE OUR ANIMAL KINGDOM
. PRESERVE NATURE
. PRESERVE HIPHOP
. PRESERVE CREATION

A BIT ABOUT THE PROJECT CAN BE FOUND BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK....
http://neweraintroducing.com/


BUT IN SHORT THE NEW ERA GUYS HAVE RELEASED A COMP WERE BY ARTISTS  ARE INVITED TO SUBMIT AN IDEA TO CHANGE THE HAT THE BEST ONES FROM 7 COUNTRIES WERE SELECTED, WE RECEIVED OUR BLANK CANVAS HAT TO DEVELOP...TWO WEEKS LATER WE POSTED EM BACK TO BE JUDGED THE BEST 70 GO GLOBAL, ON A TOURING EXHIBITION, CURATED BY LOTS OF AMAZING PEOPLE IN THE REPRESENTATIVE COUNTRIES, THEN THEY CHOOSE ONE , THATS RIGHT ONE HAT, TO BE THE WINNER AND THEY GET 10K...UMMM YES PLEASE NEW ERA... ILL TAKE THAHT OPPORTUNITY, LIKE DUCK TO WATER....THIS IS WHAT I MADE...



                                                       THE TOOLS, THE TOOLS

NEWSPAPERS FROM THE LONDON TRAINS COME IN VERY HANDY, ALTHOUGH U DO LOOK LIKE A HOBO PULLING EM OUT OF BINS...O WELL..IN THE NAME OF ART...

THIS FABRIC PATTERN IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE AFRICAN PRINTS AND I HAVE HAD SOME OF THIS FABRIC FOR THE LAST 10 ODD YEARS...INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH NEARLY ALL AFRICAN PRINT IS MADE IN HOLLAND EVEN WHEN U GO TO AFRICA AND BUY IN THE MARKETS, IT USUALLY SAYS PRINTED IN HOLLAND...

FOR ME IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A PATTERN THAT RELATED TO THE HATS AUDIENCE...WITHOUT SOUNDING LIKE A TYPECASTING FOOL, ALOT OF PEOPLES WEARING NEW ERA ARE INFLUENCED BY HIPHOP CULTURE AND THAT TENDS TO BE ABLOT OF AFRO CULTURE, OF COURSE ITS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY ALL HIPHOP ELEMENTS AND NOW IS AS MULTI ASSETED AS QUALITY STREET, BUT WHEN I THINK OF NEW ERA I STILL SEE DIZEE RASCAL..MAYBEY ITS JUST ME... SO I WANTED THE AFROCENTRIC CULTURE TO B THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET TO MY CREATION....AND AFRICAN PATTERNS ARE AMAZING SHAPES AND COLOURS...

PAINTING THAT HAT WAS SO THERAPEUTIC. MIGHT JUST HAVE BEEN THE FINALL BIT OF SUNSHINE WE EXPERIENCING COMING IN HROUGH THE WINDOW, BUT YEAH IT WAS ALOT OF FUN...

CUTTING INTO THE HAT WAS A LITTLE DAUNTING, COS I KNEW IF I FUCT IT NOW THAT WAS IT BUT I MANAGED TO FIGURE IT OUT TO FIT THE EARS AND SLID EM IN FILLING IN THE HOLES WTH NO NAILS GLUE AND PAPER...

SO WHY A SPRINGBOK...COS I THINK THEY COOL ANIMALS... I LOVE THEIR HUGE EARS... I LOVE HOW THEY ARE THE CENTRE TO THE SURVIVAL OF A LOT OF AFRICAS BIG GAME CATS, WITHOUT THE GRAZERS IN THE WORLD THE MEAT EATERS WOULD BE GONE...THIS IN SOME WAYS IS MY WAY OF GIVING THANKS TO THEIR ABUNDANCE...DURING THE BUILD THE SHAPE OF THE FACE WENT FROM LIZARD TO CROC TO DONKEY TO HORSE BACK TO LIZRD TO DRAGON, FINALLY I FOUND MY SPRINGBOK WELL I THINK HE LOOKS LIKE ONE ANYWAY....

TO MAKE THE EYE LASHES I USED A DUSTPAN AND BRUSHES BRISTLES...CURLED EM WITH A BLADE AND PATIENTLY STUCK EACH ONE IN.....

IN THE ORIGINAL DRAWING THE SPRINGBOK IS SUCKING ON A TOOTHPICK. LIKE HOW JAZZ CATS, HIPHOPSTERS, GANGSTERS AND ALIKE DO.  THESE GUYS ALWAYS ARE CHEWING ON TWIGS AND GRASS SO IT SEEMED FITTING FOR THE ILLUSTRATION...SO FOR THE SCULPTURE I WAS RUNNING AROUND LOOKING FOR A BBQ STICK TO IMITATE A LARGE TOOTHPICK, COULD I FIND ONE IN THE HOUSE HELL NO...I HAD A LIGHTNING STRIKE MOMENT AND SNAPPED A PENCIL...AS AN END RESULT, IT WAS THE BEST DECISION OF THE DAY...

SO THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF THE STAND WITH THE NAME TAG, ADORNED WITH MY STAMP LOGO.  THE OTHER MAIN FACTOR THAT I WANTED THIS SCULPTURE TO ACHIEVE WAS MUCH IN SAME AS THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION...ITS ABOUT A LOVE AND HATE FOR TAXIDERMY...I HATE THE FACT THAT THIS A MURDERED ANIMAL, BUT I CANT HELP BUT LOVE THE FACT THAT SOMEONE HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO PRESERVE THIS WHAT SHOULD HAVE ROTED ORGANISM, I LOVE THE INTRICATE DETAILS AND THE WAY TAXIDERMY IS PRESENTED....I HATE THE PEOPLE THAT COLLECT THE TAXIDERMY AND THE WAY IT IS USED AS AWAY OF SAYING IM HUMAN IM THE MOST IMPORTANT LIVING CREATURE.  SO I USE TAXIDERMY IN MY WORK AS A WAY TO SAY WHAT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS WE ARE...WE COULD HAVE MADE THE SAME THING WITHOUT KILING THE ANIMAL IN THE FIRST PLACE... I ADD ALL THE ADORNING S AS WITH MY OTHER WORK TO DOCUMENT ALL THE FUNNNY THINGS WE AS HUMANS SEE AS RELEVANT TO OUR PRESENCE...HATS, FABRICS, PENCILS, ETC....

SO BELOW IS THE FILM I MADE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT I HAVE LEFT NO MUSIC ON THE FILM PURPOSELY SO THAT U CAN LISTEN TO WHAT EVER MUSIC U HAVE ON YOUR COMPUTER ALREADY...I LIKE LISTENING TO 340ML OR 

7FT SOUNDSYSTEM WHILST PLAYING IT.... BOTH ARE FROM SOUTH AFRICA...

THE END.......ONE LOVE