The Hyena Men of Abuja

Celine Clanet’s Maze photo essay

There’s a sense of beautiful unease about Celine Clanet’s photo essay, Máze, the icy environment creating a gentle juxtaposition against the subtle warmth of the colors. Of the series, she says: ‘I lived for several months in Máze, up to the north of the Arctic Circle, in Norway. There, I met these quiet people, melancholic, captivating, very proud of their Sami village and territory, proud of these landscapes. They are constantly gazing at it with binoculars which they never separate from, even at home. I have captured these Sami people, along with houses and reindeers that should not be here today as they are flooded with waters from a dam project that the Norwegian government planned in early 70s, but fortunately aborted. This series is all about capturing the perfect moment, when time doesn’t exist anymore and night is gone, at which point they immerse themselves in tasks such as fishing through an ice hole in Suolojarvi Lake, or riding the snowscooter across the tundra; talking, or laying down, doing nothing, saying nothing. Just being’. Read more

Ken Keirns

Redwood artist Ken Keirns has a thing for monkeys. That much is obvious enough. His site is crawling with them, in his toys, illustrations, and paintings. By his own admission, he ‘likes painting women and monkeys, with a sense of humor’. And so he does. Very, very well.

Kate Kunath’s rabbit breeders series

New York photographer Kate Kunath’s series on rabbit breeders captures owners with their furry friends, looking every bit as possessive and enamored of their pointy eared pets as any slightly obsessive dog owner might be. Of the photo essay, she says: ‘I got my big break in 2004 at the American Rabbit Breeders Convention. I’m kidding, but there really is a Best in Show for bunnies every year, similar to the Westminster for dogs, without the high-brow. The first time I went to a show, I was really impressed by the rabbit breeders, so I returned the following year with a photo studio’. Read more

South Africa’s The Artists’ Press

When I found my way to the Artists’ Press last year, there was a forest fire raging dangerously close to this sleek, yet casual studio tucked in the rolling hills of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Despite flames visible just a few miles away, the charming Mark and Tamar calmly showed me around their space, where they just happened to be doing a special print commission for William Kentridge, an impossibly complicated replica of torn layers and ink washes. As we moved from table to table, drawer to drawer, Tamar pulled out endless treasures — prints and artist’s proofs from the likes of Claudette Schreuders and Dumisani Mabaso, as well as the incredible emerging artists that the Artists’ Press represents — that I began to run out of new ways to ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ over the works they shared. Read more

Robin Rhode

There’s a lot I could say about South African artist Robin Rhode.  But to simply say that he’s endlessly cool pretty much sums it up. In fact, he’s so cool that Nike’s been accused of ripping off one of his pieces for a television ad (can you say plagiarism: just don’t do it?) Read more

Prefab for Africa

You too can start sentences, ‘I had a farm in Africa …’ Zenkaya, an innovative architecture firm based in Johannesburg, is bringing modern design and the ease of pre-fab construction to South Africa. French architect Eric Bigot claims that his company’s studio, one and two bedroom models can go from the factory to the building site in just five to twelve weeks. It may not be the thatch-roofed Africa of Karen Blixen’s coffee plantations, but it just could be the future. [see also the Prefab houses of architectural firm Brio 54]