22 Feb 2017

He taught himself to draw

He taught himself to draw

Jono Dry opens a window into his own mind through his photorealistic-surreal drawings.

Jono Dry’s journey with art has always been personal. He taught himself to draw. And for the most part he draws himself. Conceptually at least. Dry’s work is powerfully introspective, dealing primarily with mental stability and well-being. There’s no steady resolve. It’s honest to the journey that he’s on – his current avenue of self-exploration. But while his work is intimate, the candid revelation of his process speaks universally.

Dry’s medium is sturdy graphite, which he uses to create photorealistic art. That’s the method of delivery, but his conceptual content is more surreal. It takes a second to untangle this swirling juxtaposition: at first glance the muscular back depicted on paper looks quite literally as real as a photograph, until an anomaly is noticed – the great Kudu horns leaving the sunken head beyond. The marriage of real and surreal is really best experienced.

Dry is absorbed in an art of complexity. And it is spellbinding. Honest. He announces self-doubt boldly throughout his works, using it to channel himself into that surreal creative space from which he expresses what words cannot. He believes that doubt forms part of any creative’s life, perhaps even every person’s existence. It’s not an ominous omen for the future, but an invitation to push and reach up to a new level.

21 Feb 2017 

Mountain biking is a tough sport. Now try it on one wheel

   

Mountain biking is a tough sport. Now try it on one wheel

Donna Kisogloo is the first woman to have completed the Cape Town Cycle Tour on a unicycle. To her, being unconventional is being alive.

Donna Kisogloo knows that she’s a little odd. Her behaviour can draw frowns – like when she cruises past fellow cyclists – on a unicycle. But strange looks and stares mean nothing to the idiosyncratic trundler. She is the first woman to have completed the Cape Town Cycle Tour, South Africa’s premiere road race, on a unicycle. Twice.

Kisogloo did have a head-start in the balance department. She comes from a juggling background, which exposed her to many other circus arts. Including the wonders of life on one wheel. Carnival life also taught her to think outside the box, giving her room to experiment with different ways to enjoy South Africa’s beauty.

Kisogloo lives on the edge of each rotation, seeking out the next challenge. Most recently she’s on to mountain unicycling – extreme, not for a weak constitution. Kisogloo has a bold way of going about business. Sure, this means being unconventional. Even controversial. Or just alive.

20 Feb 2017 

The man who saves dogs from certain death

   

The man who saves dogs from certain death

With 17 years of experience as an inspector for the SPCA, Jerry Selwane opened his own animal rehabilitation centre to care for animals and create a culture of positivity towards wildlife within his community.

This ‘please-call-me’ is urgent. There’s an animal in need, and one of Jerry’s Rangers has spotted it. Back at the Soweto Animal Rescue and Advisory Centre (SARAC), Jerry Selwane already has his hands full of paws. But he’ll gladly take in one more stray dog. And another after that. Because he believes that they suffer as we humans do. That their rights are the same as ours. And that they should be protected.

Spreading this message is the purpose behind SARAC, the shelter that Selwane started in his own home. He wanted to put his 17 years of experience as an SPCA inspector to use not only in saving animals, but in educating people about them. So, looking to the future, he enlisted the help of youngsters in his community to help him find abandoned animals. The group known affectionately as Jerry’s Rangers includes his three sons.

Selwane has passed his passion for animals on to the three boys, who beam as they reveal that their father shows the animals as much love as he does his family. By interacting with the animals his rangers begin to understand and appreciate them. The ripples pour out over the community as it becomes their mission to educate others. Seeing young people take up the cause so close to his heart fills Selwane with the deepest pride. He knows that “saving one animal won’t change the world, but the world will definitely change for any animal that we save”.

14 Feb 2017

The artist with a sugar-coated message that you’ll lap right up

   

The artist with a sugar-coated message that you’ll lap right up

Alice Toich is an artist who loves to bake. Blending the two passions, she uses the textures of food to inspire her art.

Even the greatest artists find themselves disconnected from beauty. Alice Toich puts it down to the busyness of life. Her solution is to step away from her palette of colours and into her kitchen. Baking not only relaxes her, but forms a source of inspiration for her later artistic creating.

“I embrace the femininity of being in the kitchen. It makes me feel strong and purpose-driven,” says Toich. Instead of being weighed down by stereotypes, Toich bursts through them by using the allure of baked goods to attract her audience. “Sometimes I need to sugar-coat things to get people to listen,” she reflects.

Her art is playful, but there’s a richness to it. It’s textured. Flavoured.  Toich works messages into her creations, using baking as a way to make art accessible to younger people. After all, she believes that baking and art are all about bringing us together. “I always think about people whenever I bake or make art – that’s the whole point of it at the end of the day,” she says.

13 Feb 2017

How to find calm and clarity in the midst of rage and turmoil

   

How to find calm and clarity in the midst of rage and turmoil

By losing himself in the turmoil of water, kayaker Andrew Kellett discovers who he is.

What draws someone to the water? Discomfort on solid ground? The swirling drag of losing control, immersed in a force greater than oneself? For Andrew Kellett it’s about the journey – a lifelong relationship with water based on testing limits and earning respect.

Kellett learned to kayak as a child during trips into the mountains with his father. As an adult he became a respected white water exploration paddler and a member of the South African Freestyle Kayaking Team. His love for the sport has taken him all over the world, but his heart will never leave South Africa’s rivers.

Embracing the freedom at the edge of control has shaped Kellett’s life and career. Dropping in and letting go has become a vehicle to explore the world and experience all of its elements – to return to the primal joy of testing himself against the wilderness.

09 Feb 2017

The survival bag for homeless lives

   

The survival bag for homeless lives

Street Sleeper is an NPO that repurposes used advertising billboards to create survival sleeping bags for the homeless.

Oliver Brain had a problem. He wasn’t an engaged member of his own neighbourhood. An engineer with a conscience, his mind clocked through in search of an answer. He found a solution that tackles two of South Africa’s biggest issues: the daily life and death struggle of the homeless and the excessive amount of inorganic waste that humans produce. In one innovative swoop Brain connected his firing neurons and reimagined landfill-ordained advertising billboards as survival sleeping bags for the homeless.

The bags Brain came up with are crafted to include a pillow sleeve where clothes can be stored, enough space for the storage of valuables and webbing straps to convert the clever devices from sleeping bag to travel pack. The result is tough, practical and absolutely needed. But for Brain, the project, which has developed into the NGO Street Sleeper, is far more than a drop and go set-up. He’s interested in building up South Africa both practically and socially. Alienation and lack of human contact are as much a struggle for the homeless as physical needs. Street Sleeper makes it a priority to address this.

Volunteers are encouraged to engage with the homeless while distributing their survival bags. Having a simple conversation seems easy enough, but it requires bridging an enormous social gap. This marginalised group of people live in a way most South Africans can’t fully imagine. Brain believes that this exercise not only provides psychological upliftment for the street sleepers, but is an opportunity for volunteers to grow immensely.

08 Feb 2017

How to make art with a pinch of salt

   

How to make art with a pinch of salt

Percy Maimela turned spilled salt on a storeroom floor into the first ever Ground Art, and in doing so reinvented himself.

Percy Maimela’s creativity was trapped. And he had no idea. Until one day it escaped. Stuck in a dead-end job, Maimela’s life changed when he stumbled upon spilled salt on a storeroom floor. He left the broom where it lent and crouched down, allowing himself to reimagine the possibilities in the grains as his hands began to push them about the floor. By the time he stood up he had created a picture, pioneering a new form of art.

Maimela didn’t spend much longer on the storeroom floor in the building where he worked as a merchandiser. Because on that day he not only saw salt from a new angle, but himself as well. With reinvigorated energy for life he has become a full time Ground Artist, using the material around him to produce art.

The career transition has had its difficulties. Maimela admits that in life the temptation is always towards security. But risk brings opportunity and so Maimela is challenging himself. He believes that the possibility is there to experience the world anew each and every day. We live in a country that allows us to reimagine the ordinary things in life and, as he puts it, “be strange”. Through that freedom Maimela has transitioned from merchandiser to artist.

07 Feb 2017

South Africa’s most courageous para-cyclist is riding for her country

   

South Africa’s most courageous para-cyclist is riding for her country

Toni Mould is a World Cup winning para-cyclist who sets out to conquer the South African Road & Time-trial Championships today.

Toni Mould was never supposed to walk. Severe Cerebral Palsy stunted her growth and impeded her physical development. But Mould has never let her abilities define her. Today she is an athlete, a World Cup winner for her country. She experienced the career highlight after taking part in the South African leg of the 2016 Para-cycling Road World Cup, a moment of triumph that punctuates a profoundly victorious life. And today she races again, taking part in the South African Road & Time-trial Championships.

Most babies begin to tot about on two legs towards the end of their first year and are fully mobile by 14 to 17 months. For Mould, this natural progression from the ground up was made close to impossible by Cerebral Palsy, a condition that disrupts muscle tone development. Undeterred, she learnt to walk when she was 7. She started para-cycling at 29. Soon after her first ride Mould was taking part in races for disabled athletes, without much experience or the correct equipment. After 18 months she upgraded to a proper racing tricycle and experienced immediate success, placing first at the South African Nationals in 2015. Seven months later she had her national colours.

Mould has epitomised endurance since childhood. She chose to attend school and persevere through the challenges that come with being disabled as a young person. After pushing for years she eventually opted to finish through home schooling. Academics remained important to her and Mould ended up with a degree in Social Work from Stellenbosch University. She has lived out the message she hopes to deliver to others: anything can be accomplished with a focused mind.