This is the second part of my email exchange – in French and English – with Tounzi, curator of Manufactoriel, for August’s episode of “Talents”. Manufactoriel is an institution of digital black visual culture, boasting about 30000 followers. The images have caught the eye of cultural institutions the likes of the MET Museum, which follows it on Twitter, and have been reblogged by prominent Afrocentric figures and platforms including …

“Talents” is a space to showcase and learn about the work of emerging creatives in the fields of black fashion, photography, and fine art. *** If your interests are black visual culture and African aesthetics I am sure you are a fan of Manufactoriel, the blog. This Tumblr is my no.1 destination when I search for compelling visuals from the continent and it has …

#OwnYourCulture is a social media movement that seeks to “decolonize fashion, one necklace at a time”. It showcases ‘traditional’ ornaments as fashionable pieces, in a bid to show the fashionable-ity  of traditional jewelry and reconnect to what fashion was and looked like in Africa before European colonization. Fashion consultant Chepkemboi Mang’ira of the blog MissVavavum launched #OwnYourCulture on Instagram  in 2015, asking users to style a traditional cultural piece with contemporary clothes.   Since …

Simon and Mary is a South African headwear company, established in Johannesburg in the 1930s by Mordechai Wozniak, a Polish immigrant, and run today by his great-great grandson Dean. The factory, which was originally called “Supreme Hat and Cap Manufacturers”, launched the actual brand “Simon and Mary” in 2014. It produces wool felt hats using original machinery from the 1960s. …