‘Appearance’ – Fashion Africa Now presents a 3-day design hub about processing a colonial past and the deconstruction of fashion – with keynotes, workshops and installations at the Design Center in Hamburg Hafencity (23 – 25 Sept. ‘22)
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From 23 – 25 September, 2022, Fashion Africa Now is exploring in the 3-day design hub ‘Appearance’ how colonialism, racism and capitalism in fashion interact through a discursive, performative and artistic program. The focus is on ‘Decolonizing Fashion’ in an examination of fashion’s colonial past and its continuities in our present. For this reason, Fashion Africa Now mainly wants to present marginalized positions of BIPoC as well as ‘fashion’ practices from the Global South, e.g. through fashion installations, workshops and an exhibition.
Sandra Mawuto Dotou is an ideator of the exhibition concept Escape Racism International. The project has developed into an exhibition format which is aimed at promoting a critical attitude towards racism among white people with the help of historical content, interactive diagrams and games that playfully address the topic of privileges. According to the concept, there are five stages in which white people deal with the topic of racism. An animated film will be presented about it at the exhibition Africa Now.
Further works and contributions are from Benjamin Mengistu Navet, Bubu Ogisi, Sel Kofiga, Sandra Mawuto Dotou with Escape Racism International, Delali Ayivi, Nio Far by Milcos, Sydney Nwakanma, NKB, NNB, Buki Akomolafe, Kids Of the Diaspora, 1106 AIRY and Gurlz with Curlz Magazine.
Initiator Beatrace Angut Lorika Oola from FASHION AFRICA : “The time has come! Fashion Africa Now has reached a decade. The journey began ten years ago with creative people from Hamburg and Berlin. Following the overwhelming response to our fashion video Africa Fashion Day Berlin, which aired on Arte Tracks in September 2012, and after the runway shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin, trade shows, and an exhibition at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as at our exclusive fashion dinner, we come together today to celebrate ten years of decolonizing fashion.
The project encompasses two main topics: processing a colonial past and the deconstruction of fashion – with an interdisciplinary discourse program full of presentations, workshops and discussions as well as installations and artistic interventions. We will look at the existing structures through a decolonial and power-critical lens while discussing and elaborating on the implications and relations of knowledge through art and fashion.
Finally, we want to define the next steps in order to overcome existing ideologies and move towards a more just, reasonable and conscious creation of fashion and design. This type of artistic production benefits from the synthesis of various academic disciplines, artists, activism, artistic genres and formats to create an innovative conglomerate.
For centuries, Africa has been underrepresented within the fashion industry. African fashion has mostly been associated with ethnic fashion, overlooking the vast creative potential of an emerging generation of designers and artists. Today, African creatives are reclaiming the narrative and rethinking contemporary African fashion – challenging and side-stepping (neo)colonial thought patterns and beauty norms.
Fashion Africa Now is here to represent the complex and multifaceted world of African fashion design. As a Black-owned media brand, we amplify Black voices and tell inspirational, educational and empowering stories about contemporary creative Africa.”
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