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8 Young African Entrepreneurs Rebranding The Continent With Art

8 Young African Entrepreneurs Rebranding The Continent With Art

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Artists, particularly those in the visual arena, can reshape the way the world sees a place and can help bring that that place under the curious eye of international markets–like fashion and entertainment. Here are 8 young African entrepreneurs rebranding the continent and changing the way the world sees Africa.

Woman.ng/Amaka Osakwe
Woman.ng/Amaka Osakwe

Amaka Osakwe

Nigerian designer Amaka Osakwe has dressed the likes of Michelle Obama and Solange Knowles and was invited to the White House for the first lady’s “Celebration of Design” initiative, all before turning 30 years old. Osakwe was the first Africa-based designer whose clothes made it onto the first lady, says AllAfrica.com. Each of Osakwe’s pieces has a “hidden meaning taken from the traditional clothing ideology in Nigeria.” In this way, Osakwe is spreading Nigerian ideology around the world through her clothes.

Nuestravozlatina.com/Coreon Du
Nuestravozlatina.com/Coreon Du

Coreon Du

Coreon Du is the son of Angola’s President, but he’s managed to make a name for himself outside of the first son. His real name is José Eduardo Paulino dos Santos but he goes by his stage name, and he founded Da Banda modelling agency–an agency that sees some of the most requests from international clients for Angolan models. Prada, Dior, and Bottega Veneta are just a few of the designers that have featured Da Banda models, says Vogue.com.

Afropunk.com/Kudzanai Chiurai
Afropunk.com/Kudzanai Chiurai

Kudzanai Chiurai

If multimedia artist Kudzanai Chiurai is anything, it’s brave. The Zimbabwean visionary was the first black student to graduate with a degree in fine arts from the University of Pretoria, then banished from Zimbabwe when he used his art to depict his disapproval of President Robert Mugabe. Today Chiurai lives in South Africa and creates art using videos, photographs, paintings and drawings to address issues such as democracy and xenophobia, according to Cnn.com.

Thatswhatsgoodmedia.com
Thatswhatsgoodmedia.com

Gyimah Gariba

Ghanaian graphic artist Gyimah Gariba recently partnered with Marvel to create a project that will combine hip-hop and superheroes. Now based in Toronto, Gariba started drawing cartoons when he was just 5 in Ghana, inspired by Cartoon Network characters, “Hey Arnold!”, “Powerpuff Girls” and other American cartoons. He eventually gained an enormous social media following when he made drawings based on Kanye West  and Rihanna albums, according to Thehundreds.com.

Thatgoodgoodblog.blogspot.com/Lakin Ogunbanwo
Thatgoodgoodblog.blogspot.com/Lakin Ogunbanwo

Lakin Ogunbanwo

Before age 29, Nigerian photographer Lakin Ogunbanwo had already seen his work featured in Wall Street Journal, GQ and New York Times. The self-taught photo artist is known for raw and inspiring portraits that at once look frozen in time decades ago, but also feel imminent and urgent. CNN called him one of Africa’s most exciting new photographers, according to Artbaseafrica.org.

Vlisco.com/Papa Oppong
Vlisco.com/Papa Oppong

Papa Oppong

Papa Oppong is famous for his caricature-like illustrations on Instagram with 13,500 followers. He is now doing mostly fashion sketches since that is the next industry Oppong hopes to break into. Oppong has worked for Dutch wax fabric company Vlisco, says Abinaonline.com. He is furthering his education at Ghana’s Radford University College in Acra.

Theaustralian.com/el Seed
Theaustralian.com/el Seed

El Seed

This French-Tunisian graffiti artist was born Faouzi Khlifi, but he is known in the artist community as el Seed. He does his graffiti in Arabic calligraphy, and has been featured on the Ted Talks blog for the art form he named calligraffiti. Cities around the world have commissioned el Seed to paint his murals on their walls. They inspire hope and unity, says Ted.com. El Seed often includes famous quotes in his artwork.

Kuonatrust.org/Tahir Karmali
Kuonatrust.org/Tahir Karmali

Tahir Karmali

Kenyan visual artist Tahir Karmali is willing, through his craft, to delve into topics that his home country is generally reluctant to acknowledge, such as the LGBT community and prostitution. One of Karmali’s recent exhibits that earned international recognition is “Value,” which depicts Nairobi-based male sex workers holding items of value to them. The exhibit aims to encourage people to question their perspectives on sex workers and men being sexualized, says OkayAfrica.com.