The boundless journey of the international African American museum and deep curation of a shared history. 



In January 1861, the estate of a deceased landowner called William McKenna was auctioned at the local courthouse in Lancaster County, South Carolina. According to the auction poster, McKenna’s property included 182 ‘Negro Slaves’: toddlers as young as three; a shoemaker aged ‘about 50 years’; a woman named Charlotte and her six children, available for $800 each.



This faded document, ambered in a kind of matter-of-fact horror, belongs to the Internation- al African American Museum (IAAM), opened in 2023 in Charleston at Gadsden’s Wharf, the first destination for 40% of the enslaved Afri- cans who landed in the United States (U.S.). It’s an architectural choice that recognizes both an unflinching apprehension of the site’s tragic his- tory, and its potential as a place of healing for vis- itors whose descendants began their American journey in an exhausted step from the slave ship to the jetty.



Malika N. Pryor is the IAAM’s Chief Learning and Engagement Officer, providing strategic direction for its programs: the cultural history of West and West Central Africa; the “nuanced historical connections throughout the Black Atlantic World”; the memories of the enslaved Africans who worked in South Carolina’s lucrative rice industry; and the Center for Family History, which assists African Americans interested in researching their own ancestry. 



“Our first goal for the Center is to break down the ‘wall of 1870’ – 1870 being the year newly-minted African Americans are included en masse in the U.S. Census,” she says. “Many African Americans find it difficult to trace their ancestry beyond this point. Disembar- kation is an equally critical goal: our researchers have traced African-descended ancestors to the 1600s. And the grand thoroughfares of the more recent past – the civil rights movement, Black Power, or the Great Migration – are the natural aggregation of a million respective decisions. When people know the role their family played in these moments, they can place themselves on the map of humanity.” To that end, the museum has been developing relationships with West African countries as part of a deep curation of a shared history.



“Whether in Sierra Leone, where we are working to secure relics connected to the trans-Atlantic slave trade; Ghana, where we foster knowledge exchange in cultural studies; or by hosting dignitaries from Togo: we are working intently to engage with the African continent,” says Pryor. “While we are not a philosophically pan-African institution, it’s difficult to imagine a museum that frames the African American journey within the context of the larger diaspora without the advocacy of a unified African identity. In many respects, it is the legacy of pan-Africanism that gives way to this idea of an African cultural continuum across the oceans.”



African visitors to the museum have also felt empowered by its affirmation of their own cultural integrity. “They’ve told us IAAM is the first museum where they see themselves: where their stories are prominent and clearly related to Black people in the Americas. That was such important feedback.”



In an era where so many in power push back against the idea of restitution, could the museum have a role to play in an intellectual recalibration of the U.S.’ understanding of African American culture? “South Carolina, for much of its history, was a numerical Black ma- jority,” Pryor says. 



“Enslaved Africans developed the rice economy, constructed much of the architecture that dots the Carolina coast, fought to preserve our democracy, seeded the origins of jazz. The contributions of African Americans are clear, but they are not always evident. Our mission is to honor the untold stories of this journey. If we do that well, the museum’s potential to inspire visitors to become the story-keepers of these incredible narratives is boundless.”

IAAM, photo by Sahar Coston-Hardyv

Cultural Continuum And The Legacy Of Pan-Africanism In The U.S.

At the ninth edition of ART X Lagos, FORBES AFRICA witnessed a convergence of artists, collectors, and creatives, each contributing to the dynamic rise of Africa&#8217;s art scene.



César Schofield Cardoso, an artist from the quiet shores of Cape Verde, found himself in the middle of Nigeria’s pulsating art scene — a world away from his island of 562,000 people where the art scene is almost nonexistent.



“People actually buy art here?” he blurts out, half to himself, half to FORBES AFRICA, amidst the eclectic bustle of ART X Lagos, West Africa’s international art fair. He&#8217;s here with five other artists from the continent and the Caribbean, their creations displayed in a 45-square-meter booth with walls clad in gold — a hint of the opulence that now weaves through the Nigerian art world. Around him, top officials, social figures, and curious collectors fill the hall, their interest in art anything but fleeting.



Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, founder of Alexis Galleries, which is just a short drive from the fairgrounds, nods knowingly as she says, “Art is growing very quickly in Nigeria.” Within three days of the four-day fair, her gallery has moved $50,000 worth of work, despite inflation gripping the nation. Her clientele — seasoned art lovers who appreciate pieces ranging from $9,000 to $65,000 — reflects a new trend in African art collecting that speaks to both exclusivity and passion.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="819" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos-819x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63633" style="width:405px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos-819x1024.jpg 819w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos-240x300.jpg 240w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos-768x960.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-work-by-Nigerian-folk-artist-Abe-Odedina-Image-courtesy-Art-X-Lagos.jpg 1440w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A work by Nigerian folk artist Abe Odedina (Image courtesy Art X Lagos)</figcaption></figure></div>


Nearby, the works of Ethiopian artist Fiker Solomon sell out almost immediately, with pieces ranging from $5,000 to $8,000. Ugandan gallery owner Daudi Karungi, who brought pieces from Solomon as well as other African artists, finds himself busy with inquiries. “There’s a strong interest in African art,” he says. His gallery, a long-time exhibitor at ART X Lagos, represents Solomon, Kaleab Abate from Ethiopia and Odur Ronald from Uganda.



Nigeria’s art market has endured despite the fluctuating naira, asserting the country as a regional leader in African art. Cardoso couldn’t help but wonder if his own Cape Verde might one day match Nigeria&#8217;s vibrancy. In his current work, Alga C, a cyanotype that explores Cape Verde’s post-colonial transformations, he considers the displacement of traditional fishing communities to make way for the demands of tourism. Here, his piece invited art lovers from all walks of life to consider the stories of the less seen, the overlooked.



At another corner of the fair, O’DA Art Gallery, located a short drive from the venue, was showcasing the pieces of Nigerian folk artist Abe Odedina, priced at around N3 million ($1,825). “Collectors here used to be mostly older, but now we&#8217;re seeing younger people with a taste for contemporary art,” shares gallery founder Obida Obioha.



“There’s a new pride in ourselves,” he says. “People want to dress in their own labels, listen to their own music, and buy their own art.”



For Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, art may target specific buyers, but for Karungi, art is for everyone. “It’s about accessibility. I’ve seen the value of African art grow from three figures to six figures over the last five years. This value expansion is vital for keeping the art scene vibrant and growing,” shares Karungi.



Founder Tokini Peterside-Schwebig dreamed ART X Lagos would inspire and elevate Africa’s art world. Watching collectors and artists exchange stories, she felt that her vision was being realized. As she prepared to welcome David Lammy visiting Africa for the first time as United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary, she reflected on the fair’s significance. “We’re building something more than monetary value here; we’re creating projects that take these artists’ voices to the world stage. These are ideas that will flourish, even decades from now.”



Cardoso felt it — the cultural electricity, the unspoken pride — a first experience in Lagos he wouldn’t soon forget.

Aspirations (Image courtesy Art X Lagos)

Nigeria’s Art Market Shines Even As Naira Wavers, Setting New Standards For Collectors

The value of African art in the international market has reportedly more than doubled to $72 million.



At various times in the latter-day stages of its chameleonic three-billion-year life, it’s been known as Epher, Ophir, Ham, Corphye, and Faraqa. It’s been Alkebulan: ‘the mother of mankind’. This womb of creativity is Also Known As Africa, itself the mischievous title of an annual art and design fair returning for its ninth edition from October 18 to 20 at Le Carreau du Temple, Paris.



“Also Known As Africa is an open-ended question to all artists, art lovers, curators, collectors and professionals to join the conversation about what is each and everyone&#8217;s Africa,” says Victoria Mann, the fair’s founding director. “It’s about making no assumptions, and embracing everyone&#8217;s unique vision.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-63475" style="width:423px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sanjo-Lawal-HEADSTART-II_2023©THIS-IS-NOT-A-WHITE-CUBE-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Sanjo Lawal, HEADSTART II_2023©THIS IS NOT A WHITE CUBE</figcaption></figure></div>


The fair features 37 exhibitors and over a hundred artists, with a “particular focus” on the ultra-marine scene.



“We created AKAA with the intention of presenting artists defined not by their location, but by the link to the African continent they highlight in their art practice,” says Mann. “These links go above and beyond borders. Highlighting the Caribbean and West Indies territories is in line with this approach, and we are thrilled to include talents who very naturally find their place alongside the diverse line-up of artists showcased at the fair.”



These wider cross-continental conversations reach out into the diaspora, facilitating a de-colonization of the creative ‘supply chain’ by supporting a multiplicity of perspectives. “Over the past nine years, we have seen incredibly compelling and innovative ways we can see contemporary African art from an angle that highlights these conversations through curatorial practices, residency programs, and within the market,” she says. “More contemporary artists from Africa are joining international galleries, who have a diverse roster of artists, and several galleries that specialized in the African contemporary art scenes are now working with artists from other parts of the world, creating that dialogue internally.”



In the 10 years since AKAA’s inception, the value of African art in the international market has more than doubled to $72 million, as biases about the nature of African art have shifted and matured into a more nuanced understanding of its diversity and breadth. “Our aim was to offer an economic and cultural platform that would contribute to the development and rise of this market, and that would allow the French public to understand and appreciate these art scenes without cliché or preconceptions,” Mann says. “This is no longer an emergent market, but one that is stable, and growing stronger. Galleries that participated in AKAA as their first international fair now travel the whole world, and young artists who were presented for the first time in Paris have been acquired by major collections.”



The venue, a covered market close to the 800-year-old enclosure where the royal family were held captive during the French Revolution, was an important curatorial choice that gives larger installations room to breathe and interact with the exhibition space.



“From the very start, the Carreau du Temple, with its urban metallic structures and high ceilings allowing natural light to pour in, was the ideal canvas to welcome a monumental installation,” she says. This year’s installation is by Malam, a Paris-based artist from Cameroon “whose work brings about a dialogue between the memory carried by discarded objects, and the consequences of overconsumption our modern-day society faces”.



This is a freedom not only of artistic scale, but to be and name oneself, celebrated in the country of liberation.



“I don&#8217;t believe that any artist today wishes to be qualified by where they come from, but rather by what they do,” Mann says. “It’s a much more dynamic, contemporary, and rich way to present these art scenes.”

Delphine Diallo, The Protector of Humanity_2023©FisheyeGallery

‘What Is Each And Everyone’s Africa’: Check Out This Art Liberation In The Streets Of Paris

When award-winning artwork can be generated by algorithms, where does that leave artists?



By Tiana Cline 



What is an artist? In the age of artificial intelligence, machine learning and text-to-image tools, it’s questionable. Anyone with a computer can generate stunning images in seconds thanks to tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Craiyon. These algorithmic programs, which work with text prompts and data sets, are already starting to shift the creative economy. In August 2022, an American game designer named Jason Allen won first place at the Colorado State Fair Fine Arts Competition. His award-winning work – which has been described as ‘Renaissance meets steampunk’ – was created using Midjourney. And even though the category in which Allen came first was ‘digital arts/digitally-manipulated photography’, it left a lot of people in the creative world angry, questioning whether this kind of AI-generated art could replace human artists.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“There&#8217;s no doubt that the whole visual world is totally oversaturated with imagery. I know a lot of people who do AI art. I see it on Instagram or Facebook and some of the images have stuck in my head,” says Roger Ballen, an American artist who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. “So, I think they’re successful from the point of view of conveying an aesthetic message from one person to another. And how they were able to achieve this, is this important or not important?”&nbsp;&nbsp;



For some industries, AI-generated art is simply a natural progression of where we’re heading – it’s a key part of Web3, the metaverse and how AI algorithms can be integrated into different industries. According to Midjourney founder David Holz, business owners, game designers and people in the movie industry use the tool for storyboarding, strategy and content development. But that’s not where AI-art ends. The Economist used Midjourney to produce one of its 2022 covers and The Atlantic chose AI-generated art for an editorial in lieu of hiring an illustrator – going so far as to credit Midjourney as the artist.&nbsp;&nbsp;



For Ballen, AI-generated art is similar to a computer beating a world chess champion – it’s inevitable. “You look at the work that&#8217;s been done and some of it is amazing. This is where we&#8217;re going – going into a world where our lives and viewpoints and experiences are more virtual rather than physical and it’s happening at an accelerating pace, he says. “I’ve been doing photography for 54 years now. When I started, you needed to go to university and there was a lot of training that took place to get there. Now anyone can do photography. For one photograph that was produced 30 years ago, there may be 50,000 now.”&nbsp;



Plagiarism by machine&nbsp;



There are many ethical considerations around creating (and selling) AI-generated art. AI often reflects human bias which means that the images contained in online datasets are subjective to what is available online.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Ballen questions being able to put a price on an artwork when the material comes from endless sources. He also asks if there is a difference between using an image of a tree (as one example) or from a well-known artist. “Some of these people are trying to produce works of art but actually, the work itself isn&#8217;t necessarily theirs – it&#8217;s an amalgamation of other people&#8217;s work compiled by a computer. So, the issue then is can that person sell it as their own when it&#8217;s ultimately other people&#8217;s work?”&nbsp;



Joh Del, a Cape Town-based artist and illustrator’s understanding that that all artists learn from other pieces of art – both human and AI. “Every time you put something out into the world, someone else can see it, and learn from it. I think almost all species of animals on earth learn from each other,” says Del.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Mikhael Subotzky, an award-winning artist based in South Africa, doesn’t see AI-generated art as something fundamentally new or different. “I think that the power and relevance of art is that its boundaries are always expanding – there should be space for every kind of art,” he says. For Subotzky, the trickiest issue is copyright. “There really should be a way for artists to opt in or out of the algorithms learning from their work. Or even a royalty system where they get a cent or whatever for every time their work is used in this way. Of course, this would require a fundamental change in how images circulate. I wish that the blockchain crowd would focus on this type of thing rather than the latest NFT prices.”&nbsp;



For now, the law is yet to catch up with the advances in AI technology. Under copyright law, copyright depends on human input and AI-generated art is made by machine. In order to avoid future legal issues, Getty Images has banned the sale of AI generative artwork created using image synthesis models. “In one way, it’s an image that somebody initiated to put on a wall and show other people and on the other hand, it’s a mixture of other people’s property. In the commercial world you have copyrights, you have patents, you have rights of property and with this, it’s not as clear because it’s a mishmash of thousands of things that are put together into an artwork,” says Ballen. “You have to look at the image itself. You have to deal with the aesthetics in the image, the message in the image, the type of artwork, where the information came from, how it was put together – there&#8217;s all sorts of things that make it almost impossible to come up with a clear answer… where this ends and where it begins, I don’t know.” 



But Is It Art?&nbsp;



“I’m the type of person who believes in the autonomy of the work, that you don’t necessarily need to know anything about the artist, the place, the time – anything,” says Roger Ballen. “It doesn&#8217;t matter whether you know anything about anything. Art should be like coming into contact with a flower. All of a sudden, you smell it, you feel it, the color leaves an imprint on you and you don’t necessarily need to be a botanist, all that matters is the experience of the art itself.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Screenshot 2023-01-13 at 19.07.53

The Rise Of AI Art: An African Perspective

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Art amassed by late Microsoft co-founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/paul-allen/">Paul Allen</a>&nbsp;brought in more than $1 billion at Christie’s Wednesday evening, setting the record for the most valuable single-owner art collection ever sold at auction only one day into a two-day sale–here’s which pieces have fetched the most.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



“<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397099?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397099&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)</a>” by Georges Seurat was the most valuable artwork sold during the sale so far, fetching $149.24 million including fees, nearly five times higher than the 19th-century artist’s&nbsp;<a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/georges-seurat/paysage-lile-de-la-grande-jatte-WIIl38TNjnNZTxrX3LNO4A2" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previous auction record</a>.



Paul Cézanne’s “<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397105?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397105&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">La Montagne Sainte-Victoire</a>” sold for $137.8 million, nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/may/12/michaelellison" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">doubling</a>&nbsp;the artist’s auction record.



“<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397113?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397113&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Verger avec cyprès</a>” by Vincent Van Gogh also broke the artist’s previous record, selling for $117.2 million.



“<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397102?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397102&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Maternité II</a>” by Paul Gauguin realized $105.7 million, just over three times the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-13291614" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previous</a>&nbsp;record for the most valuable work by Gaugin to sell at auction.



“<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397108?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397108&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Birch Forest</a>” by Gustav Klimt fetched $104.6 million and broke the artist’s previous auction record, the $59 million his “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-art-auction-klimt/klimt-painting-sells-for-59-million-at-record-breaking-london-auction-idUSKBN16922C" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bauerngarten</a>” fetched in 2017.



Lucian Freud also set a new artist record, with his “<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397125?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397125&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau)</a>” selling for $86.2 million.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Another&nbsp;<a href="https://www.christies.com/en/auction/visionary-the-paul-g-allen-collection-part-ii-30033/?page=1&amp;sortby=highestimate_desc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">95 artworks</a>&nbsp;from Allen’s collection will go to auction on Thursday during a day sale. The pieces on sale are estimated to fetch lower prices than those that sold Wednesday, with the most expensive–a sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, “<a href="https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6397176?ldp_breadcrumb=back&amp;intObjectID=6397176&amp;from=salessummary&amp;lid=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Typewriter Eraser, Scale X</a>”— expected to sell for as much as $7 million. All of Allen’s estate proceeds will go to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$922.2 million. That was the previous record for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/05/16/real-estate-mogul-harry-macklowe-and-ex-wife-lindas-art-collection-fetches-record-breaking-9222-million/">most valuable art collection</a>&nbsp;sold at auction. It was set just six months ago in May when Manhattan real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife Linda sold their art collection after their high-profile divorce.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Some 20 artists’ auction records were broken Wednesday night alone, or one-third of the artists featured in the sale. Artwork by Jasper Johns, Andrew Wyeth, Edward Steichen, Jan Breughel the Younger, Thomas Hart Benton, Max Ernst, Sam Francis and Diego Rivera were among the artists whose pieces fetched higher prices than at any other auction.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



We estimated Allen was worth<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/paul-allen/?sh=5f8b34e54417">&nbsp;$20.3 billion</a>&nbsp;in 2018, the year he died. He cofounded Microsoft in 1975 with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2019/06/28/bill-gates-amazing-tribute-to-paul-allenwith-rare-photos-from-his-private-collection/?sh=d96715af206c">his childhood friend</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>. After his death, responsibility for his foundation went to his sister,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabellord/2022/11/04/inside-paul-allens-billion-dollar-art-auction/?sh=7685814014f9">Jody</a>, who has been gradually selling off his estate.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Allen didn’t start collecting art until the early 1990s, after he visited the Tate Modern in London and realized he too could own world-class artwork, according to Deborah Gunn, who was associate director of art finance at Vulcan, Allen’s investment management company. Allen’s taste was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabellord/2022/11/04/inside-paul-allens-billion-dollar-art-auction/?sh=c59fec214f99">varied</a>&nbsp;and his collection spans more than 500 years of art history, from Botticelli to McArthur Binion. He was particularly drawn to pointillism and Jasper Johns’ “numbers” series, which he said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabellord/2022/11/04/inside-paul-allens-billion-dollar-art-auction/?sh=c59fec214f99">reminded him of coding</a>. Allen also enjoyed landscapes and scenes of Venice, of which the auction includes eight.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



The full size of the art collection Allen put together during his lifetime. A notoriously secretive collector, Allen did not publicize his art when he was alive, and even this auction of more than 150 pieces isn’t the full picture, according to Christie’s. Allen owned artwork that would be worth&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/news-pro/paul-allens-collection-art-detective-2200744" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">an additional $500 million</a>, an investigation from Artnet found.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabellord/2022/11/04/inside-paul-allens-billion-dollar-art-auction/?sh=65decdc414f9">Inside Paul Allen’s Billion-Dollar Art Auction</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2022/08/26/billion-dollar-collection-of-microsoft-cofounder-paul-allen-going-on-sale-it-could-be-the-biggest-art-auction-ever/?sh=118ee14e5052">Billion-Dollar Art Collection Of Microsoft Cofounder Paul Allen Going On Sale—It Could Be The Biggest Art Auction Ever</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/11/09/here-are-the-10-biggest-us-billionaire-art-purchases-will-paul-allens-collection-make-the-list/?sh=1a3e25fe23b0">Here Are The 10 Biggest U.S. Billionaire Art Purchases. Will Paul Allen’s Collection Make The List?</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



By Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

Christie’s Presents Highlights from the Visionary: Collection of Paul Allen in London

Most Expensive Art Auction Ever: Paul Allen’s Collection Fetches Record $1.5 Billion

Ekene Ngige discovered art in a cup of cappuccino and then used coffee as a medium to tell important African stories.



For as long as Ekene Ngige can remember, he has never allowed his limitations to dictate how successful he would be in life. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Ngige experienced what he calls “a medical error” that left him paralyzed by the age of one. Faced with a disability that meant he could not walk, Ngige got his confidence from his parents who helped him stand tall in any room he was in and perhaps most importantly, taught him the power of self-belief.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-10.39.05-681x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-56709" width="411" height="618" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-10.39.05-681x1024.png 681w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-10.39.05-200x300.png 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-10.39.05-768x1154.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Screenshot-2022-10-29-at-10.39.05.png 994w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px" /></figure></div>


“They gave me that confidence. I have four elder brothers and one younger sister. I was able to join them in playing soccer on the streets or join them in dance competition and do crazy stuff like climbing trees etc. I couldn’t walk with my legs and I had scoliosis, but I didn’t feel like I had a disability, only except when kids were mocking me in school or my neighborhood. I always saw myself as normal and that is why I never separated myself from what other normal kids were doing. Even if I couldn’t do it as well as them, the way I would deliver it would be as good as I feel it should be,” says Ngige.



By the age of three that self-belief was already evident in Ngige’s ability to draw. From lesson boards to chalk boards or even in his textbooks, Ngige began to create remarkable portraits that started getting the attention of his art teachers and invariably led to him winning several awards at secondary school.



“My teacher actually gave me the nickname ‘Kene da Vinci’ like Leonardo da Vinci because I was his favorite arts student and I always won awards for the school. By the time I graduated from secondary school I knew I was going to be an artist,” says Ngige.



But the journey to becoming one of Nigeria’s top up and coming visual artists would take him on an interesting journey. First, came the love for animation. Ngige began exploring with several illustrations which led to him creating comic book characters. By the time he entered the Yaba College of Technology, that initial love for animation had evolved into the fine arts.



“I fell in love with oil painting, acrylic painting and water colors and from there, I had to choose which one to make a priority. It was difficult but I remember when I was in college, we had companies come to the art school to buy some of the art from us because it was cheaper, so the idea that I could actually sell my art in college and I could use that money to support my school fees and art materials encouraged me to be an artist professionally.”



A brief stint working with a television network in Nigeria after graduation followed where, Ngige would use the money he earned from his 9 to 5 to fund his real passion. Very soon he started getting noticed in the art community and was invited by an agent to take part in a joint exhibition to help him get more exposure for his art.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-1001x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-56708" width="556" height="568" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-1001x1024.jpg 1001w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-293x300.jpg 293w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-768x786.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-1502x1536.jpg 1502w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Ekene-Ngiges-work-using-coffee-2002x2048.jpg 2002w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px" /></figure></div>


“I had an agent that came to me to say they want some of my artwork to exhibit in joint exhibitions. So, by the time we had a series of exhibitions and I saw that my water color painting always stood out, I realized this is actually it, ‘Nigeria is beginning to appreciate art’ and so I decided to do more of that until I could do my own solo exhibition,” recalls Ngige.



In 2016 he realized his dream as his first solo exhibition sold out. But his real breakthrough happened when he discovered art in a cup of cappuccino.



“I was working with a new coffee brand that was launching in Nigeria and I was working on creating their logo so we were having meetings and having coffee. In the process of one of these meetings, [coffee spilled] on my notepad and I saw a different texture that I had never been able to achieve before. So, it came to my mind that maybe I should try and achieve this. So, I went back to my studio and tried it out and it was amazing and I could perceive coffee all over my art work and I loved it, says Ngige.



Since then his growing fanbase cannot simply get enough of his coffee-infused paintings. Ngige has sold several paintings to international clients who buy his coffee paintings anywhere from $5,000.



“I have been able to give greater value to coffee than just a beverage. I am now using a medium made in Africa to paint and the only foreign material about my artwork is my canvas and brush but the rest is African. So, I try to portray deep African stories with my coffee paintings.”



From highlighting the plight of impoverished children, to depicting vivid drawings of female empowerment as well as putting a spotlight on the series of violent attacks taking place across Nigeria, Ngige sees his art as more than just paintings to be enjoyed but rather a way of telling important African stories and creating awareness as a form of activism promoting peace and unity in Nigeria.

Ekene Ngige’s work using coffee2

Coffee With A Purpose: The Nigerian Artist Blending It Well

After graduating law school in 1999, Sarah Davis started a modest eBay store called Fashionphile and noticed her luxury items were reselling close to—and in many cases above—retail prices.



So later that year, she launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fashionphile.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fashionphile</a>&nbsp;as a standalone ecommerce site focusing on the consignment of luxury labels. From Louis Vuitton’s Neverfull Tote to Chanel’s Classic Double Flap, she built an inventory of the most coveted handbags via a direct buyout model and an authentication process.&nbsp;



Davis says the company has been profitable each year ever since, but it wasn’t always very popular. That’s because, Davis explains, for the first decade or so, buying from Fashionphile and other consignment sites was perceived as the ultimate fashion faux pas. “If someone bought a Chanel bag from us and someone complimented them on it, they&#8217;d just say ‘Thank you’ and never say it was from Fashionphile,” says Davis.&nbsp;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/621fde71c6e3317386c90630/avd4dvsg/0x0.jpg?fit=crop&amp;format=jpg&amp;crop=2098,1399,x0,y7,safe" alt="avd4dvsg" width="569" height="379"/><figcaption>Chanel Prices Shoot Up: In 2021 Fashionphile saw a 10-15% increase on Chanel Classic Flaps and reissues.&nbsp;FASHIONPHILE</figcaption></figure></div>



Eventually the shopping world caught up with the idea of buying pre-owned luxury accessories, whether to save some money or helping save the planet by not buying new. “Because of increased consumer consciousness about sustainability and the circular economy, buying from resale has become a bragging right,” says Davis.



Now Fashionphile has its own reason to brag. Last year, the company pulled in between $450 million and $500 million in gross sales, according to estimates.&nbsp;Davis declined to comment on valuation.



Although the first year of lockdown was difficult for her business, Davis says that in 2021 sales rose 107% from the previous year. “The pandemic was a shot in the arm for resale and ecommerce in general,” she says. “The fact that people were sitting around not spending on travel or concerts, they had money.”&nbsp;



There are now larger forces supporting the luxury resale market, which Bain estimated was $33 billion in 2021. Inflation has been rattling the retail market, especially after Louis Vuitton–the largest luxury brand in the world–announced it was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaklich/2022/02/15/louis-vuitton-raises--prices-worldwide-due-to-increased-costs-and-inflation/?sh=3cbf10276878">raising prices worldwide</a>. Chanel, meanwhile, hiked prices three times over the last two years. And analysts say it’s only a matter of time before rising prices are announced at Gucci, Hermès and other top fashion brands.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-bag-onomics">BAG-ONOMICS</h2>



The rise and rise of luxury handbag prices.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="399" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-07-at-15.19.45-1024x399.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54527" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-07-at-15.19.45-1024x399.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-07-at-15.19.45-300x117.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-07-at-15.19.45-768x300.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-07-at-15.19.45.png 1492w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></div>



“Louis Vuitton and Chanel have been raising prices on the same styles since the 1980s.&nbsp;This has been happening every year for decades,” says Davis. But she notes that the percentage and frequency of the hikes have increased in recent years. She adds that inflationary pressures will likely be a boon for luxury resale.



“People are shopping in the pre-owned market with resale in mind. It’s a totally different behavior and something we believe is fueling the increasing appetite for pre-owned ultra-luxury.”



To deal with fluctuations in the retail world, Fashionphile relies on a proprietary pricing tool that uses 20-year historical data, which factors in inflation as well the cadence and the velocity of sales for a particular brand and or item.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/621fdd7ca50ca8420bc90630/Wj4AQ3eg/0x0.jpg?fit=crop&amp;format=jpg&amp;crop=1367,1367,x0,y276,safe" alt="Wj4AQ3eg" width="-221" height="-221"/><figcaption>Inside Fashionphile&#8217;s authentication system: each item is first checked by two highly qualified authenticators specializing in specific brand names.&nbsp;FASHIONPHILE</figcaption></figure></div>



But in the luxury economy, data science ultimately takes a back seat to whatever is in style.



“We have to be careful and thoughtful in how we use data,” says Davis. “We don’t know which styles will rise in price to the same degree so we have a team closely watching every style and category. Some styles that were unpopular a few years ago will have a resurgence.”



Inflationary and eco-friendly concerns could also make consignment sites like Fashionphile, Rebag and The RealReal more of a friend than foe to the luxury fashion houses.



“Resale justifies the price increases in the primary market where supply is limited and demand is high,” Davis says. “You can get a new Chanel Flap cheaper from Chanel, the same with Birkins and Kelly. The reality is these hot sellers are standard colors and shapes.”



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/621fdc6d3cf2fd714bc90630/Screen-Shot-2022-03-02-at-4-06-26-PM/1960x0.jpg?fit=bounds&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=960" alt="Screen Shot 2022-03-02 at 4.06.26 PM" width="-110" height="-72"/><figcaption>Prices for Hermès Kelly and Birkin bags saw up to 4% increases yoy, costing anywhere between $9,450 to $12,300 depending on bag size.&nbsp;FASHIONPHILE</figcaption></figure></div>



Supply chain woes are also powering consignment. “For us as a reseller our supply is your closet,” says Davis. The company is “scrambling” for more space to expand for operations and authentications. Fashionphile will be opening a 60,000 square-foot distribution center next month in New York City, adding to its 100,000 square foot facility in New Jersey and 30,000 square-foot operation in Carlsbad, California.&nbsp;Davis says the pandemic proved the value of extra physical space, even for an ecommerce. “Our shelves were getting cleaned. People were buying from us faster than we can get new items through the door… But there were limits to how many people we can get through the building and we couldn’t keep up with the appetite.”&nbsp;



Davis adds, “Part of that was retail therapy, there was no slowdown, even for stilettos.”



By Tanya Klich, Forbes Staff

Screenshot 2022-03-07 at 15.23.45

Fashionphile Bags Nearly $500 Million In Sales As Post-Pandemic Inflation Further Fuels The Luxury Resale Market

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



“Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” a piece of digital artwork, finds itself alongside paintings made by the likes of Picasso, Rothko, van Gogh and Monet as one of the most expensive art pieces sold at an auction in 2021, a year when non-fungible tokens (NFTs) garnered mainstream attention and emerged as one of the hottest tech trends.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



Made by the 41-year old artist, Mike Winkelmann—better known as Beeple—the digital art<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/03/11/beeple-art-sells-for-693-million-becoming-most-expensive-nft-ever/">&nbsp;was sold</a>&nbsp;in the form of an NFT for $69.3 million, becoming the most expensive piece of digital art to go under the hammer.



Christie’s—the auction house that sold Beeple’s artwork—<a href="https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/10337/Christie's%20EOY%202021%20Press%20Release_10337_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;last week that it has sold NFTs worth $150 million in 2021.



In simple terms, an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/02/26/what-is-an-nft-and-should-you-buy-one/?sh=10db653024b2">NFT</a>&nbsp;is a type of unique or non-replicable digital token that is registered on a blockchain—the same decentralized technology used by cryptocurrencies—that can be used as a record or authenticate the ownership of assets both in the digital and physical world.



This has meant that everyone from&nbsp;<a href="https://tarantinonfts.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">celebrities</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://nbatopshot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the NBA</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marvel.com/articles/gear/first-ever-marvel-digital-comic-collectibles-nft-veve" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Marvel Comics</a>&nbsp;and even&nbsp;<a href="https://decrypt.co/87752/ubisoft-first-major-gaming-company-launch-in-game-nfts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video game</a>&nbsp;makers have jumped on board the NFT bandwagon as mainstream interest in digital collectible items surged.



According to <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2021-01-01%202021-12-31&amp;geo=US&amp;q=NFT" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Trends data</a>, search interest in the term “NFT” spiked briefly in March and April before hitting its currently ongoing surge in August and a <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2021-01-01%202021-12-31&amp;geo=US&amp;q=how%20to%20buy%20NFT" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">similar trend</a> can also be seen for the phrase “how to buy NFT.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$23 billion. That’s the total value of all NFT sales that took place in the past year, according to data&nbsp;<a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/2021-dapp-industry-report" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a>&nbsp;by DappRadar. In comparison, total NFT sales in 2020 were worth less than $100 million.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



NFT was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/24/nft-is-collins-dictionary-word-of-the-year" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declared</a>&nbsp;as 2021’s “Word of the Year” by Collin’s English Dictionary last month, as it beat out the likes of “crypto” and “cheugy” to claim the top spot.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h2>



While NFT-based art pieces—like the ones made by Beeple—grabbed the bulk of the headlines in early 2021, a majority of interest in NFTs was driven by digital collectibles. Similar to rare Pokemon or baseball trading cards projects like Cryptopunks offered thousands of unique digital collectibles with varying degrees of “rarity.” One particular collection that gained a lot of attention online was the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnet.com/how-to/explaining-the-bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-collection/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bored Ape Yacht Club</a>&nbsp;which is made up of a collection of 10,000 NFT-based avatars. Owners of these cartoon ape avatars, which cost a minimum of $210,000, include celebrities like Post Malone, Steph Curry, Jimmy Fallon and DJ Khaled. Owners of the expensive digital asset have received exclusive invites to meetups in California, New York, Hong Kong and several other places. These meetups have included an actual yacht party in New York and a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.inputmag.com/culture/bored-ape-yacht-club-nft-nyc-ape-fest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">concert</a>&nbsp;featuring the likes of&nbsp; Chris Rock, Aziz Ansari and The Strokes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">CONTRA</h2>



As their popularity surged in the past year, NFT also emerged at the center of several controversies including accusations of art theft and their potential environmental impacts. A majority of NFTs&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/nfts-hot-effect-earth-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rely on</a>&nbsp;the “proof-of-work” blockchain Ethereum, which keeps a record of NFT&nbsp; transactions through a process called mining. Environmental advocates have warned that mining, which relies on a decentralized network of computers around the world, consumes a significant amount of energy that can lead to a rise in carbon emissions. Another controversy around the technology has involved the theft of digital art where original creators are not attributed. Several illustrators and artists who host their content online have&nbsp;<a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/artist-stealing-nfts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complained</a>&nbsp;that their work is being turned into NFTs without their consent or any attribution.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/02/26/what-is-an-nft-and-should-you-buy-one/?sh=10db653024b2">What Is An NFT—And Should You Buy One?</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2021/12/23/nfts-generated-over-23-billion-in-trading-volume-in-2021/?sh=62ea52375f0a">NFT Market Generated Over $23 Billion In Trading Volume In 2021</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/nfts-hot-effect-earth-climate/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate</a> (Wired)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Africa

BRITAIN-BLOCKCHAIN-NFT-TOKENS

Van Gogh, Monet—And Beeple? As NFTs Exploded One Of The Most Expensive Art Pieces Sold In 2021 Was Entirely Digital.

If you’ve never understood the hoopla behind conceptual art, a Danish artist known for critiquing power structures in society just taught the world a masterclass on using art to provoke a conversation.



The Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in ​​Aalborg, Denmark, advanced the artist&nbsp;Jens Haaning&nbsp;534,000 kroner, or roughly $84,000, to reproduce a pair of his older mixed-media artworks. According to a written agreement&nbsp;<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/danish-museum-lent-84000-to-artist-pocketed-money-as-new-conceptual-artwork-2014169" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">obtained by Artnet</a>, Haaning was supposed to use actual banknotes from his payment to recreate two pieces,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.secession.at/en/exhibition/jens-haaning-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“An Average Austrian Year Income”</a>&nbsp;from 2007 and “An Average Danish Annual Income” from 2010, to compare the average annual incomes of an Austrian and a Dane.



Instead, Haaning pocketed the cash and presented the museum with two empty whiteboard frames, cheekily renaming his series&nbsp;“Take the Money and Run.”



Haaning told the Danish radio program&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/p1-morgen/p1-morgen-2021-09-25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">P1 Morgen</a>&nbsp;last week that the blank canvasses were a protest against his meager payment, pointing out he’d have to use nearly $4,000 of the euros and Danish kroner he was paid simply to recreate the artworks.



Oh, the irony. The works were meant to show pay as “an instrument to measure the value of work,”&nbsp;<a href="https://kunsten.dk/en/content/jens-haaning-13291" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">explains the museum</a>. “Does the money seem mind-boggling when the full wage is experienced as a physical format, or not, at all?”



Haaning insists that this was no cheap stunt. “The work is that I have taken their money,” he told the Danish radio program&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/p1-morgen/p1-morgen-2021-09-25" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">P1 Morgen</a>&nbsp;last week. “Breach of contract is part of the work.”



The museum says Haaning must return the money. “If we don’t get it back, we will have to file charges against the artist,” Lasse Andersson, the museum’s director,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/sep/28/danish-artist-delivers-empty-frames-for-84k-fee-as-low-pay-protest" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told&nbsp;The Guardian</a>.



Then again, can the museum claim breach of contract after deciding to go ahead and display the blank canvasses? Through January 16, 2022, visitors to the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art can see Haaning’s empty frames on full view in “<a href="https://kunsten.dk/da/udstilling/work-it-out-11796" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Work it Out</a>,” an exhibition about the future of the labor market.&nbsp;Doesn’t that indicate the museum’s acknowledgement that Haaning’s latest pieces are indeed art?



The exhibition “rethinks the role of art and the art museum in relation to society,” says the museum’s website. “The project focuses on how contemporary art can contribute to a debate about the working life of the future.”



Moreover, the Kunsten museum cannot claim it didn’t know who it was working with. “Jens Haaning’s work is socio-critical, based on ideas, tackling topics such as capitalism, globalization, democracy, racism, and structural inequality,” reads the artist’s bio on the museum’s website, which summarizes Haaning’s newest artworks as “cool cash and a cool aesthetic.”



By Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes Staff

Screenshot 2021-09-30 at 15.30.19

An Artist Was Paid $84,000 By A Museum—And Delivered Two Blank Canvasses

Textile artist Nike Davies-Okundaye worked as a construction laborer and carried water and firewood to survive. The art of adire gave her global fame and she is now educating generations of women in Nigeria.



There was no way Nike Davies-Okundaye could look the other way. For after all, she too had been a victim in her early teens.&nbsp;



Too many women were being pushed down the traditional path of marriage and child-rearing in her country.



Born in 1951 in Ogidi-Ijumu, a small village in western Nigeria known for its spectacular rock formations and traditional art industry, Davies-Okundaye resolved to fight this practice four decades ago.



“By the age of 13, they wanted to marry me off because my father had no money. I had to run away from home and join a traveling theater. I said I didn’t want to marry and wanted to pursue art,” recalls the internationally-renowned Lagos-based artist.



Not wanting to become one of six wives to a minister, Davies-Okundaye found her escape through adire, the name given to the Yoruba craft of tie-and-dye where indigo-dyed cloth is made using a variety of resist-dyeing techniques. Growing up in a predominantly art and craft household, Davies-Okundaye is a fifth-generation artist who decided to take the craft seriously due to poverty.



“I had no money to go to school and the first education parents give you is to teach you what they do. So, when I finished primary six and I had no support to go to secondary school, I said to myself, ‘let me master art so I can teach other women to also use their hand to make a living through their own artwork’.”



Davies-Okundaye was forced to work in the male-dominated construction sector, carrying concrete in pans to builders in order to save one shilling, just enough to buy a yard of fabric to create what she called wall-hanging art.



Her goal was to use the traditional wax-resist methods to design patterned fabric in a dazzling array of tints and hues. The adire design is the result of hand-painted work carried out mostly by women and through that, Davies-Okundaye saw a way to help women to become economically empowered. After all, her first break in life came as a result of that.



“There was no other job I was doing apart from adire. I was lucky the American government came to Nigeria to recruit an African who will teach African Americans how to make traditional textiles or crafts in the state. That is how I was lucky and got picked.”



Davies-Okundaye was the only woman in a class of 10 men who were flown to Maine in northeastern United States in 1974. That is where her whole outlook on life changed.



“Before I went to America, I used to carry three drums of water every day and carry firewood to be able to survive. It was like a breakthrough in my life when I reached America. I said ‘is this heaven?’ I was the only woman in the class and all the men were learning women’s looms and I kept telling them ‘this is for women’ and they said ‘yes, in America, what a man can do, a woman can also do’.”



This was in stark contrast to what she knew to be true in Nigeria at the time.



“If your husband is an artist, you are not allowed to do art. In the 1960s, if your husband has a PhD, you are not allowed to also have a PhD. You had to give room for your husband to be your boss.”



She decided to beat those age-old stereotypes.



As one of 15 wives to her then-husband at the time, Davies-Okundaye, with her newfound knowledge gained in America, started a revolution at home. She encouraged the other wives to create their own art business using adire.



“I said ‘if you learn this, you can earn a living by yourself and get your power because your money is your power’ and that is how they also started learning it. I didn’t stop sharing the knowledge there. I gathered girls on the streets who were selling kola nuts and peanuts and started training them. I said ‘if this textile can take me to America, let me teach other people’,” says Davies-Okundaye.



And that has been her calling ever since. Davies-Okundaye is the founder and director of four art centers, which offer free training to 150 young artists in Nigeria in visual, musical and performing arts.



One of the centers is the largest art gallery in West Africa comprising over 7,000 art works.



“They used to get the police to arrest me because they said I was trying to teach feminism in Nigeria because I went to America. They said I was going to corrupt our Nigerian women but I believe God sent me to liberate a lot of women who have the passion for what makes them happy but are afraid to do it because of what people will say. I say do what makes you happy always!”

Nike Davies

The Art Of Survival: The Art Of Adire Gave This Textile Artist Global Fame, She Now Educates Generations Of Women In Nigeria

Steven Benjamin chose to focus on the bird life in his garden in Cape Town to escape the confines of the lockdown.



During South Africa’s five-week shutdown (the country is still on Level 4 restrictions), Cape Town-born underwater photographer Steven Benjamin more used to sharks, whales and dolphins, used the period to look up instead – and indulge in bird-watching, another passion of his.



“Ever since the age of five or six, I have been interested in birds. I was dyslexic as a young child and I still have my first bird book where I ‘ticked’ backwards. I was trying to identify the birds that flew into my pre-school class and begged my mom to let me mark off what I’d seen, so birding has always been a passion,” says Benjamin, who also runs a seal-snorkeling business.



He has spent his life capturing South Africa’s marine world, and now, Benjamin had to redirect his focus to his Kalk Bay garden during the lockdown to photograph Cape Town’s resident birdlife.



He says photographing these feathered beauties is a way to bring joy during these uncertain times.



“They are so beautiful but incredibly difficult to photograph because they are shy and extremely fast. Photographing birds is a challenge but it creates a mental space to observe and admire nature.”



Soon after the lockdown started, Benjamin put white sugar in his bird feeder every morning and enjoyed the sight of local birds and documented them. He posted the images on Instagram and that garnered some online attention.



“The lockdown has made me relax and take the time to do things I would never have gotten around to doing. I settled on this project, which I work on every day. I’m always adding something new to the scene and there are always new birds and interactions happening. It’s made the days fly by,” he says.



During the lockdown, there was only one male Cape Sugar Bird that landed in his garden. This spectacular bird is unique to South Africa and mostly only found in the Western Cape. All of this will go into an exhibition Benjamin is working towards in Cape Town.

Steven Benjamin

Why This Photographer Looked Up During The Lockdown

A poem exclusively penned and performed in lockdown in the US for the readers of FORBES AFRICA, by Rwandan artist Malaika Uwamahoro.



Malaika Uwamahoro, an artist born in Rwanda, and a Theatre Studies BA graduate from Fordham University in New York City, has performed her own poetry on stages around the world including at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and at the African Union summits in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Kigali (Rwanda).



In 2014, she made her Off-Broadway debut at Signature Theatre in the world premiere of Katori Hall&#8217;s Our Lady of Kibeho.



Currently resident in Portland, Maine, in the United States, she speaks to FORBES AFRICA about her life in lockdown, and about a poem she penned exclusively for the readers of the magazine: “To fight this pandemic, essential workers and medical doctors are doing their best on the frontlines to ensure everyone in need gets the necessary support and best care possible… Before we are all choked and out of breath just by thinking about this, I extend this poetry piece as an invitation to look inward.”



How did she come up with the poem, titled I Don’t Mind!, and its accompanying video?



“It was late in the night, my fiancé was fast asleep, and I thought to myself, ‘how do I really feel about all this, what are my true thoughts about this pandemic, what can I do’? I opened my notes and the words began to flow.”



A few days later, she shared the poem with her fiancé, Christian Kayiteshonga, a filmmaker.



“We had previously been pondering ways to make art in our home. This poem seemed like the perfect push to set us in our new path. Our home became the film set, using blankets and cake mix as props, windows and office space as locations, myself as the talent, him as the crew, and now you as the audience,” says Uwamahoro, who also performed for the ‘In the Spotlight’ segment at the FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit in Durban, South Africa, on March 6.

Malaika U

‘Our Home Became The Film Set, Blankets Became Props, Windows Became Locations’

Colorful baskets ready for sale

The Baskets Holding Them Together

[Compiled by Motlabana Monnakgotla, Gypseenia Lion and Karen Mwendera]



Image 1: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42403" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Kabelo Mpofu, an entrepreneur, took over
his mother’s shop in Meadowlands, in the South African township of Soweto. He
is hopeful of making the family business a success despite big retail stores
opening up in the townships and swallowing up the corner groceries.



Image 2: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42404" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Africa is the youngest continent in the
world. Every year, South Africa observes June as Youth Month, honoring the
anniversary of the Soweto Uprising on June 16. In this image, the country’s
sprawling township of Soweto comes alive with youth dancing in the winter
weather to local and international music at the Soweto International Jazz
Festival, an annual confluence of history, art and culture. 



Image 3: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42405" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Women hold up placards against
gender-based violence during a ‘Shutdown Sandton’ campaign; this after a spate
of brutal rape and killings in South Africa.



Image 4: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42406" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Car dealerships were among the businesses
set alight in Johannesburg’s Jules Street, during the spate of xenophobia
attacks in South Africa in August this year. The spark that fueled the raging
fire began in Pretoria, the country’s capital, when a taxi driver was shot dead
by a foreign national who was selling drugs to a youngster in the central
business district.



Image 5: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42407" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Sibusiso Dlamini, the co-founder of Soweto
Ink, works on one of his regular clients at his tattoo parlor founded in 2014
with his long-time friend, Ndumiso Ramate. In 2019, Soweto Ink held the fourth
annual tattoo convention, and for the first time in partnership with BET
Africa, to break tattoo taboos in Africa.



Image 6: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42408" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of South
Africa’s opposition party, Democratic Alliance, is about to cast his vote in
front of local and international media houses who had wrestled to get the
perfect shot in his hometown in Dobsonville, Soweto, during the elections in
South Africa in 2019. 



Image 7: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42409" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The brother of South African journalist,
Shiraaz Mohamed, begs for government intervention after Mohamed was kidnapped
in Syria on January 2017 by a group of armed men. The group demanded more than
$500,000 for his freedom. 



Image 8: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42410" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
with his body guards at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South
Africa, where the three-day South Africa Investment Conference was held in
November.



Image 9: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42411" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



In a world that’s embracing new
technology, inspiration is being found in bug behavior. The hard-bodied dung
beetle is now key to robotics research, in Africa too. Astounded by this
discovery early this year is Marcus Byrne, a researcher at the University of
the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who has been studying dung beetles for over
20 years. He holds up a metallic replica of a dung beetle in his hand in his
office at the university.



Image 10: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42412" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Mzimhlophe Hostel, a hostel among many others in Soweto, erupted with service delivery protests prior to the elections in South Africa. In the same vicinity, an informal settlement was also allegedly set on fire. Brothers Mduduzi (32) and Kwenzi Gwala (22), pictured, had arrived in Johannesburg looking for employment. They sold African beer, but their shack was set alight while they were still at church. They lost all their stock and possessions. 



Image 11: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42413" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



A thrift market in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district, not too far from a busy taxi rank, known for its pavement robberies. Despite the crimes, thousands of small entrepreneurs trade in this raucous market every day.



Image 12:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42414" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



ANC, DA and EFF supporters dancing and chanting outside the Hitekani Primary School in Chiawelo, Soweto, South Africa,
as they await South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to cast his vote in his
former primary school.&nbsp; 



Image 13:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42415" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Tenants in the discarded Vannin Court in
Johannesburg look on from their balconies as jubilation erupts on the ground
floor.



Image 14: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42416" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Vestine Nyiravesabimana makes money weaving
intricate baskets made of grass to feed her nine children in Kigali, Rwanda.

Cow 603

Forbes Africa’s Best Photographs In 2019

The first time Sean “Diddy” Combs took a sip of Aquahydrate alkaline water—given to him by pal Mark Wahlberg at a Las Vegas boxing match in the early 2010s—he found it to be an ideal antidote for evenings spent consuming adult beverages.



“I went out that night and had a Vegas night, and I woke up and had a Vegas morning,” Diddy told me in 2015. “I drank two of the [Aquahydrate] bottles and it was, like, the best tasting water that I&#8217;ve tasted. And it really, honestly helped me recover.”



Diddy became the face of the company alongside Wahlberg shortly thereafter, and the pair invested $20 million in Aquahydrate over the years while billionaire Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa added another $27 million. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Hip-Hop’s Next Billionaires: Richest Rappers 2019 (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/06/21/hip-hops-next-billionaires-richest-rappers-2019/" target="_blank">Hip-Hop’s Next Billionaires: Richest Rappers 2019</a>



They aren’t the only ones with lofty ambitions for the brand: last week the Alkaline Water Co., the publicly-traded purveyor of competitor Alkaline88, bought Aquahydrate in an all-stock deal that valued the latter at about $50 million.



For Diddy, who ranks No. 4 on our recently-released list of hip-hop’s top earners and boasts a net worth of $740 million, alkaline water holdings are just a drop in his financial bucket. His Diageo-backed Ciroc vodka—and its myriad flavors, from Red Berry to Summer Watermelon—is responsible for the lion’s share of his wealth. But it’s clear he thinks alkaline water, flavored variants included, could swell his portfolio. So do his new partners.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d84f41522254b0008e0f81a/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Diddy"/><figcaption>CRAIG BARRITT AND ALEXANDER TAMARGO/GETTY IMAGES. DESIGN: NICK DESANTIS/FORBES</figcaption></figure>



“You put both these brands under one public company, it makes a ton of sense,” says Aaron Keay, Alkaline’s chairman, of the Aquahydrate deal. “We see synergies on distribution, we see cost-savings on cost of goods. On production, on logistics, on staffing. … And we don&#8217;t see both brands actually then competing for the same target market.”



In the past, flavored water has enriched investors including some of Diddy’s hip-hop world comrades. A little over a decade ago, 50 Cent famously took Vitaminwater equity in lieu of stock as payment for his endorsement—and walked away with some $100 million when Coca-Cola bought its parent company for $4.1 billion in 2007.



A ten-figure valuation for an alkaline water company seems an outlandish target even for the notoriously bombastic Diddy. But Keay notes Alkaline clocked $33 million in revenues over the past fiscal year and had been expecting $48 million in 2020; now, with Aquahydrate on board, he projects closer to $60-$65 million. That compares favorably to Core Water, which was doing some $80 million as of last year before getting acquired.



“For two or three years, Core Water was just another clear water,” says Keay. “Then they added about a half dozen flavors. Sales doubled. They got bought for $500 million. I mean, for us, $500 million would be a big number off of where our market cap is right now.”



Diddy appears to be an ideal ally in achieving that goal. With Ciroc, once a middling vodka in Diageo’s roster, he was able to articulate importance of the brand’s defining trait: it was made from grapes, not grains (never mind that this might technically disqualify it from being considered a vodka). His contention, according to Stephen Rust, Diageo’s president of new business and reserve brands, is that grapes are simply sexier than potatoes.



“One of his favorite things [to say] is, ‘If you can have a vodka that comes from a history of winemaking, why would you do that versus the history of coming from potatoes?’” Rust explained in an interview for my book, 3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, And Hip-Hop’s Multibillion-Dollar Rise. “That’s Sean.”



With alkaline water, Diddy has demonstrated a similar knack for sizing up a product and extracting an elemental notion that passes muster with consumers (if not necessarily scientists). If “you’re full of acid,” Diddy once explained to me, you need to “get your body leveled out.”



Vodka and water, of course, are two very different products, and the same tactics won’t necessarily translate from one business to another. Flavored water itself seems to have been over-carbonated of late, as the recent struggles of brands like La Croix show; Alkaline’s shares have slumped this year as well.



Perhaps that’s why Alkaline is looking beyond its flagship bottled water business. Future plans call for a move towards cans in a nod to environmentally-conscious customers, as well as expansion into the nascent CBD-infused beverage space. Keay figures Diddy and Wahlberg, along with fellow celebrity investor Jillian Michaels, should provide a boost across the board.



“Once the FDA makes a ruling about how CBD is going to be distributed through those chains and channels, those guys are going to want trusted brands, brands that they know already have a consumer following,” says Keay. “And that was another big reason why it made sense to bring [Diddy, Wahlberg and Michaels] in, because it&#8217;s only going to help.”



&#8211;Zack O&#8217;Malley Greenburg; Forbes

960×0 (5)

Can Diddy’s Ciroc Recipe Work On Alkaline Water?

A bankable leading man is still one of Hollywood’s surest bets, even if your name isn’t Leonardo DiCaprio. While the lucrative twenty-twenty deal ($20 million upfront and 20% of gross profit) doled out to the likes of Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise may be more or less gone, Hollywood still has its big-money brands, those actors who can promise an audience so big that they command not only an eight-figure salary to show up on set but also a decent chunk of a film’s nebulous “pool”—or the money left over after some but not all of the bills are paid. 



Dwayne Johnson, also known as the Rock, tops the Forbes list of the world’s ten highest-paid actors, collecting $89.4 million between June 1, 2018, and June 1, 2019.



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“It has to be audience first. What does the audience want, and what is the best scenario that we can create that will send them home happy?” Johnson told Forbes in 2018.



It seems he makes the audience happy. Johnson has landed a pay formula as close to the famed twenty-twenty deal of yore as any star can get these days. He’ll collect an upfront salary of up to $23.5 million—his highest quote yet—for the forthcoming Jumanji: The Next Level. 



He also commands up to 15% of the pool from high-grossing franchise movies, including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which had a worldwide box office of $962.1 million. And he is paid $700,000 per episode for HBO’s Ballers and seven figures in royalties for his line of clothing, shoes and headphones with Under Armour.



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While Johnson’s deal is the biggest in the business right now, he’s not the only one with a lucrative deal. Robert Downey Jr. gets $20 million upfront and nearly 8% of the pool for his role as Iron Man, and that amounted to about $55 million for his work in&nbsp;Avengers: Endgame, which grossed $2.796 billion at the box office.&nbsp;



That gross was so big that it secured spots on this year’s top-earner list for Chris Hemsworth, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd, in addition to Downey; together, they earned $284 million, with most of that coming from the franchise.&nbsp;



“Celebrities such as Downey and (Scarlett) Johansson currently have extreme leverage to demand enormous compensation packages from studios investing hundreds of millions of dollars in making tent-pole films, such as The Avengers series,” entertainment lawyer David Chidekel of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer &amp; McRae told Forbes. 



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Cooper is the rare actor who can thank a bet on himself for his 2019 ranking. The actor earned only about 10% of his $57 million payday for voicing Rocket Raccoon in Avengers. 



Seventy percent came from A Star Is Born, the smaller musical drama that he directed, produced, cowrote and starred in with Lady Gaga. The movie was a passion project for Cooper, and he forfeited any upfront salary to go into the film and Gaga’s salary. It paid off—the movie, which had a production budget of only $36 million, grossed $435 million worldwide, leaving Cooper with an estimated $40 million. 



The full list is below. Earnings estimates are based on data from Nielsen, ComScore, Box Office Mojo and IMDB, as well as interviews with industry insiders. All figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers (generally 10%, 15% and 5%, respectively) are not deducted.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">The World’s Highest-Paid Actors Of 2019</h4>



10. Will Smith



Earnings: $35 million



9. Paul Rudd



Earnings: $41 million



8. Chris Evans



Earnings: $43.5 million



6. Adam Sandler (tie)



Earnings: $57 million



6. Bradley Cooper (tie)



Earnings: $57 million



5. Jackie Chan



Earnings: $58 million



4. Akshay Kumar



Earnings: $65 million



3. Robert Downey Jr.



Earnings: $66 million



2. Chris Hemsworth



Earnings: $76.4 million



1. Dwayne Johnson



-Madeline Berg; Forbes

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The Highest-Paid Actors 2019: Dwayne Johnson, Bradley Cooper And Chris Hemsworth

Gripping a lukewarm Heineken, Jim Gaffigan hunches his six-foot-one frame over a peeling table in the green room of the An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny, Ireland. Summer nights are never terribly hot in these parts, but this one is warm enough to need some air conditioning, which the theater almost never uses. It’s hardly a glamorous moment. But then again, glamour isn’t really his thing.



“There’s nothing sexy about Jim Gaffigan,” he says, sweat dotting his brow. “I’m not young. I don’t have a full head of hair. I’m out of shape. I don’t talk about having dinner with Kanye.”



Fortunately for him, he is funny. Just ask the more than 300,000 people in 15 countries who’ve paid an average of $56 to see his latest routine. For the 53-year-old father of five, it’s been a grueling schedule: more than 75 cities in the past year, including whistle-stops like Letterkenny, a northern community of 20,000 that was once lauded as the Republic’s “tidiest town.”



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They may not offer much sizzle, but places like this are the lifeblood of Gaffigan’s business. He has raked in $30 million this year, putting him at No. 3 on&nbsp;Forbes’ list of the highest-earning stand-up comedians. Half of that was earned by putting “butts in seats.” 



The rest comes from spreading his punch lines far and wide. And in this business, if those jokes are funny enough—and your reach wide enough—you can fill a lot of seats with a lot of butts. With the right distribution deal, those jokes can deliver exponential returns. But that’s where it gets a bit tricky.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting,” Gaffigan says. “So you’d better be building a new house.” &nbsp;</blockquote>



Gaffigan’s been building. In 2016, he agreed to partner with Netflix, the industry’s dominant force and home to original specials from all but one of the comedians on&nbsp;Forbes’ ranking. Last year he cut loose from the kingmaker and placed a bigger bet on himself, pairing up with Comedy Dynamics, an independent producer, to release his next special everywhere&nbsp;but&nbsp;Netflix.&nbsp;



Gaffigan will star in the first original stand-up special on Amazon, which is going after the streaming giant with a push into comedy.&nbsp;Quality Time&nbsp;goes live today, and it can be shopped on the open streaming market when its exclusive run with Amazon Prime Video is up in two years. And that market is only expanding.



Gaffigan has learned a bit about home building in the entertainment industry. He cut his teeth on the club circuit in the early 1990s, when HBO was the primary destination for stand-up specials and Comedy Central was a fledgling cable network. 



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In 2000, he landed what was then the holy grail of comedy success—a broadcast sitcom—which was the source of the fortunes the creators of&nbsp;Seinfeld&nbsp;and&nbsp;Roseanne&nbsp;minted once they had enough seasons on the air and could sell the series into syndication.



Gaffigan’s shot proved to be short-lived, but six years later he scored a second chance and headlined a Comedy Central special called&nbsp;Beyond the Pale. This time it paid dividends, landing him his first theater show a month later. The butts were now coming to the seats, and while his rise was live, in person, with microphone in hand, his breakout was digital.



At the time, YouTube was changing the rules of the game, providing comedians a global platform with unprecedented distribution. Then Twitter emerged, giving comedy bookers a real-time assessment of who was attracting audiences. 



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Then came the debut of streaming on Netflix, which latched onto comedy as a cheap and effective way to lure subscribers, while some, notably the now disgraced Louis C.K., used streaming to control their own distribution, making their shows available for fans to purchase directly.



“It was a technological wave that crashed over the stand-up world,” says Wayne Federman, a comedian and professor of the history of stand-up at the University of Southern California. “And we’re still all trying to figure out what’s going on.”



Gaffigan’s first original Netflix special aired in 2017, long after the company had reshaped the industry. It was a promising place to be: Aziz Ansari and Ali Wong were propelled into superstar status through their Netflix specials, while household names like&nbsp;Dave Chappelle&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jerry Seinfeld&nbsp;reportedly cashed in with $60 million (Chappelle) and $100 million (Seinfeld) paydays in exchange for long-term, multi-program deals. Gaffigan’s first special,&nbsp;Cinco, sold for a more modest seven-figure sum.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d56bc6f95808800097cfe79/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Jim Gaffigan stand up comedy specials for Netflix and Amazon Original"/><figcaption>COURTESY</figcaption></figure>



It was more than just a check; it was access to a potential audience of nearly 94 million. Although Netflix’s subscriber base has grown since then, so has its stand-up library. The platform now shops nearly four times the number of original stand-up specials than when&nbsp;Cinco&nbsp;debuted. 



That makes it harder to stand out in the scroll. Plus, the streamer often holds onto specials in perpetuity, including&nbsp;Cinco. The up-front money is nice, but there is no ability to earn on the back end.&nbsp;



Gaffigan used his next special, 2018’s&nbsp;Noble Ape, which was directed and cowritten by his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, to test the waters. Comedy Dynamics bought the rights and made it available everywhere Netflix wasn’t. It had a theatrical release and could be purchased and rented on multiple services, including&nbsp; iTunes, YouTube and Walmart’s VUDU. 



Later, there were short streaming windows on Comedy Central and Amazon Prime. According to Comedy Dynamics CEO Brian Volk-Weiss, it was even syndicated to planes and cruise ships. The up-front payment to Gaffigan from Comedy Dynamics was lower than at Netflix, but the wide distribution allowed him to earn on the back end, bringing in a total of $10 million, according to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates.



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And new services are on the way from Apple,&nbsp;WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and&nbsp;Disney, any one of which could choose to pursue cheap-to-produce and popular stand-up specials.&nbsp;



Because of this widening field, stand-up specials may have more life (and revenue) in them, and that could be good for comedians looking to gamble on their success with deals that offer back-end participation. “We have titles in our library that are making more in year 12 than they made in year one,” says Volk-Weiss, whose company also owns specials by Bob Saget, Iliza Shlesinger and Janeane Garofalo.



Still, leaving Netflix means walking away from a partner that has now established itself as a formidable entertainment company. Netflix has some 180 original hour-long stand-up specials and is singularly focused on exploiting content around the world. Gaffigan, though, is content to keep the bet on himself.



“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting. So you’d better be building a new house.&#8221;



In the stuffy backstage room in Letterkenny, Gaffigan reviews some of the new material he tried out on stage. A joke about Ireland’s nonsensical roads killed it. He stumbled with a bit about the English. The classics played well—“My dad never went to a parent-teacher conference; my dad didn’t know I went to school.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



And he’s well aware that Amazon’s core mission is to sell stuff, even though it&nbsp;has won critical acclaim&nbsp;for shows like&nbsp;The&nbsp;Marvelous Mrs. Maisel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Transparent. With plans to deliver three more specials over the next five years, he’s got time to see just how good a partner the retailer might be. Along the way, he may decide it’s time to find a new neighborhood.



“The reason I went to Amazon is to expand my audience,” he says. “I don’t know what they’re gonna do and I don’t fully understand their marketing might. I might be pleasantly surprised. I mean, it’s a huge corporation. They could probably make more selling socks.”



-Ariel Shapiro; Forbes

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Comedian Jim Gaffigan Rakes In $30 Million By Ditching Netflix And Betting On Himself

Nigerian-born artist Mr Eazi is investing in the next generation of
African talent.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



He has launched emPawa Africa, a talent incubator program that provides
emerging artists with tools, startup funding, and mentorship to become
artist-entrepreneurs.



Mr Eazi conceived emPawa Africa in November 2018 as a new model for
artist development.



“EmPawa is an initiative I created with one simple mission: Helping new artists reach their full potential musically by equipping them with the knowledge and funding to do so,” Mr Eazi said in a statement.



“It’s something I wish someone had created when I first started making music. Sometimes, all it takes is that one person to believe in you,” he added.



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The program opened submission on August 15 and 30 African artists will
be selected to receive a non-repayable grant to fund their first pro-quality
music videos, mentorship, marketing services and support to launch an
international recording career.



Via Instagram, entrants will have to upload a short video clip of
themselves performing to an original song, cover or freestyle, with the hashtag
#emPawa30.



These submissions will be evaluated by Mr Eazi and his music-industry
colleagues.



African artists from the diaspora are also encouraged to apply.



The #emPawa30 program will include 10 artists from Nigeria, 10 artists
from other countries on the African continent and five UK based African
artists.



The remaining five spots open to African-born artists in countries around
the world, including the US and Canada.



YouTube Music is also partnering with the program to provide support for
the 10 Nigerian artists in the #emPawa30 cohort.



YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, announced during a fireside chat with Mr Eazi at last month’s Google for Nigeria Week.



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Once selected, the lucky 30 will get to work as part of a seven month
mentorship program with mentors such as Diplo, afrobeats producers E. Kelly,
Juls and GuiltyBeatz, South African rapper Kwesta, Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie,
Tanzanian music superstar Diamond Platnumz, afrobeats veteran DJ Neptune and
executives from the African music industry and Mr Eazi.



The final 30 artists will be announced on September 30.



Mr Eazi has generated more than 900 million streams worldwide, including over
226 million plays on YouTube alone.



He has collaborated with international artists like Beyonce, Major Lazor
and fellow Nigerian Burna Boy.

gettyimages-655047306-594×594

Mr Eazi On A Global Campaign To Mentor And Fund African Artists

South African Comedian Trevor Noah Is The Fourth Highest Paid Comedian In The World. Here&#8217;s how he did it.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



With earnings of a staggering $28 million Trevor Noah has become the
fourth highest paid comedian in the world.



According to Forbes the Daily Show host, “earned
the bulk of his income this year through stand-up, making him eligible for our
list”.



Forbes’ methodology is using all earnings estimated from June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2019. 



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/08/14/burna-boy-the-african-giants-debuts-on-the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (opens in a new tab)">Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah</a>



“Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not
deducted. Earnings estimates are based on data from Pollstar Pro as well as
interviews with industry insiders,” they said.



He is signed to host the Daily Show until 2022.



On the show, Noah usually sits down with the biggest headline-grabbers
in politics and entertainment.



Noah also covers the biggest news stories in politics, pop culture and
more.



Recently he trended after devising a viral conspiracy theory that
President Donald Trump is targeting first lady Melania Trump with his
immigration policies.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Is Donald Trump trying to deport Melania? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DontDeportMelania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DontDeportMelania</a> <a href="https://t.co/aWoNOErfbV">pic.twitter.com/aWoNOErfbV</a>&mdash; The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1161811745792544770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The Daily Show with Trevor Noah currently has over 5,3 million
subscribers on YouTube alone and has had 1,9 billion views.



But apart from the show, the South African born comedian made more than
70 stops across the world and had his second Netflix special last fall.



His book Born A Crime, published in 2016, is still ranked as No.1 on the New York Times’ bestseller list for paperback nonfiction.



Africans across the globe celebrated Noah’s listing on social media with
some expressing how inspired they are by him.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/Trevornoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trevornoah</a> is officially the 4th highest paid Comedian in the world, and he’s African &#8230; Oh lord, if this doesn’t inspire me .. I don’t know what will.. do you know he can sponsor himself to do an East African comedy tour .. and even pay the organizers of the shows 😂😂😂&mdash; Patrick Salvado 👑 (@idringp) <a href="https://twitter.com/idringp/status/1163733016382005249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Izinja Madoda!!! Crazy shit!!! Inspiring!!! <a href="https://t.co/kPw44muRLp">https://t.co/kPw44muRLp</a>&mdash; Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) <a href="https://twitter.com/casspernyovest/status/1163521956156772352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">This is really a big deal! We are proud of you <a href="https://twitter.com/Trevornoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trevornoah</a>&mdash; yourpartycupsng (@yourpartycups) <a href="https://twitter.com/yourpartycups/status/1163716145863626753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



On the Forbes list, Noah follows after Jim Gaffigan earning $30 million,
Jerry Seinfeld earning $41 million and Kevin Hart being the highest earner with
$59 million.



On the top ten list the only woman on the list is Amy Schumer at the
seventh spot with $21 million.

gettyimages-1131916034-594×594

Trevor Noah Is Laughing All The Way To The Bank

What happens when one of Africa’s global comedians meets an African global recording artist? African greatness, that’s what. Burna boy was interviewed on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, making it a proud moment for Africans world wide.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



South African born comedian Trevor Noah hosted Nigeria’s singer and song writer, Burna Boy on The Daily Show on Tuesday night.



Born Damini Ogulu, Burna Boy spoke about his recipe for Afro-fusion
music, performing at Coachella and producing his album African Giant.



In a video released showing behind the scenes footage, Trevor Noah
expressed his love for Nigeria.



“That’s the one thing I’ve always loved about Nigeria; it’s the love of
Nigeria from Nigeria. If every African could have that, ‘we love our thing’,”
Trevor refers to the zeal Nigeria has about their talent.



While at the show Burna Boy performed a medley of songs Ye and &nbsp;Anybody.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Watch my brother <a href="https://twitter.com/Trevornoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trevornoah</a> and I on the daily show tonight @ 11pm EDT <a href="https://t.co/n1GFX5CeUJ">pic.twitter.com/n1GFX5CeUJ</a>&mdash; Burna Boy (@burnaboy) <a href="https://twitter.com/burnaboy/status/1161448269492494336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Burna Boy who is one of this year’s <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/30-under-30/2019/07/01/30under30-creatives-category-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Forbes Africa 30 under 30 (opens in a new tab)">Forbes Africa 30 under 30</a> list makers made waves recently after releasing his much anticipated album earlier this year.



The album was released in July and includes hit songs like African Giant, Dangote, Spiritiual, and international
artists like Jeremih, Future, Damian Marley and Jorja Smith.



In the album categorized as afrobeats has some Fela Kuti influences, he
asserts himself as an African and conveys the message of how Africa should not
be marginalized.



“I am an AFRICAN GIANT and will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means,” he wrote on Instagram.



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The album was released a month after he won the BET Award for the Best
International Act at the end of June.



Already garnering thousands of listeners and viewers on platforms such
as YouTube and Apple Music, Burna Boy has teamed up with Spotify to launch Burna Bank.



Inspired by the artwork for the African Giant album, Burna Bank is, “the
installation features a unique ATM which will be dispensing custom, collectible
bills designed by Sajjad Musa. 



Each bill is inspired by Burna’s Nigerian roots, and his quest to call
out corruption and the disproportionate distribution of wealth.”



The Burna Bank is an ATM that distributes these notes and launches this
week making him one of the first African musicians to have his own currency.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Peak <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AfricanGiant?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AfricanGiant</a> levels: having your own currency 🔥. Check out <a href="https://twitter.com/burnaboy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BurnaBoy</a>’s ATM this week in NYC and RSVP to the launch right here: <a href="https://t.co/zkOJNWfIRr">https://t.co/zkOJNWfIRr</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BurnaBank?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BurnaBank</a> <a href="https://t.co/uaJCJgotjI">pic.twitter.com/uaJCJgotjI</a>&mdash; Spotify (@Spotify) <a href="https://twitter.com/Spotify/status/1161046142924328961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Another one of his wins this year was recording a song with Grammy award
winner Beyoncé, in a single titled Ja Ara
E as part of her The Lion King:The King
Album.



Burna Boy continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with as an
African giant and continues to put the continent on the map.

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Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

The South African actor and musician was impressed with the
city’s architecture, food and work ethic.&nbsp;




<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



South African actor and musician Anga Makubalo, known by his
stage name NaakMusiQ, calls the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai a luxury destination.



NaakMusiQ, who hails from Port Elizabeth in South Africa’s
Eastern Cape Province, shot to fame after appearing in the award-winning South
African soap opera Generations and has since been in a number of television
shows. 



He has also had a chart-topping music hit, Ntombi ft Bucie.



NaakMusiQ’s first trip to Dubai, known as the melting pot of the Middle East, was last year on an Emirates flight when he traveled Business Class. The fashion-lover admits to being a light packer, although there are some items he would never travel without, such as cologne, a pair of sneakers, and his music.



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“I also carry my scripts all the time. Because of the long
flights, I can get tired of watching a movie, I can get tired of listening to
music, so the next best thing is to get into my script and get a head start.”



He has been to Dubai before, but only transiting the airport
connecting to another flight, so this was his first official trip into the
glistening city. 



“Dubai is everything that people say it is,” he says. “We
went to the mall. It was crazy! I’ve never seen anything like it before. [The
Dubai Mall] has a full-on aquarium inside. In the middle of the center, there’s
like this huge fish tank. It’s crazy! That was probably the highlight of my
visit.” 



The actor was also intrigued by the city’s architecture and skyscrapers.   



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I’m actually very huge on architecture. It’s actually something I wanted to study. Their engineering is absolutely insane. The way they’ve built this place and the designs – it’s luxury, one after the other. We drove for hours admiring the architecture because I’m such a nerd when it comes to that. I love it.”</blockquote>



Dubai has a sizeable African expatriate community, and no
dearth of African culture. As a musician, NaaqMusiQ had been invited to the
city. 



“Africans that have immigrated to Dubai request their
favorite African artist to come over so that they’re still connected to Africa
and home. The nice thing about that is, as much as it is our people that have
invited us there to perform, they have influenced people from there [Dubai] and
other parts of the country [UAE] to come and listen to our music. 



“Because they’ve become residents there, they have
friendships where they introduce African music to the people of Dubai. So when
we went there, there were quite a lot of people, even though some couldn’t sing
along, there were a lot of people who went crazy when my song [Ntombi] played.”



During his time there, NaakMusiQ was also taken to
restaurants serving African food. This came as somewhat of a surprise for the
actor that the Arab city boasted a range of eateries specializing in African
cuisine. 



“We had a lot of Kenyan food that I hadn’t tasted before, which was really nice. They’ve got Tanzanian food, they’ve got South African food, Zambian food; it’s just a whole African experience there. And they do well actually.”



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While NaakMusiQ didn’t interact with the natives of Dubai,
he did get a sense of what they are like. The hustle and bustle of the city
left him greatly motivated.



“Everyone in Dubai is there to work. Everyone is there to hustle. People think that Dubai is this big, fun place, which it can be, but even people from there aren’t out partying every night. It’s people from the countries that are visiting that are out partying. Everyone else is really working. Some people are so hectic when it comes to business and money that they don’t have a life outside of their work. 



 “When they do have nights off, they choose to be at home or to put in extra hours working. It just made me want to work harder. That is the impact… Everyone there wants to do better. The standards there are incredibly high. What we would consider as good here is probably entry-level there,” says the hit-maker who now plans to return to Dubai wealthier and with more cash to splurge.

Anga

Executive Travel: NaakMusiQ’s Dubai

The sights, scents and sounds of
Zanzibar include a 73-year-old tale of the iconic late British
singer-songwriter.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Dress conservatively when walking the streets of Stone
Town,” advises the tourist brochures in the predominantly Islamic society of
Zanzibar, yet, the tiny Tanzanian archipelago proudly claims Freddie Mercury,
the controversial frontman of British band Queen, as its own.



The singer, born in the windswept streets of Stone Town in
Zanzibar in 1946 and one of the world’s most iconic voices in pop-rock, is this
tourist town’s biggest currency-spinner. 



Stone Town, which is a maze of historic alleys and spice
bazaars with timber shutters, an old Arab fort, churches, mosques and
19th-century stone buildings, is a World Heritage Site overlooking the sea.
Within its dusty bowels, leading up from its myriad walkways, is Shangani
Street, starting with a white-washed, two-storied yellow building that was once
Freddie Mercury’s home.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



There are countless tours offered to what is emblazoned in
gold outside as ‘Freddie Mercury House’, featuring four fully-furnished hotel
apartments with balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="462" height="602" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA.png" alt="" class="wp-image-41340" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA.png 462w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA-300x391.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/SIA-230x300.png 230w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px" /><figcaption> ‘Freddie Mercury House’, featuring four fully-furnished hotel apartments with balconies overlooking the Indian Ocean. Picture: Renuka Methil </figcaption></figure></div>



Outside are framed glass cases with sepia images of the
songwriter and vocalist, describing his famous connection with Zanzibar. Born
Farrokh Bulsara, Mercury’s family had immigrated to Zanzibar from Gujarat in
India. He was born to Bomi and Jer Bulsara who were originally Parsis (a
Zoroastrian community that migrated to the Indian subcontinent from Persia). In
1964, the Zanzibar Revolution forced the family to flee.



The island community’s lucrative tourist trade is even today
cashing in on Mercury’s global image, with tours offered at the Zoroastrian
Fire Temple where the Parsi family once worshipped, and to a restaurant named
Mercury offering fresh seafood.



“Imagine, Freddie Mercury played on these white sandy beaches and clear waters at one time,” says my tourist guide, Amour, proudly, before taking me on a two-hour walking tour of Stone Town. He points to the domed white Zanzibar High Court where Mercury’s father once worked as a cashier. 



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His house on Shangani Street, where the first settlers arrived, is a hub of activity, with tourists, and touts selling everything from icecream to tanzanite jewelry and African bric-à-brac. Just a few steps up, is the Shangani post office and buildings boasting Indian, African and European architecture, where you discover your own Bohemian Rhapsody.



Amour helps me weave through the heaving mass of human
traffic in the busy streets, to a fish and vegetable market in Stone Town that
also sells spices in pretty bamboo gift-packs. The fish is sold fresh and the
spices overpower the stench.



“Zanzibar used to be the largest exporter of cloves in the
world, but from 70 percent, it’s only nine percent now,” Amour rues, thrusting
a packet of cloves into my hand, “and that’s sad, because of declining prices,
more competitors and the poor encouragement of farmers.”



Earlier, I had visited the spice farms Zanzibar is so famous for, finishing off with lunch in a Swahili home stationed on a peak in one of the scented valleys. It was modest home-cooked fare but with aromas as strong as the spice farms the ingredients came from: a banana dish with coconut milk and cardamom, flavored cassava from the fields, fried tuna, rotis and the most fragrant pilaf (rice dish) I have ever eaten, watered down with lemon grass and ginger tea.  



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I had been to the Muyuni village in the south tasting the sweetest mangoes and bananas in all of Africa, passing seaweed-strewn beaches, paddy fields and potholed roads with bullock carts, dala dala taxis and motorbikes. 



In the lush mangroves of Jozani, I encountered the endangered red colobus monkeys. In the spice plantations, down slippery forest paths, I tasted nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves off the trees. 



The natural treats along the way also included lemons and sweet green oranges. As we passed the red mahogany trees, “beware of the green mambas or pythons”, my host had warned. A vendor in the middle of the forest showed us his wares in a wicker basket: soaps and perfumes made from the Ylang-Ylang trees by the womenfolk. 



“In Europe, Chanel No. 5 is made from this. Here, we call it
Chanel No. 0, our products have no chemical or alcohol,” he says, pointing to
the tiny bottles filled with red liquid. “These farms are so rich in spices
that the chicken running around are already spiced, you don’t need to flavor
them when you cook them,” laughs Amour, towards the end of our outing. From
Freddie Mercury to the farms, Zanzibar beckons the senses.

gettyimages-823663848-594×594

Stone Town: From Freddie Mercury To The Farms

Since its premiere in April,&nbsp;Avengers: Endgame&nbsp;has been sending shockwaves across the Marvel multiverse, with a worldwide gross of $2.77 billion and counting after the movie’s return to theaters last month. With its domestic gross sitting at $848 million,&nbsp;Endgame&nbsp;is the second-highest-grossing film ever both in the U.S. and overseas.&nbsp;



That means a payday not just for Marvel Studios but also for the Avengers themselves, who have negotiated their way to superpowered deals.&nbsp;Forbes’ Celebrity 100 list of the world’s highest-earning entertainers this year features six&nbsp;Endgame&nbsp;heroes, from Chris Hemsworth (a.k.a. Thor) at No. 24 overall with $76.4 million (not all of his earnings were from&nbsp;Avengers) to Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) at No. 83 with $41 million. Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Bradley Cooper (Rocket Raccoon), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Chris Evans (Captain America) also assembled and made the cut. Together, the team earned $340 million.



“Celebrities such as Downey and Johansson currently have extreme leverage to demand enormous compensation packages from studios investing hundreds of millions of dollars in making tent-pole films, such as&nbsp;The Avengers&nbsp;series,&#8221; says entertainment lawyer David Chidekel of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer &amp; McRae.



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fe.infogram.com%2F_%2FMqnfUVL7MtYGUtLhaZUp%3Fsrc%3Dembed&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram.com%2F1pk6ng20pe9056a9z9z7p90z2nb369rkyqe&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram-thumbs-1024.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb23a8c66-b417-465b-a500-2d45c9749743.jpg&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=infogram"></iframe></figure>



Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios’ president, seems to agree: “We started saying that the character is the marquee name, and I think that’s still true, but I think we&#8217;ve been very lucky and thankful that the actors that imbibe these characters have now become them,” he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/04/18/marvels-kevin-feige-talks-actor-compensation-and-the-studios-box-office-magic/#32a676ff1f27" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told&nbsp;Forbes</a>&nbsp;of the highly compensated group in 2017.



Marvel signs actors to multi-movie deals that also include promotional commitments. These deals often start off in the seven figures, which helps explain why newer superheroes like Brie Larson (Captain Marvel) and Tom Holland (the latest Spider-Man) didn’t make the Celeb 100 cut. But as actors stay with the MCU, their salaries increase. Veteran Marvel stars can command an upfront salary as high as $20 million (Downey). Others top heroes can earn in the neighborhood of $15 million (Hemsworth, Johansson, Evans), while second-tier characters make about $8 million (Rudd).&nbsp;



But the real money comes in later. All of this year’s listees proved so valuable to Marvel that they were able to negotiate for a piece of the profit—also known as contingent compensation—on both the ensemble&nbsp;Avengers&nbsp;films and their individual superhero films.



“A studio’s incentive to grant contingent compensation to various actors, writers, directors and other key personnel is simple.&nbsp;Movie studios depend upon tent-pole films to support their financial performance,” says Chidekel.



These points pay off.&nbsp;Avengers: Endgame, for example, has made about $700 million in profit from its box office run so far. For Downey, who has around 8% in back-end points, that translates to about $55 million, for a grand total of $75 million for the one film.&nbsp;



Even smaller characters like Cooper can command about 1% of the back end, which would translate to $7 million for&nbsp;Endgame. For their star vehicles, these actors can negotiate an even bigger cut of the profit.&nbsp;



“The percent of budget cost have certainly skewed heavy, particularly on the Avengers movies, to cast now, whereas maybe in the early ones it was more visual effects or below the line,” Feige said in 2017. “But that’s okay because [the actors] are the best effects.”



These sky-high paychecks have proved to be a worthwhile investment for the studio. With a built-in audience of comic book fans, scripts that are both funny and socially aware, and a powerful marketing strategy, MCU films have grossed over $22 billion since 2008. These actors continually return many times their salaries in box-office dollars. For instance, while Downey earned that eye-popping $75 million from&nbsp;Endgame, the film grossed $36.90 at the box office for every dollar he was paid. Those on the lower end of the earnings spectrum, like Rudd, produced over $100 at the box office for every dollar they were paid.



“Certainly the strange alchemy of seeing characters you’ve never seen before teamed up together on screen, if they were different versions of those characters, it wouldn&#8217;t be as fun,” Feige said. “It&#8217;s expensive but well worth it.”



We think Nick Fury would agree. 



-Madeline Berg; Forbes Staff

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Marvel Money: How Six Avengers Made $340 Million Last Year

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Kanye West’s Second Coming: Inside The Billion-Dollar Yeezy Empire

According to Netflix,&nbsp;Stranger Things 3&nbsp;smashed the streaming giant’s&nbsp; previous ratings record, with over 40 million households streaming the 80s-tastic adventures of Eleven and friends since the&nbsp;July 4 season premiere.



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Over 18 million (or about 45%) of the households streaming&nbsp;Stranger Things 3&nbsp;completed the eight-episode season in the same four-day period.</li><li>The previous record holder was&nbsp;Murder Mystery, an Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy, with over 30 million households streaming during its June opening weekend.</li><li>Netflix’s ratings are&nbsp;voluntarily reported&nbsp;by the company and not available to Nielsen or other traditional third-party audience measurers. Meaning there’s no additional, outside verification of Netflix ratings.</li><li>Although Netflix reigned supreme for years in entertainment streaming, competition from Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and others will crowd the playing field and potentially curb subscriber growth across the board, according to The Street.</li><li>Stranger Things 3&nbsp;is a proven cash cow for Netflix. In addition to beating streaming records, the latest season boasted 75 different product tie-ins as&nbsp;brands jockey for association&nbsp;(and dollars) with hot entertainment properties.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=cfc0fb0733504c77aa4a6ac07caaffc7&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//twitter.com/netflix/status/1148359444188712960&amp;image=https%3A//i.embed.ly/1/image%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fpbs.twimg.com%252Fprofile_images%252F1089957236221329409%252FrsMZ82D3_400x400.jpg%26key%3D8804248494c144f5b4765c41f66c6ed5"></iframe></figure>



What to watch for:&nbsp;Disney. The House of Mouse, with its 2017, $53 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, controls a wide swath of successful intellectual property outside of princesses and anthropomorphic animals:&nbsp;Star Wars,&nbsp;Avatar,&nbsp;The Simpsons, Marvel superheroes, Pixar and more are under its purview. Which means Disney may be the biggest media empire in history. Combined with having full control of Hulu and the scheduled November launch of Disney+, its own streaming service (targeted to cost half of a monthly Netflix subscription), Disney is poised to&nbsp;steal Netflix’s streaming spotlight.



-Lisette Voytko;&nbsp;Forbes Staff

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Netflix: ‘Stranger Things 3’ Smashes Its Ratings Record

WarnerMedia revealed the name of its new streaming service, HBO Max, and said it will lay claim to exclusive streaming rights to the hit sitcom&nbsp;Friends, a blow to rival Netflix.



The service, which launches commercially in the spring of 2020, will be anchored in HBO’s premium content, as the name implies. But it also will feature exclusive originals, such as a one-hour thriller series starring&nbsp;The Big Bang Theory’s&nbsp;Kaley Cuoco, and a ten-episode romantic anthology series featuring&nbsp;Pitch Perfect’s&nbsp;Anna Kendrick.



Though original programming may attract subscribers, popular shows likeFriends&nbsp;have the enduring, comfort-food appeal of the familiar. HBO Max will be home to all 236 episodes of&nbsp;Friends,&nbsp;the long-running situation comedy about a group of friends in Manhattan that debuted in 1994 but remains popular long after the last episode aired on NBC in 2004. Netflix paid a reported $100 million last December to keep Ross, Rachel and the rest of the crew on for another year.



WarnerMedia didn’t reveal pricing for Max. The network’s stand-alone subscription streaming service, HBO Now, costs $15, more than Netflix’s standard plan ($12.99) and the recently announced Disney+ streaming service ($6.99). It declined&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;request for an interview.



The announcement follows a tumultuous period at WarnerMedia, as AT&amp;T entertainment division&#8217;s chief executive, John Stankey, reorganized business units and installed new leadership.



Eager to lay claim to a corner of the rapidly evolving streaming media landscape, Stankey announced plans last fall to launch a three-tiered service, with a variety of pricing and content offerings. He promised the service would debut in “beta” by the end of 2019—matching the planned launches of the Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service and the anticipated debut of Apple TV+. The newly christened HBO Max will exist alongside HBO Now and HBO Go, the streaming service offered free to the network’s TV subscribers.



Under the details made public today, HBO Max will feature seven original series and draw from HBO’s programming slate, which includes an adaptation of Stephen King’s mystery,&nbsp;The Outsider,&nbsp;starring Ben Mendelsohn;&nbsp;Lovecraft Country,&nbsp;a horror series based on a novel by Matt Ruff, and executive produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams; and&nbsp;The Undoing,&nbsp;a psychological thriller from noted television producer David E. Kelley, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.



The forthcoming service will also draw from Warner Bros. Television’s extensive library, claiming popular past shows like&nbsp;The Fresh Prince of Bel Air&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pretty Little Liars.&nbsp;It will also get dibs on the new shows Warner TV produces for The CW network, including the forthcoming DC Entertainment series&nbsp;Batwoman.



WarnerMedia said HBO Max reached exclusive deals with Hollywood producer Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow) and award-winning actress and producer Reese Witherspoon. Berlanti will produce an initial four movies focused in the young adult space, while Witherspoon&#8217;s Hello Sunshine will produce at least two films.



-Dawn Chmielewski; Forbes Staff

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Netflix Rival HBO Max To Launch Next Year With ‘Friends’

Christie’s in London has defended itself over the provenance of a 3,000-year-old bust of ancient Egyptian boy-king Tutankhamun.



Christie’s claim that the brown quartzite head of Tutankhamun, which sold for on July 4 for £4,746,250, was part of a “long-standing and legitimate market”. However senior figures in Egypt has questioned why so little is known about the bust&#8217;s ownership history.



Egypt&#8217;s former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass told the AFP news agency: &#8220;It left Egypt after 1970 because in that time other artefacts were stolen from Karnak Temple.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/89856661/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Howard Carter (1873-1939) english egyptologist near golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamon (mummy) in Egypt in 1922 (photo Harry Burton) colorized document"/><figcaption>Howard Carter (1873-1939) english egyptologist near golden sarcophagus of Tutankhamen (mummy) in Egypt in 1923 (photo Harry Burton) colorized document (Photo by Apic/Getty Images)GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



Addressing the controversy, Christie’s released a statement claiming, “Ancient objects by their nature cannot be traced over millennia. It is hugely important to establish recent ownership and legal right to sell which we have clearly done. We would not offer for sale any object where there was concern over ownership or export.”



They claim the bust has been widely exhibited and published and we have alerted the Egyptian Embassy so they are aware of the sale. Adding, “Christie’s strictly adheres to bilateral treaties and international laws with respect to cultural property and patrimony. There is a long-standing and legitimate market for works of art of the ancient world, in which Christie’s has participated for generations.”



The 3000-year-old bust is being sold from the Resandro Collection, one of the world’s most renowned private collections of Egyptian art. Dating back to the rule of Tutankhamen between 1333-1323 B.C, the boy-king is dressed as the God Amen, the period is considered by Christie’s as a “golden age” of ancient Egypt, “not only in terms of regional and cultural influence, but also because of the incomparable beauty and quality of the art produced then”.



Much of Tutankhamun’s fame stems from the discovery of his intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.



Sending History Home



British auction houses and museums are increasingly facing scrutiny over the provenance of the antiquities on display and for sale.



In April this year the Ethiopian government rejected an offer from the Victoria and Albert Museum to loan back artefacts allegedly plundered by British forces in 1868.



Ethiopian government minister Hirut Woldemariam told news agencies at the time that “we have asked (for) the restitution of our heritage, our Maqdala heritage, looted from Maqdala 150 years ago.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/541903077/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="The New Victoria And Albert Museum Opened On June 26Th, 1909', c.1909."/><figcaption>The Victoria and Albert Museum opened on June 26th, 1909&#8242;. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)GETTY IMAGES</figcaption></figure>



While Ephrem Amare, Ethiopian National Museum director, said: “It is clearly known where these treasures came from and whom they belong to. Our main demand has never been to borrow them. Ethiopia’s demand has always been the restoration of those illegally looted treasures. Not to borrow them.”



In France, a 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron recommended French museums return collections taken &#8220;without consent&#8221; from former African colonies.



The report urges the president to cast aside “political prudence” and “museum anxiety”, particularly that the treasures—an important part of human history—will be lost in private markets once returned.



-David Dawkins;&nbsp;Forbes Staff

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‘Stolen’ Tutankhamun Bust Puts Britain’s Museums And Auctioneers Back Under the Spotlight

On a given day at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, chef Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous pub and grill will make around $20,000 from fish and chips. The 1,200-square-foot space sees around 1,300 guests a day. Since debuting on the strip in 2012, Ramsay has added another location in Atlantic City. 



Combined, both have sold more than 300,000 fish and chips dishes. “It’s taken the nation by storm. I look at the lines outside the door,” Ramsay told Forbes on the phone earlier this week.



His steak restaurant, which launched seven years ago at Caesars’ Paris Las Vegas Hotel, has meanwhile expanded to Atlantic City and Baltimore, luring diners with beef Wellingtons (more than 250,000 sold since 2012) and sticky toffee puddings (more than 200,000 sold). 



That kind of demand needs to be taken advantage of quickly. Which is why a year ago, Ramsay started looking for a partner to help him rapidly expand these brands. “I wasn’t ready to pedal this bike up a hill on my own. That would take me another 15 years,” Ramsay says. “Let’s get this thing done.”



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Taking A Bite Out Of Africa (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2018/11/19/taking-a-bite-out-of-africa/" target="_blank">Taking A Bite Out Of Africa</a>



And now Ramsay has inked a deal with Lion Capital, a private equity outfit with offices in London and Los Angeles, which has scaled restaurants like wagamama, the pan-Asian noodle chain, as well as brands like Kettle chips and Jimmy Cho. Lion now owns 50% of Gordon Ramsay North America, while the other 50% is controlled by Ramsay. 



He declined to comment on the size of the transaction, but the deal stipulates that Lion will invest $100 million over five years to build an empire of Gordon Ramsay restaurants across America. The joint venture expects to open 100 new locations across the U.S by 2024. 



“I fell in love with this country 20 years ago. There’s a will here. My goal, right now, is to establish one of the most exciting food brands in America,” Ramsay says. “Being a control freak, I needed the right partner on board. There’s a lot of businesses that don’t like that kind of stranglehold. For me, the partnership was crucial.”



Ramsay already has eight restaurants across Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Baltimore in partnership with Caesars Entertainment. There’s five concepts in Las Vegas, of which three are brands that will be expanded through the new deal — Gordon Ramsay Steak, Gordon Ramsay Pub &amp; Grill, Gordon Ramsay Fish &amp; Chips.



“Vegas has been the most amazing platform. Everyone thinks it is just full of partying and entertainment, but it’s one of the most severe and revered culinary capitals anywhere in the world. You don’t get a second shot at it,” Ramsay says.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d1389d8142c500008c7510e/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="The restaurant concept, Gordon Ramsay Steak, launched in 2012 inside Caesar Entertainment's Paris Las Vegas Hotel &amp; Casino on the Las Vegas Strip."/><figcaption>The restaurant concept, Gordon Ramsay Steak, launched in 2012 inside Caesar Entertainment’s Paris Las Vegas Hotel &amp; Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.GORDON RAMSAY STEAK</figcaption></figure>



The deal will also bring two more concepts to the U.S.: Gordon Ramsay Street Pizza and Gordon Ramsay Bread Street Kitchen, which he calls “a modern Cheesecake Factory.” It already has successful locations in&nbsp;London, Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore.&nbsp;



Ramsay is a six-time Celebrity 100 listmaker who earned $62 million last year, mainly from his television deal with Fox, in which he produces and stars in shows MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef Jr. as well as 24 Hours to Hell and Back.



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="From Fishing Village To Gastronomic Heaven: Tables Turn For Wolfgat (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/travel/2019/02/27/from-fishing-village-to-gastronomic-heaven-tables-turn-for-wolfgat/" target="_blank">From Fishing Village To Gastronomic Heaven: Tables Turn For Wolfgat</a>



“It may seem aggressive, but we’re not opening up 80 or 90 of the same restaurant. We’re crossing over with a multilayered brand. That’s the bit that I’ve worked hard at. We’ve divided and conquered.”



Ramsay’s 15 restaurants in London won’t be impacted by the Lion Capital investment. The announcement comes just a few weeks after British chef Jamie Oliver announced that all but three of his 25 restaurants in the U.K. will close.



“It’s a very oversaturated market there, and you need to be very careful with that level of expansion. It’s unfortunate to see the situation he got himself into, but that’s what happens when you’ve got a juggernaut that’s out of control, as opposed to being in control,” Ramsay says. “I’ve sat patiently, learning from other people’s mistakes.”=



-Chloe Sorvino; Forbes Staff

gettyimages-1132816531-594×594

Gordon Ramsay Plots 100 US Restaurants With New Private Equity Deal

Songs of the struggle and music steeped in South Africa’s
apartheid past. The story of how the Soweto Gospel Choir&nbsp; captivated the world



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



Three Grammys in 12 years. And more global awards in their
17 years of existence.



In February this year, at the 61st annual Grammy awards in
Los Angeles, South Africa’s child and Africa’s pride, the Soweto Gospel Choir
(SGC) walked up to the stage to a rousing ovation.&nbsp;&nbsp; 



They had won the Best World Music Album for Freedom. More than an album dedicated to Nelson Mandela, that word stood for triumph, it stood for the freedom where it all started – Soweto.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="691" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg" alt="" data-id="40965" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40965" class="wp-image-40965" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-600x405.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg-768x518.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Symphonic-Soweto-2nd-2.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir through the years. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="702" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg" alt="" data-id="40966" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40966" class="wp-image-40966" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-1024x702.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-300x206.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-600x411.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg-768x526.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/03-Madiba-Soweto-Gospel-Choir-Mar-2008CRuphin-Coudyzer-FPPSA.jpg.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir with Nelson Mandela. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



Since its inception, the gospel choir, hailing from South
Africa’s biggest township, Soweto (short for South West Townships), has been on
more international stages than they can keep count of.&nbsp; 



Its founders, Australian promoter Beverly Bryer and the late
David Mulovhedzi, created something so monumental that the world had to sit up
and listen. Bryer was born in South Africa, and lived and worked in the
Australian music scene for a few years before moving back to South Africa in
1995. 



During her stint in Australia, she connected with a number
of music promoters who took talent from all over the world to Down Under. 



Her love was always music but pop and rock rather than
African gospel.



In 2001, Bryer received a call from one of the promoters she had met in Australia asking if there were any interesting South African artists he could showcase in Australia. She suggested Umoja, a South African theater production. Bryer knew the producer and the production was a huge global success.



After watching the cast on stage, the promoter was blown
away and backed the production all the way to Australia. 



In 2002, Bryer received another call saying the gospel aspect of Umoja was extremely popular and everyone loved it. 



“I was asked to form a choir with Mulovhedzi and we had
about three months to form&nbsp; one because
they didn’t want an existing choir but a new one. I asked Mulovhedzi to bring
his choir director expertise and I learned very quickly about gospel music,”
she recalls.



That was the birth of the Soweto Gospel Choir.



“The name was a very important decision and it came quite
naturally because most of the members were from Soweto, so that was giving the
artists their location. 



“We thought a lot of the languages the choir is going to be
singing in, people around the world were not going to know or understand, but
the only thing they knew was Soweto, Nelson Mandela and the struggle. So, we
marked it with something that people knew, the name,” Bryer says. 



Through word-of-mouth, within the three months given to them, they had auditions, and went into studio and recorded their first album, Voices From Heaven, which shot up to number one on the Billboards World Music Chart within three weeks of release in 2002. Three months after that, the choir went on to tour Australia.



The six-week tour sold out and the milestones have not
stopped since. 



Bryer recalls promoters coming out for a show and one saying to the choir that they had something special.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We said to her that ‘we don’t know how it’s going to go, so if you want to take a chance with us, sure. If it doesn’t work, everyone goes home’.”&nbsp; </blockquote>



Bryer was advised the Edinburgh International Festival was
where musicians cut their teeth and that was where promoters from around the
world looked for talent.&nbsp; 



There were thousands of acts and the SGC were ultimately
among the most popular at the festival, and that’s when other international promoters
wanted to work with them. 



Edinburgh got the ball rolling. 



At the end of 2003, the choir was presented with a big local
event in the form of the first 46664 concert; an AIDS benefit concert in honor
of the late South Africa president Nelson Mandela. 



That concert still gives Mandlenkosi Modawu the jitters when
he thinks of its scale and magnitude. One of the older members in the choir,
Modawu is the bass singer and drummer from Witbank, Mpumalanga, but moved to
Mofolo, Soweto, shortly after joining the choir. He has been with the choir for
over 15 years now. 



“The drummer prior to me was troublesome, so it was easier
for me to get into the choir after my auditions; fortunately, I am also a
singer and that was a bonus for me,” he says. 



He speaks of the Edinburgh International Festival as though the performance was yesterday and keeps reiterating that among the 2,000 acts, they were the best. 



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In the ocean of experiences, Modawu has moments he will
always treasure.



“I think our break came after Scotland (Edinburgh
International Festival), and when I think about the 46664 concert in 2003, I
get shivers even today, mainly because we were considered one of the smallest
acts in that concert but we ended up backing a whole lot of artists like Aretha
Franklin, Stevie Wonder, U2 and other big names,” he says. 



In 2007, SGC won their first Grammy. 



South African gospel was recognized globally and their
mantel was filling up. 



“The second Grammy came as a surprise, I think it’s because
of the collaborations we did with big name artists around the world. They got
us recognized in the global music fraternity.



“While working on the album that got us our third Grammy, we
drew from the experiences we had from the struggle, stories told by our parents
during apartheid and those songs really touched the world because of the
emotions, and it moved people,” Modawu says. 



Sadly, Mulovhedzi could not share the excitement of their
third Grammy. 



“His passing was devastating because he was our founding
father. It shocked us, but we had to accept and keep the legacy. One of his
sons is the choir manager now,” says Modawu. 



“The first Grammy just came out of nowhere. It started with
someone contacting us and asking what we think of this idea, we carried the
idea and, sadly, in 2009, he (Mulovhedzi) passed.”



&nbsp;And now 17 years
later, they are the most successful choir in the world.



“I have watched my children grow up for 17 years, from the
start, especially those coming from disadvantaged communities, very few had
ever been on a plane. 



“We had tried getting people who had never sung professionally before and we never thought they would be on stage with Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder or John Legend and through the years, artists wanted to collaborate with the choir. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="698" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg" alt="" data-id="40968" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40968" class="wp-image-40968" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-1024x698.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-300x204.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-600x409.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003-768x523.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gospelchoirAP20070212ASP003.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir win their first Grammy. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="928" height="620" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png" alt="" data-id="40974" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40974" class="wp-image-40974" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png.png 928w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Celine.png-768x513.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px" /><figcaption> Celine Dion and Beverly Bryer from the Soweto Gospel Choir. Picture: Supplied </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“So, for them, it would be coming from Soweto and now on the
stage in New York City with Aretha Franklin or recording with Peter Gabriel or
doing shows with Johnny Clegg. To this day, it is an unreality for all of us.”



Bryers still remembers Mulovhedzi as the most important man
she had ever met in her dealings. 



“He was absolutely super-special,” she says, and that he was
the kindest gentleman with an absolute love for music and a great knowledge of
gospel. 



He helped her with the knowledge of gospel and working with
him was the most enriching experience, she adds. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="600" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg" alt="" data-id="40969" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40969" class="wp-image-40969" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny.jpeg 960w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-300x188.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-600x375.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/latest-granny-768x480.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /><figcaption>Soweto Gospel Choir win a third Grammy, the album called Freedom. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. Picture: Supplied</figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“Regarding our latest Grammy, the album called Freedom was recorded in 2018. One group toured Europe and the other one did America. It was recorded for that tour, which was called Songs of the Free to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s centenary. So, it was concentrating on freedom songs, and songs that come from the struggle, with a little bit of gospel in between… 



“It was special because it’s an album that included their
(choir members’) history; it was an extra special feel for them.”&nbsp; 



Bryer recalls previous accolades with fondness.&nbsp; 



“The first Grammy had more attention because it came out of
nowhere. I remember in 2007 looking at my email that we were nominated for a
Grammy. It was special and we were there with David [Mulovhedzi]. 



“The second one was like, ‘been there, done that’.&nbsp; The third one is as important as the first
because of the history, it’s more personal and dedicated to Madiba, and it also
shows that even after 17 years, the Soweto Gospel Choir is on top of the music
game.”



At the beginning of their journey in 2002, the choir started
with 24 members, but because of&nbsp;
international travel, they had to form a second choir about 18 months
later to stay and perform locally.



Last year, the choir formed a third group because both groups were traveling; now the choir has grown to 50 members.&nbsp; 



Alto singer Cecelia Manyama from Diepkloof, Soweto, joined
the group in 2016. She was spotted by Bryer at a charity event playing the
violin for a classical group. She is one of the newer members.



“I met Beverly in the line to the loo. She had just heard me singing on stage and she called me aside and introduced herself and invited me for auditions that took place two weeks later. I was excited and couldn’t sleep, the two weeks felt like two years,” Manyama remembers.



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A week after the auditions, she received a message with
details of where the next rehearsals would be. She was in disbelief and told
everyone.



This was a choir that she admired and a choir she used to
watch on television. 



“I was told to lead a song I did at the charity event; I was
terrified. I remember the late Portia Skosana when I froze, and she came next
to me and sung the lead and let me continue. 



“When I started singing, I immediately felt the connection
and we were in sync and it didn’t feel new. With just that rehearsal, I was
blown away,” she recalls. 



Three months later, it was her first concert and performance
in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg, for the Clap N Tap concert with the
choir.&nbsp; 



“I will never forget that experience, I led with Avulekile
Amasango (The Gates Have Opened). That was the first song I was given. I then
felt there is no stranger there in the choir,” she says, taking a deep breath. 



“Being with a Grammy award-winning choir and performing with
them for the first time, you have fear and excitement at the same time. We are
in sync and I realized I was not alone. 



“The backing behind me was speaking in volumes, it drove me,
it pushed me and from that day onwards, I never looked back and wanted to learn
more. It was an amazing experience.” 



&nbsp;For each new member
who joins the group, the awards reawaken something within. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="40973" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40973" class="wp-image-40973" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC-703.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla</figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png" alt="" data-id="40975" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40975" class="wp-image-40975" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SGC3.png-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption> Soweto Gospel Choir practice session. Picture: Motlabana Monnakgotla </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“I remember with my first Grammy with the group, we went to
the airport to get it. I had never held a Grammy in my hand, but with Soweto
Gospel Choir, I held it,” laughs Manyama. 



“It was amazing. At first, I didn’t understand the kind of
impact it has on the nation but now I realize this is huge; being called
everywhere to perform, and being in the same room with the president holding
the Grammy. That Grammy is heavy and after taking a picture with it, you just
want to pass it on or put it down.” 



Although many have come and gone over the years, the choir
have prioritized succession, as they make it a point to gradually hand over
management to the younger generation, who no doubt have big shoes to fill – and
the legacy of three very heavy gramophone trophies to uphold.&nbsp;

SGCT

Soweto Gospel Choir: Three Heavy Grammys And A World Singing Their Praise

A gargantuan eight-storey second-hand bookstore in the heart
of downtown Johannesburg, not far from the city’s hipster havens, has for over
four decades stocked nostalgia and hidden treasures on its shelves.&nbsp; FORBES AFRICA stepped into the time capsule
that is the Collectors Treasury.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



In the mid-1970s, Rissik Street in downtown Johannesburg was
a tranquil road featuring an important landmark – a second-hand bookstore that
offered an escape from the city’s orchestrated chaos. It was a true literary
world in a period devoid of the sensory overload of today’s technology.



Books were the only source of knowledge for the young intellectuals in bell-bottoms and halter dresses that trickled in to spend hours pouring over the treasures in this bookstore called Collectors Treasury.&nbsp;&nbsp;



 It has since moved shop from Rissik Street, and today, 45 years on, a little over a kilometer away, the same wonders, and much, much more can be found at 223 Commissioner Street. The 3,000 books, records and antiques collected since 1974 have now grown to over two million items. 



All the vintage collectables are housed in an eight-storey building bursting at the seams with the sheer volume of material in it. 



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Brothers Geoffrey and Jonathan Klass, the co-owners of Collectors
Treasury, have come to this realization, that the books are literally
everywhere. From the entrance to the office where the men have to walk around
them with caution, and from there, to the elevator, the staircase, the passages
and even the restroom that has been turned into an impromptu storage space. 



“People are definitely reading, and they are reading more.,”
offers Geoffrey. 



“We are at a stage where reading is not for pleasure.
Reading is for utilitarian purposes because it is something that we seek to
learn, something we have to know in order to advance.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="927" height="615" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books2.png.png" alt="" class="wp-image-40945" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books2.png.png 927w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books2.png-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books2.png-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books2.png-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 927px) 100vw, 927px" /><figcaption>Collectors Treasury bookstore, owned by brothers Geoffrey and Jonathan Klass. Picture: Gypseenia Lion</figcaption></figure>



Also a recording engineer and musician, his brother Jonathan
remarks that growing up with a doctor for a father, and a mother who collected
antiques, inspired them to start the business.&nbsp;




Jonathan shies away from talking about his own personal
collection of antiques because people always end up bargaining for him to sell
it.



&nbsp; Their upbringing
taught the men the value of history. This is the backbone of their business.



&nbsp;“Whenever we get anything into the shop, the first thing we want to know is what its origins are and where it comes from,” Jonathan says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“You can’t know where you are or who you are in a particular context unless you know what has come before you. It is becoming part of a culture amongst the youngsters now, the so-called ‘hipsters’; they are the population coming in a lot.”&nbsp; </blockquote>



Young, inquisitive minds, in search of a deeper
understanding of the world, feed their curiosity here while others walk in to
simply explore the massive bookstore. Jonathan says it provides a much-needed
alternative and relief to today’s smartphone-obsessed world. 



“People are stuck in an electronic loop and they can’t get
out of it. They haven’t studied the people who are the masters of their craft
to know where they should go. I absorbed as much material as I could, and I
still do it all the time. 



“That is what our shop is about. You can’t come in here for
five minutes and expect to absorb what is in here.



“It doesn’t matter what you read, so long as you read
because ultimately the book is the theater of the mind.”



Geoffrey argues that despite the vast amount of information
shared on the internet, it won’t ever replace the simplicity of a book. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="924" height="618" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books3.png.png" alt="" data-id="40946" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40946" class="wp-image-40946" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books3.png.png 924w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books3.png-300x201.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books3.png-600x401.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books3.png-768x514.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px" /><figcaption> The 3,000 books, records and antiques collected since 1974 have now grown to over two million items. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="925" height="610" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books5.png.png" alt="" data-id="40947" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40947" class="wp-image-40947" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books5.png.png 925w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books5.png-300x198.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books5.png-600x396.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books5.png-768x506.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" /><figcaption>The Klaas brothers remarks that growing up with a doctor for a father, and a mother who collected antiques, inspired them to start Collectors Treasury. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“People’s knowledge is not as in-depth as it used to be, which is why this particular generation of youngsters is more enthusiastic about older stuff than the generation that came 15 years ago,” he says. 



Books on African history are the top-sellers at the store
because people are looking to make sense of their place in society. 



By preserving what is often discarded, the store can become
a repository of tradition while it allows the bookseller to determine what to
sell. 



“If I banned half the books, I’d be cutting out half the
cultural influencers that someone could be exposed to. We cast our net widely,
and limit it simply because of the volume of material there is. We make our own
choices,” Geoffrey says. 



Although digital innovations continue to grow in popularity,
the culture of reading for the brothers will never be substituted for the
sensory experience provided by a book. 



“The world does not stand still. What we often think is the
beginning of the revolution is the end. I think in a lot of ways the digital
experience is in the decline. It goes back to the hipsters wanting to know what
came before because they want to be hands-on. They want to feel, touch and see
it. 



“They don’t want the black box effect. Nobody is going to
come in here with something the size of a cellphone with 7,000 books loaded on
it and say, ‘I want to sell my library’. No one else will buy it,” Geoffrey
says. 



Jonathan says the shop has hidden treasures in the form of
collectables that aren’t sold by regular retailers.



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“As a toy collector, when I see the tin toys I used to have
and played with as a child, it just brings back all those memories.” 



“Nostalgia is a big part of it. So many times when I am in a
market stall [selling goods], somebody will come along and say, ‘this is so
nice, I remember it from when I was five years old’. It may be a vase or a
piece of furniture or a gramophone. It could be anything and people will
remember it,” Jonathan says. 



Going out on Sundays for window-shopping at any time of the
day is an activity the brothers certainly miss.



Since the early 1990s, the inner city changed from being an
upmarket commercial space to an area rife with crime and dilapidated buildings.
But the high levels of crime and population density have not hindered the
brothers’&nbsp; love for the inner city and
the time capsule they step into daily. 



When asked how the business survived the advent of the internet, an excited Jonathan explains the exclusivity of the store and its organic growth that few can imitate. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Nobody can start Collectors Treasury if they wanted to. It developed on its own like a chemical reaction. We started collecting some stuff and it developed into what it is now, rather like a volcano. You can’t create a volcano,” he says. </blockquote>



A unique passion for selling second-hand books and
understanding collectables is needed to stand the test of time. For Jonathan,
the online model is not feasible because it is expensive on the one side, and
on the other, it minimizes the effort it takes to acquire knowledge or a
skill.&nbsp; 



“It has got to be an educated thing. There are people
trading from their homes, making it look easy. The same way people who write a
book using spellcheck, or musicians using apps to write music who think they
are musicians and they are not.



“The online experience is that anybody who can use a
computer can become an instant ‘expert’, at times, they steal descriptions off
the net, they steal inventory and market it. They do this to make out more than
they know. They sound like they have a bookshop where, in fact, they have a
garden shed,” Jonathan explains. 



Understanding how the internet works helps buyers and
sellers spot scammers from a mile away. With about 85,000 books up for sale on
the internet, the brothers have expert knowledge on how to identify a
legitimate seller. 



Over the years, the few dealers and buyers have increased to
over a million since the duo began selling online.&nbsp; 



“You need to build a business, and not just sell. We buy
what people want, and sometimes we reject books. People usually ask why we
reject, but we need to check the market and know what they will buy,” Jonathan
adds. 



Geoffrey shares a different sentiment about their business
model.&nbsp; 



“There is a model; it is going with the flow. If someone
wants to make money, they need to do something else. It is for the passion; as
long as you are making enough to eat, the rest doesn’t matter. The stock is
appreciating. If you sell it, you make money. It appreciates in value if you
buy correctly,” he says. 



He argues that people need to avoid the get-rich-quick
syndrome as businesses differ. 



“If I made a million, and I write a book on it, how many
millionaires would there be? If Warren Buffet made a million, it is because the
conditions at that particular time, plus his input, added up to making a
million. You could give somebody the same amount of information now but time
has passed and the river has flowed. 



<ul class="wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-6 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="926" height="617" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books4.png.png" alt="" data-id="40948" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40948" class="wp-image-40948" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books4.png.png 926w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books4.png-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books4.png-600x400.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Books4.png-768x512.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px" /><figcaption>$3,000 kettle was designed by a leading early 20th century German architect and industrial designer, Peter Behrens. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></li><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="925" height="614" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books6.png.png" alt="" data-id="40949" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=40949" class="wp-image-40949" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books6.png.png 925w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books6.png-300x199.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books6.png-600x398.png 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/books6.png-768x510.png 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 925px) 100vw, 925px" /><figcaption> Collectors Treasury sells porcelain and antique figures from the early 1900s’ fashionable movement; items rarely sold by local dealers. Picture: Gypseenia Lion </figcaption></figure></li></ul>



“You are not the same person that you were at the time that
you made the million. I don’t think Bill Gates could make a million today
because it was [under] different circumstances,” Geoffrey says. 



The store houses items that are priceless from a bygone era.
The brothers sell porcelain and antique figures from the early 1900s’
fashionable movement; items rarely sold by local dealers. 



“The markets for the antique porcelains have dropped so
much. The classical antiques that were fashionable 50 years ago are not wanted
by the modern collectors to the same extent as the generation before,” Geoffrey
says. “In a way, the subsequent generation tends to concentrate on buying back
their youth. They buy the things that they couldn’t afford when they were
younger and didn’t have any money. 



“Collecting fashions shift so much. Modern collectors look
for different things, but pretty is out!” The rustier and older the item, the
more people want it. And they don’t mind stepping into a bookstore bursting
with nostalgia and with motifs and messages from an era that has been long
gone.

Category: Arts