Manju Journal

0:03Um right we're going to be moving on to our third speaker today manju journal is a global art and culture platform dedicated to shining a light on contemporary talent from across the african continent it was founded back in 2015 in accra by orlando mensah who was soon joined by fashion director kusi kubi gucci recently created a campaign with manju journal the fashion house's first collaboration with an african-owned media platform it was all about exploring the ghanaian concept of gender fluidity now we're delighted to be joined today by both orlando and kusi and it's kind of a first for us to have two speakers in two different places so I'm going to say hi and ask you to turn your audio and video on.

0:40So we can so we can say hi orlando I can see you already how's it going I mean it's perfect it's it's it's quiet it's quite hot over here in accra but I mean it's it's fine nice okay great and chrissy you're joining us from london right yes yes I am fantastic okay now if I've got this right orlando you're going to be sharing your screen first and and then you'll be handing on to kusi right to kind of speak second so orlando over to you to yeah to share your screen everyone else if you have any questions for either of these guys stick them in in the chat as before.

1:21And we'll try and get around to them afterwards apologies if we can't get around to all of them I've seen a couple have come through that we haven't been able to get to but yeah appreciate that that looks great orlando so I'll hand over to you okay thank you very much and good evening from my side thanks so much much for the introduction I would just be quite snappy because of time.

1:45And then move on with my profile so basically my my name is richmond orlando mesa I'm a ghanaian creative and I'm an art enthusiast based in accra ghana I I studied bachelor of fine arts in university of ghana from 2013 to 2018 now that was where.

2:02I had the passion to start my platform marginal but before starting my journal I've went with quite a number of brands here in accra ghana I worked with studio 189 a fashion label here in academia and founded by abram are and rosario dawson sorry here in accra ghana as the communication director and also the art director for the brand so in 2015 that was where I I had the passion to launch my platform manchester now I believed by then. There were quite a number of creative creative works out here in accra I mean we had quite a number of young emerging talents in the field of photography fashion and music as well.

2:53So I I I thought as much why why don't I start something like that here in ghana because I used to see by the number of black owned media platform not necessarily based in africa but also based in london and quite quite a number of countries as well.

3:12So I I started manju I mean in 2015 I I I work quite a number of photographers I I I had to search for how you call it content I I had to speak to a number of emerging talents here in accra where. I got introduced to most most of our partners here in aquarium so yeah.

3:40So basically for mind you what we do is we we celebrate contemporary african fashion music photography so we get introduced to some of our artists because sometimes I get I guess I am asked how I create the images and stuff on the page and on our social or digital channels but what we do is we get introduced to most of our our partners here in accra and also in africa as well moving on maybe I'll just move quite quickly to some of our projects here in that we've collaborated with some media platform and also some organizations somewhere this year even though we knew how profit 19 was quite rough to most of most of the creatives here in ghana and also part of the world we're able to collaborate with quite a number of media platforms in over here so before I start these are some of our I will just run through some of the images in our gallery some some of the actions that we love that we've worked with I mean we we tried to finish their work out there we could see work from the face images away from delphindial and we could see a work from carl tarwick's car weeks he's a south african namibian photographer I think that's why he collaborated with with one of the fashion brands in in south africa as well yeah we have this image also from and balance and balance and is is a dutch photographer but mostly she's based there in accra ghana I've met anne quite a number of times her up her wakes are mostly influenced by by human body by how how we feel how we feel each other in that sense yes so leds here we collaborated with id magazine to create 20 photographers that we believe capture the beauty of modern africa to follow in 2020 so with this we had to sit down we had to I mean gather some points my my colleague kusi and I had to go through some of the photographs that we believe I mean their works are really inspired by the everyday beauty in africa as well.

6:05So I mean took quite a number of time to gather this works with with with my colleague as well but at the end of the day we're able to get some of our best 20 photographers that we believed captured the beauty of modern africa to follow in 2020 so here we have the first image we have from ishmael zadie it's now it's a moroccan artist I mean we love how he celebrates most the heritage and culture from from morocco as well.

6:38And then the next image is an image from a young a young ghanaian photographer nanaya woodrow daniel's work is also influenced by ships and colors and mostly some of these young artists in ghana are really influenced by by colors through to their works and what they do over here in acaragana as well.

7:04So I I will just run through some of the images this is an image from sakiti tessa also a young ghanaian photographer here in accra and yeah moving on we worked with book italia this was quite an interesting project with us we had to collaborate with italia we had to I mean we got the proposal from alexia laviano from vogue italia and then quite a number of editors from there to also create 20 photography 20 female photographers sorry and two games I mean in this era for vogue italia so that was what led us to create some of these beautiful images for vogue italia I mean we felt we felt like most most of the female photographers here whether imagine or established photographers need are really putting and the content I mean whether it be is in africa or not really putting the african is that is out there I mean they are shaping and pushing the culture over here.

8:11So we felt like it was quite important to also push to push the narrative for female photographers mostly african photographers for vogue italia so yes we have quite a number of images here we have this image from nadine I think this image was part of a project with was part of a project with hairstylist and jawarra sorry if I'm not getting the name well yeah for for the audio exhibition somewhere in february I think and yeah we have quite a number of photographs the the image on the right from adam ajalo also based in london I think this was a collaboration with one media platform natal yes then yes then this image from which osi which osi is also a landing based nigerian female photographer yes we feel like the main the main narrative for for this project was to was to center on film photographers that we believe are really are really sending I mean their culture all the aspects of afghan culture to to their brothers to them to their brother's space whether based in ghana or basin africa or any part of the world yes and our third project I think was with paper journal magazine for paper magazine what they do mostly is that they invite python of creatives or media platforms to to to share photographs that they believe are quite essential for for the platform I mean creative works and so it's actually a takeover for for a week on their social media channels to talk about some creatives that you believe are really putting the continent on on on a broader space so for here we created some of our images with some photographers in africa and also not necessarily in africa based in other countries as well.

10:27So we had to get this image from muslim muslim rabbi he's also a moroccan moroccan artist and yeah moving on we have this image from we have this image from liz johnson actor liz johnson is also a ghanaian russian artist I mean hey I mean she has been one of our favorite photographers for quite a number of of for quite a number of times because we believe her images are very very essential to what magiciana does in terms of how she beautifully writes her works and she relatively creates her ways for for her audience we have this image also here by daniel photographer ahmed gavi amigavi's work is quite agaves work is mostly influenced by the everyday ghanaian culture and heritage over over here then last but not least our last project was with the photographic gallery a london based gallery where we also had to create some some images that we felt were very essential were very important to what manji does so we have this image from from kojo kojo is also a ghanaian artist and this image from oyed iran also a nigerian nigerian photographer yeah.

12:05So basically for for for this period of time most most of our projects were through photography we had to create some images for for most of these publications most of these publications and last but not least in the last project here we have was our recent collaboration with gucci I mean I'm going to leave that for my colleague but I I will just talk a little bit about how this project all started about how everything he has started about.

12:39So we actually got the the proposal from from a bike or tech by cortex is a landing-based creative agency so that they had to push in this project to us as a black owned media platform because they thought it was quite important for these bigger brands out there to also collaborate with black owned media because it's really important when the story naturally comes from us to to work with to work with these guys so that was what led us to collaborate with gucci for this project that we teamed we are all the based on our ghanaian culture over here.

13:18So I'll just leave this to see because we'll talk more about the victory project how we started and also the creative aspect of this video thank you hello everyone thanks for that orlando you're good chrissy are you going to be sharing your screen as well yes yes I would be in that hold on let me just go in and then just a reminder to everyone if you do have any questions for for managing journal that would be great yeah pop them in the chat and I'll do my best to get around to asking them afterwards the amazing number of partnerships you've had this year already that's fantastic great to see perfect great I'll leave you to it sure let me just get this a little bit bigger cool hi everyone I am cuci cooby I'm a creative director fashion stylist and also consultant recently I joined manchester united as the fashion director before I dive into the gucci monkey journal about code tech project I would like to show you a bit of my work.

14:40So I'll start with this which is based on a cowboy story loosely based on kind of like burbank mountain but not you know really not heavily based on that.

14:51But the theme is based around burbank mountain this is a shoot we did for yoho magazine that is based in thailand in in hong kong and the the theme was end-of-year foot album so these kids and this in this school I think they are the baddest and the trend in the school is for them to have cats so at the end of the year their skill organizes a photo shoot and then the guys come out with their cats the guy on the left is a big rick james fan so he's really into his readings mood and I guess the guys on the right are into michael jordan I guess and then.

15:37This is a story for in congrats on and the theme was migration I thought it would be great to have like all of the models in the same outfit just to kind of you know showcase unity and kind of like explain that we are all one you know with migration we move around but we're all the same people and yeah.

16:01I really kind of like the way the models are posed and I really like this image as well it's one of my favorite images this is from man about town and it just celebrates you know asian asian man it's it's just about the theme for this was just celebrating culture and the photographer japan went who's asian as well wanted to kind of like celebrate his culture so we worked together on this shoot for man of our town so these these images the image on the right is based on the trottro system which is like a transpo transportation system in accra ghana and then the image on the left is a story we shot for heist nobody all in accord ghana this is from a lookbook from a sustainable brand in accra ghana called palm wine ice cream I shot this love book last year in accra for the brand this is another story for glamco which was shot in amsterdam so this.

17:10This is for young and with this story I had to be the model and also the stylist at the same time because the photographer thought it would be great to have me model and also be the stylist so this was like the first time I had to do anything like this which was quite exciting but at the same time I had to like check myself every you know 10 minutes to make sure the clothes were sitting properly and everything was fine but like yeah.

17:39So that's where this comes from and this shoe is from an interview a manchester journal date with a white pair who is an artist in accra ghana he calls himself the goat so when we interviewed him we and did the photo shoot we thought it would be great to kind of reference the holy mountain you know um alejandro jarrowski the holy mountain we thought it would be nice to have him as a chief and then have the the goats as his subjects so I'm gonna dive into the manju journal gucci a vibe called tech project when we got the brief for the redesigned gucci jacket 1961 bag the three the three key words were extremely versatile fluid approach and genderless attitude based on that we did some research and we we gathered that pronouns and ghanaian dialects are genderless so they is used for he for day is used to describe male or female rather than he or she so for instance people would be like you know where's cuci and someone replied by saying they are coming it's never he's coming or someone might say oh where's ajwa and then the reply would be they are coming it's never he or she so based on that we thought okay that's something.

19:04That's kind of like genderless fluid so that's one key point and then we also in in in ghanaian culture you know you find men walking in the streets holding hands and you know just being very easy with each other. And it's a very loving and free attitude it's not in the sexual context or anything like that it's just like men and or just girls just people casually holding hands and strolling down the street and it's just like this kind of casual touch was also something that we thought okay that could also work with extremely versatile so based on that we thought okay why don't we put together a mood board so we did some research and you know guided some images that would also showcase people holding bags or people like you know kind of like traditional images that really represent the ghanaian culture so you know you have the aunties on the top the top left you know looking fabulous with your bags and having your drinks and then you have like the the prime minister at the bottom going for a conference and you have like the two guys on the top board in hand which also shows personality in the ghanian culture so we put these mood boards together these are some more images from the moon board where you have like the athletes on the far left and they came to a uniform like the kingston club which is wrapped around them and you know it's a traditional woven fabric that is it's quite expensive and it's only it's pretty much one of very special occasions and then you have you know the auntie that up there again maybe after after her sunday check service and then we have you know these ladies just like showing multiple ways of you know holding the bag and showing the versatility of how to wear a bag so based on all of these and all the research there we go actually.

21:03There are more images so yeah some more images just showing you know just showing multiple ways and just style and the gentleman on the far right in the double denim has got such a cool look because you know he's putting his bag but you know he's got his chain on. And I really love this old skill look he's actually my friend's dad when he was like in his heydays so we moved so based on all of that we thought okay why don't we name the project we are all day based on the ghanaian culture and the fluidity of our pronouns we thought we'll name the project we are all day and it was really great because we had to work with an organian team for this project so running from photography to direction to video we actually have a video for the project which can be watched on which can be viewed on our social media platforms but I think the great thing about this project is because is that we had the opportunity to create such such a project in in accra ghana and because of the nature of the project it was very important that we nailed it and made sure that it was very complementary to the ghanaian culture and it and they also had a meaning to it and based on that I think based on our research I think we were able to to capture this.

22:28So I'm going to show you some bts images so we actually shot this during lockdown. So it was kind of like a november mask and observing social distance rules and you know making sure you know we kind of keep everyone safe so that's me and orlando in action right there. And then.

22:49That's the photographer david ansar who shot the campaign and that's our production team hard at work yeah.

23:01So that's pretty much the team and the models and you know like briefing them on what to do and everything else and and then we get on to gucci manju we are all day in partnership with the vibe called tech so I'm gonna be showing you the outcome from the shoe so we start with these images which I which I believe are very powerful and really kind of like show versatility and fluidity and the journalism approach you know the image on the right is is one of my favorite favorite images from the from the campaign and then it runs into these images as well which is like you know like which also kind of like it's a compliment we're trying to like complement you know the whole idea of guys working like the whole idea of men walking around holding hands and being just being just very open and free and not having to you know care about oh this makes me this.

24:08So this puts me into that box so you know it's just being free and just you know just showing pure love and this image kind of actually also reflects like the nature of people back home like this is what guys would do sit around catch jimmy you know each other chat you know play play cards yeah it's it's it's very fluid and very easy actually.

24:33And then this image we actually shot there most of the images in jamestown which is one of the oldest districts in accra acaragana jamestown itself has got a lot of history.

24:49So it was about us adding more history to jamestown shooting this gucci campaign indian style the image on the on the left the guys were wearing a headdress which is called tikku and the teku is usually is it's one on special occasions and it's also associated with the fenty tribe in ghana yeah. So some more images of showing versatility um of of different ways of wearing the bag yeah and another thing we did since it was locked down was to photograph some prominent places in accra so the model bridget is standing in front of the black star square which is like which is a symbol which is a symbol of independence for ghana's independence so we thought it would be also great to have our models kind of like you know have backdrops that you know represented prominent places in in accra ghana and then here here we have our model kwei who is standing in front of a backdrop from the incrima museum and then carmen kumar is ghana's first president elected after we gained independence so you know we wanted to celebrate everything that was gone in for this project due to the nature of it we thought hey why not let's just go out let's let's just go all out.

26:20And then we have yeah we have mummy here in gucci 420 which is bag and and then yeah.

26:30I think I think this is it.

26:34That's me once again thanks for joining us I'm cutie from munchie general and I hope you enjoyed this presentation thank you thanks very much chrissy that was amazing and thank you to orlando beforehand if you could you could stop sharing now perfect we just got time for one question for you guys I don't know who wants to take it really but question came through which was how do you go about scouting the different locations was there a kind of a strategy a theme behind how you were approaching that those the communications I think I think um ghana itself is like prop heaven you know. That's it it's true there's just so much colors and this is it's so beautiful so I think scouting locations wasn't wasn't like a problem I think because it was locked down we were actually limited to to how many places we could shoot and also due to the nature of the project we we wanted to shoot and set in prominent places and wanted to shoot in certain locations like jamestown which was like the old british town and you know we wanted to kind of like incorporate a lot of different things with it.

27:39So that's how we came about you know choosing choosing the locations fantastic listen I'm really sorry we're going to have to leave it there but thank you so much for giving us such a great insight into into that project and orlando I'm not sure you're still there. But if you are thank you very much for giving us a kind of introduction as well to mandy john so much much thank you thank you as well you