Nataal

0:00 Hi everyone.

0:06 So I was not there from the start, but I watched the beginnings of Natal. And for me, I don't know if many of you are aware of the work, but for me it's truly one of the original digital space to showcase the best of the best, the most exciting talent, shifting and uplifting narrative from Africa and its diaspora. Natal introduced to many a new generation of artists reclaiming their heritage in the most powerful way. And they achieved that with a beautifully curated website in depth articles, stunning fashion shoots. And people were really hooked by this vibrant energy that Natal amplified. And very quickly, a dedicated fan base was built. Natal was not only giving support, but it inspired a lot of people. And I can say that it really inspired me because I was starting my gallery at the time and it was amazing to see like-minded people really pushing what, you know, the cliché of what it is to create African fashion or visual or black aesthetic that really, really pushed the boundaries.

1:31 And as a consequence, the family of contributors across Africa and the diaspora grew and Natal developed a multimedia brand dedicated to promote new voices in fashion, visual art, music and culture. So where did it all come about? And it all started with this lovely chap, Alassane C., who is a Senegalese like me. And he had the desire to start a festival championing African narrative. And it's in a photo shoot in Senegal that he met Sarah Amings and Ellen Jennings, the editorial director of Natal with me. And they all shared the same passion for the incredible energy that was coming out of Africa and they decided to collaborate. So soon they realized that by combining their skills, their network and using the magic of the internet, they could launch an editorial platform which could really have a much wider reach and to promote this new wave of African artists. Alassane chose the name Natal, which means image reflection is in Fulani language.

2:56 So the team launched the website in 2015. And the first emerging stories to come out were by artists such as Christine Lee Mooman, a South African artist, and then Laki Nogombo from Lagos. And these artists have grown with Natal and they have achieved tremendous success now and they still contribute to this day. So a few months after the launch of the website, the opportunity came along to do a first exhibition. Natal was invited by Red Hook Club in Brooklyn to create a group show called New African Photography and it was a collection of young and unsigned talent, a very refreshing approach to photography. And it became a very popular show that went on for three years.

4:05 So in 2018, it was time to bring Natal into print because the community was very big and they deserved a much bigger audience, a bigger platform, sorry. So issue one was released during the third annual exhibition in New York and that first issue won a Stack Magazine Award. Issue two was dropped in 2019 with a cover by Nadine Jouer just here. And this is where I came into the mix because up to this point, my collaboration with Natal was more of a press relationship to promote the work and the exhibition of the artists from my gallery. And this cover story with Natal really, with Musleh Mrabat, who I was working with at the time, really brought me closer to the team. And I soon after became the new creative director. So my involvement with Natal really started in challenging time, but we embraced it and we really tried to be generous and as uplifting as possible and we've been really, really busy.

5:24 So we kicked off our collaboration with Joyo Store, which was an exclusive collection of limited edition print, merch and this sale was really about bringing joy and positivity and also we wanted to support the community of artists that were struggling a little bit in these times. So that's an example of the stuff we shared.

5:52 And then naturally we launched the studio because it was a very organic process. We, you know, editorially and artistically we had all the foundations in place so we went for it. So what do we do at Studio Natal? We offer content and campaign for brands and cultural institutions and other media platforms and we do so by telling stories.

6:22 This is the core of what we do. We tell stories we share experience from a diverse perspective and this project are great for us because we give the opportunity for our community of creators to bring their own gaze and we had lots of fun in the past few months.

6:42 We did a partnership with Parfetch and created some stories with some amazing brands. And so this is Balmain for instance. That was a project for Black History Month.

6:57 We did showcase the new generation of contemporary artists, black contemporary artists in Paris.

7:05 We did a piece about community that was very useful to a photographer but that's an example from Ismael Ziaidi in Morocco.

7:15 We worked on a book, I say we but I actually don't know think myself. That was the work of our young, very young art directors and they participated to the design of Nadine Jouer first monograph which is absolutely wicked. We then, that's another project we did this year for a black-owned beauty brand called Emoline shot by Iqoua Queen which was great.

7:49 We did lots of stuff, I'm kind of going through it like this but we also launched a digital issue because we couldn't go into print and we really wanted to have a format that was fun and where we could mix video and still.

8:05 So we launched two digital issues last year. The first one was Romanticism with guest editor Nathan Klein. The second one was William Kult with fashion writer. It was really fun. And finally we came out two weeks ago with our third Prince issue and the theme is beauty and it's fun around five continent and we've got some amazing contributors and we're super proud of this issue because it took quite a, we couldn't go to print for almost three years and people really gave 100% so this is an example of the work we produced.

9:09 This for instance is Malik Bujan with top model who is starting photography and his photography is really impressive. And this is a Belgium artist, Stig Dobrock who went to East Los Angeles to document the diverse community over there. And this is a bit of a sherry on the cake for us because we worked hard and long on collaboration with the V&A. Earlier in the year we shot a fashion story for the major exhibition Africa fashion and this exhibition just opened two weeks ago and the story feature in the magazine is now the campaign of the exhibition and we had the pleasure to produce film. The film and the photo shoot was produced by, was done by Laki Nogombo, the regular contributor. And yeah, it was a great, great project to do.

10:35 We had lots of fun doing it and also what's amazing, it's just for a very, such an important exhibition because Africa fashion is celebrating 50 years of African fashion. It's the first time there's a show happening in the UK.

10:59 So I can show you a little bit, a little clip of the film. Sometimes we fall, sometimes we fly. Who is she? She, she, she. Who is she? She, she, she. Come and see, you know what I mean. I got soul and I got melody. I got fire and everything between. I'm a star, just wait to see.

12:22 Feels like magic, I get what I need. I'm a light, so bright just you have she. Play your cards, right, you go come home with me, make it boom. Just wait and see, yeah, yeah. Goodie chic. Chic, chic, chic. If you want to see the film, I highly recommend you to go and visit the exhibition because it's really, really, really good. And that's it for me. You know, this is us, our team. Thank you, thank you. And you can discover more about that amazing exhibition in the mag that is there waiting for you.