By now, the art world is well acquainted with the fruitful offerings of stylist and “sensitive thug” Ibrahim Kamara and Johannesburg photographer Kristin-Lee Moolman. From their explosive photo series of the young Africans assimilating London’s club culture online, to the time they reinvented 16th century art for the Tate, the creative duo (and Dazed 100 placeholders) are incontrovertible proof that great things happen when great minds meet. But when you add designer Gareth Wrighton into the mix, things get even more interesting. The result is Soft Criminal, a fictional fashion world of interweaving narratives, unravelled in a fantastical photo series — soon going on display at Brooklyn’s Red Hook Labs.
Known for their dynamic visual interventions into the African diaspora that consistently subvert the stereotypes of masculinity and cultural identity, Kamara and Moolman conjure an eerie and ethereal world that marries flawlessly with Wrighton’s outlandish handmade haute couture. Kings, queens, new money hackers and wanton warlords collide in the trio’s imagined world of crime and vengeance. Pushing cultural realities out of this realm and into the fantastical, the collaborators envision a sensational storyline which unfolds against the barren backdrop of their fantasy universe.
Through their invented characters — three enemy crime families at war with one another — Kamara, Moolman and Wrighton communicate a jarring tension in their imagined dystopia, which frighteningly parallels the agitation of our current climate. The bold and bizarre garments — lumpy, cotton-wool filled tights and eccentric knife-clad headpieces — offset the bereft natural landscapes of the trio’s crafted world. Red mesh jars against a dry and straw-strewn desert, while glitter butterfly wings (like those ones from your childhood dressing-up box) sit delicately atop a leather cowboy hat. It’s weird and wonderful power play and, as ever where these three are concerned, there’s so much more to it than first meets the eye.
“Soft Criminal” runs from 12-23rd September at Red Hook Labs.
Images courtesy of Red Hook Labs