Spotlight on Africa’s Digital Artists

In 2017, a South African visual artist decided to become “anonymous,” taking the alias Xopher Wallace and wearing goggles, a morphsuit and sweatshirt in his photographs to keep his real identity a secret. For him, being anonymous means that people can focus mainly on his art and he can preserve “his authentic character.” By using a blend of fine art photography and augmented reality, he merges the real and virtual worlds to bring his dreams to life. Wallace says he is also inspired by the Japanese anime series “Mob Psycho 100,” which uses imagery resembling the silhouette in his dreams. For South Africa’s Virtual National Art Festival 2020, Wallace contributed by creating face filters. He also curated an online exhibition called “Afridelic Trip: Faces of Mixed Realities,” for the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival, in which Wallace used artworks by fellow South African artist vonMash to design face filters and virtual galleries that presented the themes of “African mysticism and spiritual realms.”

SOURCE: CNN