Somali Art Entertainment

[Chimera]

My 2006 topic of the same name didn't make it during SOL's switch to a new layout/server, so I'm going to restart it.

 

Talented Somalis with global appeal.

 

MO ALI - FILMMAKER

 

[Chimera]

MATAANO - FASHIONISTAS

 

Ayaan and Idyl Video Interview

 

Though born in the United States, the twin sisters spent their first nine years in pre-civil war Somalia. It was important to their mother that they learn Somali language and culture. But when the cultural climate became tense with curfews and a heavy influx of refugees, their mother brought them back to the States.

 

They are inspired by Somali fashion in some ways. “The black look doesn’t exist in Somalia. The brighter you are the better. The peacock, the gold. Lots of perfume. Standing out. You can see that influence in the Spring 09 collection,” they say. But, you’ll still find some black in their collections because their designs are all about melding the style of two nations. Their fall collection, for instance, is much more muted with rich purples and grays. Their fall silhouettes are also much more American vintage. “We feel strongly that fashion, beauty doesn’t have a color and so we wanted to make that obvious in our clothes [so that they] really transcend all borders,” says Idyl. There’s no question that this meeting in the middle is something that they hope will help launch their brand into the global arena.

 

With no formal training in fashion design­­, Ayaan and Idyl held on to their dream and their passion to create the brand they’d envisioned even as young girls. After college they moved to New York City and took internships in the fashion industry. From

Jill Stuart

, Ayaan learned about how to take vintage fabrics and classic forms and give them a modern edge. From

Betsy Johnson

, Idyl learned about design technique and color. When asked about designers they love, they gush over

Carolina Herrera

and

Tracy Reese

who they feel transcend a cultural base as well as

Oscar de la Renta

and

Donna Karan

who they say understand their woman. “We want to zero in on who the Mataano woman is and then begin to expand that concept. We see her as uptown meets downtown, east meets west, multiracial, she likes to travel.”

 

Aside from turning to other more established designers for inspiration they also look to their own travels, visits to art museums, vintage shopping haunts, and anything that is visually inspiring. “It doesn’t have to be clothes that inspire us; it can be the structure of a table, or a particular color. You don’t want to be all over the place. You want to start with one thing and build–– Spring in bloom, bright colors, modern meets vintage with a 1920’s twist,” says Ayaan.

 

When it comes to working together, they wouldn’t have it any other way. They find balance by relying on each other and feeding on each other’s ideas. In many ways their meeting in the middle of nations is natural for these compromising twins. Idyl says Ayaan is all about class, quality, and texture, real materials and timeless silhouettes. Ayaan says Idyl is eclectic and draws on her cutting edge attitude to take risks. Their different attitudes aren’t a hindrance to the brand, but bring the balance that they seek in their designs.

 

As for the upcoming season Mataano predicts a more somber tone in fashion because of the current economic climate. They are looking at a lot of deep colors like wine and eggplant. Ultimately though, it’s the consumer they think has the final say.

Their biggest advice as young designers to young designers is to put fear of failure aside, ask lots of questions, and take a risk. “You are your only obstacle,” they say. That’s what they’ve done and what they’ll continue to do as they take Mataano from dresses to a future lifestyle brand.

 

 

 

http://www.gorgeousnewyork.com/featured/mataano/

 

[Chimera]

K'NAAN - INTERNATIONAL ARTIST

 

 

[Chimera]

LIBAN YUSUF - PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER/GRAPHIC DESIGNER/ILLUSTRATOR

http://www.libanyusuf.com/

[Chimera]

ABDI FARAH - PAINTER

 

Although Abdi Farah had a fairly consistent season on Work of Art, fellow contestant Miles Mendenhall seemed to have it in the bag. I’ll admit that my predictions yesterday were far off: In the end, Miles had the weakest collection, and Peregrine and Abdi were the last two standing. It was the latter’s personal, multifaceted art that most impressed the judges, particularly guest judge David LaChapelle: Abdi won the title of “The Next Great Artist.” This morning I had the pleasure of speaking with Abdi about his Work of Art experience, what he learned from his fellow contestants, and whether his bromance with Miles lives on.

 

TV.com: First of all, congratulations on the win. It must be so nice to be able to talk about it now.

 

Abdi Farah: Thank you so much. I know, it is a bit of a relief, but I have fun with that, so it’s all good. It’s kind of fun having people not know.

 

How would you say your art changed over the course of being on the show?

 

It changed so much. I feel like the judges and the competition in and of itself really spurred me to dig deeper than I had ever gone before in my art. I feel like I was making art that I liked on one level, but it really wasn’t as intense, it really wasn’t as artist, it really wasn’t as good as I had the potential to make art. So I think the judges saw that in me and really forced me to confront that about myself.

 

It seemed like you bonded a lot with your fellow contestants. Do you think that you all influenced each other throughout your journey?

 

Oh, yeah. I feel like that that was one of the most amazing parts of this competition. As an artist, in your normal life, you’re kind of just in your own studio, doing your own thing. You kind of do the same thing all the time. Whereas when you’re surrounded by other artists, who work in completely different ways, you can’t help but learn so much just seeing how they go about challenging themselves, how they solve problems, how they do this technique, and do that. It just completely opens up your world.

 

I think you were also the only contestant who didn’t have any beef with anyone else. Are you really just a nice, friendly guy, or was that clever editing?

 

[laughs] I was actually pretty fond of everyone in the competition. I don’t know. I wasn’t forced to be in any bad situations, and I kind of like to just see things in the big picture and it’s kind of hard when there’s one room with 14 people trying to survive. I just know that no one has any control over my art except for me, so at the end of the day, it’s us making art together.

 

Were there any contestants who you were particularly impressed by, week after week?

 

Sure, sure. I was super impressed by Miles’ work, of course. Week in and week out, I learned something new from that kid that I have implemented into my work. And I was really impressed as well with Nicole Nadeau, and the fact that she just has this freeness and this fearlessness about how she attacks art. She just completely goes for it and makes really beautiful, cool things. I was also really impressed with Peregrine’s work. It’s funny that Peregrine and Miles were in the finale, because I was impressed with their work throughout. And I think Peregrine just has this way of doing exactly what she wants to do without caring about how art school it looks or how professional it looks or how finished it looks. She does exactly what she wants, and in the end, it has this really honest, really pure, really beautiful quality to it that I was really impressed with. She’s a really gutsy, gutsy artist.

 

So are you keeping in touch with your former contestants? Because I would love to see a spin-off with you and Miles and Nicole, possibly fighting crime.

 

[laughs] Me and Miles do stay in touch, and we’ve been thinking about so many ways we could collaborate and just do this cool, like, “Ebony and Ivory” thing for real, and just take over. I don’t know. I’m a huge fan of his work and it would be really good to put our heads together. It would be really fun.

 

I bring up the superhero thing because so much of your work does seem influenced by pop iconography. You have drawn yourself as a superhero. Classic question: If you could pick one power, what would it be?

 

Wow, that’s a hard one. I go back and forth between this year by year. I feel like you can’t beat flying. That’s just ridiculously cool. I don’t know, other than that, I wish I could make amazing art every time I step into the studio, or I wish—the ability to shrink would be really cool, because then I wouldn’t have to be afraid of anyone, ever, which would be great.

 

Looking back on the season as a whole, are there any specific pieces that you were completely satisfied by, that turned out exactly the way you wanted them to?

 

Sure, sure. There were a couple. It was funny. I feel like this competition made me do some work that I had never thought I would do, like the piece in the second challenge, [“Tube”], I had no idea how that was going to turn out, I was just going. And in the end, I really loved the finished product. And then in Episode 9, the nature challenge, I had just reached this really kind of zen moment in my art, and in the end, that piece [“Baptism”] was just so fun to make and is probably the best thing I’ve ever done.

 

A lot of people were down on Work of Art from the beginning, saying a reality show could never pick the next great artist, that a construct like this couldn’t produce great art. And I think you and your fellow competitors really proved them wrong.

 

Thank you. Wow. I think people should be so impressed by what we were able to do on this competition. Like, I’m so proud to be a part of this.

 

Have you faced any of those critics yourself?

 

I mean, I really don’t care about critics at all, except what I can learn from them that can help me in my art. There are always going to be people that don’t believe in something, which is good. It keeps you humble, it keeps you realizing that there’s always work to do. But in the end, my life is not determined by what someone else thinks about me. And in the end, that’s what I love about art. At the end of the day, if you make good art, no one can ever say anything against you. They’ve just gotta enjoy. It doesn’t help for me to walk around and tell people I’m the next great artist. It’s only gonna help if I have really great work. - SOURCE

 

[Chimera]

RAGEH OMAAR - INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST

[Chimera]

YASMIN WARSAME - SUPERMODEL

[Alpha Blondy]

where are the real somali artists adam? these western-based token somalis don't in my opinion reflect somali arts. like the term 'world music' people like k'naan are geared towards the global audience or in other words the west. k'naan is an essentialist, often mimicking cnn's coverage of somalis . k'naan depiction of the somali peninsula as a war-torn and place of poverty only reinforces peoples perception of these stereotypes. what will become of k'naan if there is peace. he is no different from those who seek to gain from the 'somalia problem'.

 

similarly, these fashionista twins are, i'm guessing, supposedly liberating somali women from the taliban stlyle glad-rags. again, using media coverage, they are basing their fashion sense on a fusion of western meets modern day somali fashion, where is the originality? i wonder if they have any 'real' somali customers?

 

it seems to me adam that you want to be a somali from a distance or better put - creating a fictitious accounts of somaliness and presenting it as real.

[Chimera]

NURUDDIN FARAH - AWARD WINNING AUTHOR

Farah has garnered acclaim as one of the greatest contemporary writers in the world.

[Chimera]

NADIFA MOHAMED - RISING AUTHOR

[Che -Guevara]

Alpha Blondy...Bal adiga Soomaali maxaad kusoo kordhiseey?

 

Have you met any of these people?

[Showqi]

Inspirational thread................Chimera keep up the good work Brother.

[Alpha Blondy]

Che -Guevara;713907 wrote:

Alpha Blondy...Bal adiga Soomaali maxaad kusoo kordhiseey?

 

Have you met any of these people?

more than you've ever done. dont ask questions which are vague and open-ended.

[Al-Miskiin]

I must the "the negative one" and say, I dont see these people as "Talented Somalis"(most of them)! I'm saying this because it's soo far from our Somali cultur, and last but not least the most important thing in the world for us, our religion.

 

To give u an example, this guy called NURUDDIN FARAH, was interviewed in the country I live, and in the interview he said "that one of his best freinds in the world is Salman rushdie"! who wrote the famous book "The Satanic Verses" (about our Holy Quran.)! How can we admire, someone who loves a man like Salman rushdie? Who have violated our religion, by calling our holy book, wich we believe is the devine words of Allah, "The satanic verses"! Any man who loves this man, or calls him "my good freind" is making a serious mistake.

And further more this man(Nuuradin Farah) have ridiculed the Muslim girl's hijab, therefor a man of his caliber, dont deserve to be mentioned at All.

 

 

So i think to dedicate a thread for these kind of people and even call it a "talent" is a problem for Somalis in general and especially our young Somalis who might bee looking up to these kind of guys, instead of other decent role models(role models like sister Fatima from the "Oxford ‘off Limits’ to Star Black Pupil" thread)! Or other role models, like our prophets, Sahaba, our famouse muslim scholars, doctores, mathematicians, scientist Engineers etc.

 

Imagine young somali/muslim girls looking up to the two mataano, or Yasmin warsame(a so called supermodel), or our young boys admiring K'naan.

I dont no wich Somali/muslim parents who wants there kids to grow up and be a singer, or a supermodel.

 

What these people do is of course some kind of a "talent" when you look at it with Western eyes, but I just can't do that when I'm a Muslim, and have chosen to surrender myself to Allah the Almighty, like every other muslim in the world.

 

I'm sure they have fought for this, nothing comes easy in this world, and some of these professions are very difficult to achieve, and it's obvious that they are good at this, no doubt about it. But I would sincerely wish that they used their energy on something that did not conflict with the teachings of our religion.

Therefor when I know brother K'naan, sister Yasmin Warsame, and the sisters Ayan, and idyl(Mataano) are muslims, I wish they would change their career to something that is more suitable for a Muslim, so they can be happy not only in this world, but in the hereafter too.

 

I Have nothing personal against these people, or the author of the thread for that matter, I've never met any of them, but I'm only judging there profession, and what they do, without "hatting" on them, and I wish them the best in this world and in Akhira.

 

And remember at the end of the day, we are Muslims, no matter what we achieve in this world, it will come to an end, and the hereafter is much more important than the couple of days we are in this world, so it's all about prioritizing( this world vs The hereafter)!!!

It's all about keeping the game face on, and keeping our mind on the final Goal(Jannah), and not let Satan distract us from that.

 

I ask Allah to be merciful to our souls and may he(Allah) lead us in the right path, away from the traps of the cursed one(Shaytan).

 

Aamin yaa rabb

[Alpha Blondy]

to call this talent is indeed sacrilegious! well said Al-Miskiin! Lets pray for the poster and those like him to be guided.