Tjiueza’s Fashion Film Shines in Athens

The extravagance of azure afternoons, traipsing through the vast outdoors, playing with cars and bursting into spontaneous handstands shimmers in Ericke Tjiueza’s ‘BOYHOOD’ (2020).

Officially selected for the Athens Fashion Film Festival, the short was created to showcase MN Creations’ men’s lingerie collection, and uses the functional garment to clothe ideas around masculinity, male friendship, intimacy and the playful nature of youth.

The latest feather in the cap for Tjiueza – a multidisciplinary storyteller whose talent has seen him act as art director on Ghanaian-Canadian artist Kae Sun’s ‘Midnight & Other Endings’ and co-direct Lioness’ acclaimed ‘Tala’ while being copiously featured in PhotoVogue Italia – ‘BOYHOOD’ exemplifies the director’s commitment to striking, purposeful imagery that imagines a new rendering of the African millennial.

“If anything, I would say my work leaps in its commitment to create representation for minority African identities, more specifically Namibian millennials,” says Tjiueza.

“Besides being passionate about extending the reach and ingenuity of African subcultures, I have been intentional about establishing digital archives that align with the cultural modernity which I experience being a young African.”

Producing much of his work in the name of New Luxury Studios, Tjiueza aspires to strategically evolve the role of contemporary African art internationally through the studio’s work in video, photography, styling, set design, creative consulting and concept development.

“I specifically chose the name New Luxury as a way to redefine and ethically create room for conversations about what luxury looks and feels like to black people,” he says.

“Luxury is not the same as privilege. They meet, but they’re not entirely the same. My mom cleaning her home to Toni Braxton on a Sunday evening with her queer son in the next room developing a short film directed at black audiences living in Africa is a contemporary take on luxury and a personification of the storytelling I want to achieve via New Luxury Studios.”

In ‘BOYHOOD’ the luxury is the central garment by MN Creations, but also the freedom of the seminal yet halcyon time that is childhood.

Depicting these golden hours as high-gloss moments in which two boys learn to mimic their peers while playing sports and holding each other up, Tjiueza creates a world that is at once sensual and adult yet run through with an air of adolescence via manner and place.

“If you pay attention you’ll notice that the two men express their masculinity in entirely different ways, but have still managed to find common ground. This is exactly what I believe to be true about masculinity. It is not predetermined and can always change,” says Tjiueza.

“There is no standard way to be a man. If ‘BOYHOOD’ is an identity you subscribe to, you are well within your rights to define what that means to you,” he says.

“’BOYHOOD’ is about instilling a sense of reflection and community in men, one that centres the opinion that men are responsible for raising boys who can hold each other accountable to not harm women, LGBTQIA+ persons and people with minority identities.”

For Tjiueza, the film being featured at the third annual Athens Fashion Film Festival, which took place from 12 to 14 February, is also sheer manifestation.

“’BOYHOOD’ being included at the AFFF means we achieved what we set out to do. I’m proud of this because everyone involved in the project, from the cast to the hairstylist, make-up artist and the MN Creations brand, are so deserving of the opportunity to share their work and perspectives with the world,” he says.

“My goal was to extend the reach and ingenuity of African artists, and with ‘BOYHOOD’, we’ve seen a glimpse of that come to fruition.”

For more information, follow Ericke Tjiueza and New Luxury Studios on social media.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; marthamukaiwa.com

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