Purpose Driver.

Finding your niche ? Is that not to purpose of this life ? To find something that fufills you , feed your mind and your spirit ?

I struggled a lot, to find a balance between my academics and creativity growing up. The world keeps telling you to make a choice, to choose one, leave the other one to wilt and die.
I chose both.
I made a conscious decision this year, to OWN 2015. I fed my mind and attempted every possibility that life threw at me. I was blessed and humbled to be included in the My Future First journey mixed with 11 brilliant souls who have become family.

 I have discovered so much about myself. My strengths and the areas that need improvement. The respect and understanding of my craft have grown tremendously.
Who in this day an age can say they actually enjoy going to varsity, I'm at Vega School of Brand Leadership and I am inspired everyday to carry out my dreams. I am a confident young woman with a passion for education and the creative market. Dynamic leader, Workaholic, people-driven, passionate and the happiest I have been in the past five years. I like having my finger on the pulse of what is happening.

I am different. I strive to become the best version of myself, for myself and for the world around me.
You are looking at the future.

Hello my name is Nefertari :)

https://www.facebook.com/Myfuturefirst?fref=ts

http://www.tnf.org.za/

P.s I see myself a food blogger someday, among many of the other things I will be doing and no my Afro is not for sale!

Rainbow Power!

When I hear yesterday about the Supreme court ruling about same sex marriage as a right nationwide  - my heart was overflowing with mixed emotions.

Everyone deserves to be happy. Love knows no sex , race or creed. I can only imagine how this ruling will impact our communities around the world. If this is possible after so many years, it makes me hopeful for the future , that my family , friends , neighbours and even my future kids will grow up in a world that is accepting , where they are free to express themselves and be who they are.

This ruling has paved the way. I'm on the way to feeling proud to be a human being again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/us/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=1

Roco's Mama- One Hell of a Smashburger.

You see the thing about me is when there is too much "hype" around something - it pushes me away and makes me frustrated because it distorts my own view on that particular thing. You'll find out that when the "hype" is no longer concentrated, that is will I will enter, at my own pace.


Everyone I knew went on about RocoMamas - Smashburger , Wings and Ribs. It's like they had found the Mecca of grub around the city , thats all fine and dandy except I WAS NOT INTERESTED IN VISITING! It got to the point when I would actually walk away from conversations because hey I actually just did not give a rats ass about this place. You see food to me , is something I value - like a good meal, it needs to be reviewed and recommended by people I actually trust and it's usually a place that people would not visit often because this " hype" story ruins everything.



Tonight I went on another spontaneous adventure with my partner and RocoMamas recently opened in his area, so we went to grab a bite. Now I trust his opinion because he knows me well enough , to respect by body enough to fill it with goodness and wholesome goodness at that. His also the type of guy who forces me out of my comfy corner and makes me try new things and I would like to think I do the same. We sat down in this bright , shiny new place with friendly staff whom were eager to show us what they got. Another point was that the joint was not full at all so it made me feel better that possibly the service and quality of food would be exceptional.

Location : RocoMamas Melville, Johannesburg.

You see this right here ? Got me excited because it gave me a CHOICE! Hells yeah I want to create my own burger and just the aesthetic look of the menu : fun , easy, typography is great and it really captures the personality of RocoMamas. Now they were reeling me in , the promised great food with fun - I'm all up for that.

My waiter joined us later to take our orders and I ordered ( with great excitement) , a Smashburger which is a standard 150g Beef pattie with red onion , tomatoe and Rocomayo . I added bacon, rocket and pickles.  Now does that not sound mouth-watering ?

We waited for around 45 minutes, which we did not mind because we were conversing and the like , as well we let them take their time with my burger because I wanted it to be piping hot and have that " fresh burger smell" ... Come on you know it !

Let's just say this burger was love personified. I made love to my burger , I was cheating on my partner right infront of him! This burger was AMAZING!!!!

Juicy, fresh, all the right combinations that make a great burger or so I thought ...

Man when I got home, I felt gasy and destroyed the guest bathroom at my partner's home. I felt terrible, sad and even ,  let down. Was this not the greatest burger Jozi had ever seen ?

I'm sad to say RocoMamas , I don't see us having a future relationship and this saddens me because I had so much faith in you.

http://rocomamas.com/

Disgruntled customer, indeed!

On to the next burger ....

Untitled.

Throughout my life, disasters had a way of showing up. It was always around, like in most families but mine seemed to be a never-ending story of misery.

I remember it becoming so bad that I would almost anticipate it happening because I had become so immune. I would look over my shoulder and constantly wait for something to happen because in my head that was the best way I could deal with it … If I was prepared for it.

Who in the hell wants to live their life in this way, at 19? Are you kidding?

There were many times I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror, I removed myself from my friends, I thought about suicide they way my peers’ thought about which club they were going to hit next after a binge weekend, reeking of sex, narcotics and the bittersweet joys of being a young adult.

I had become so trapped in myself that I couldn’t get to me.

One morning in February this year, I woke up and felt nothing. I felt nothing to the point where I thought I was going to float away. This terrified me to the point where I thought that this is going to be the person I’m going to become? I don’t feel alive, I feel like I just existed. Taking up space, leaving my talents to lie around and gather dust and for Gods’ sake I looked almost 30 years old, I stopped taking care of myself.

I had received word that the university of my choice, had no space for me so imagine now the failure I was feeling on top of all the other stuff?

I sat at that Internet café’ all alone and I cried so hard, I thought my chest cavity was going to cave-in.

I walked home; barely able to hold myself up. The road was quiet.

Something inside me just burst, I screamed so loud for all the pent-up frustration, fear, anxiety, depression, failure and loneliness I was feeling.

I screamed because I couldn’t take it anymore, I needed to feel something because all this bottling up was starting to over-flow and poison me. I felt like a toxic waste bag of all my hang-ups, insecurities, pent-up feelings and things pushed onto me by other people.

I had to change my life. It became my biggest mission this year because this “ illness” had over-stayed its welcome and it needed to be sent right the hell back from whence it came.

I decided from that moment on, to OWN 2015. To stop letting myself stand in the way of myself because I realized that yes life has not been kind to me, I often wasn’t dealt with a good hand after these last few years but I’m still here and as much I have suffered but I have become so unimaginably strong and thick skinned.  I am terribly blessed to have experienced what I have because these kinds of occurrences’ happen to people much later in their lives and this is why many adults have to march their asses’ to the shrinks office because they never dealt with their hang-ups in their twenties.

I get up everyday, ready to fight and to keep going. I am so inspired by so many individuals around me because you are whom you surround yourself with.

Relapse is not in my vocabulary.

Hold The Hell On!

A few week’s ago I came across this interesting theory, The Helsinki Bus Station Theory. You heard of it? Not? Oh let me school you real quick.

Imagine you are at this bus station (but no I’m not talking about Downtown Jozi!); I am talking about maybe the Gautrain station. You know it’s nice and clean, you get fined for chewing gum – you know that kind of station. Do you remember the first time you used it? How complicated it was?

This theory is kind of the same. It relates back to the creative journey more specifically and how we pick our careers as creative individuals. It also relates back to my post “ Fool’s Gold”, about how people criticize and compare you to others, which now sets of these alarms and your back at platform one … again.

Cool, you are at platform one now but don’t try to set yourself apart too much from the bystanders but rather strive for mastery in what you already do.

This takes me back to when I first started Thrifting at age fifteen. When I started I was not good at finding “ trendy” items of clothing or even time-less literature, in fact I brought collected and brought home junk. 

This lesson goes hand-in-hand with my Thrifting actually. I would have never improved if I stopped doing it. If I never stayed on the bus long after the conductor even gave up kicking me off!

Keep on persisting to be the best at what you do and actually enjoy doing. It’s hard to be a person in this generation we live in today and not a bunch of characters from a social media account but just.be.YOUrself.

You never know where these roads might take you and which platform you end up on.

PLATFORM NINE & THREE QUARTERS x STAY THE HELL ON THE BUS x WHY YOU GETTING OFF ? x OKAY x YOUR ASS WILL WALK THE WHOLE WAY THEN x NO SERIOUSLY, STAY ON THE BUS !

Working With Your Hands : Tools To Thrift.

 

This past weekend I embarked on an expedition with a friend and my partner. I called Thrfiting an expedition because it takes guts, energy, doing it constantly to actually get the hang of it and lots and lots of patience.

You know when something is just your niche, like you could do it in your sleep and fear waking up looking like an antique catalogue? That is how much I eat, breathe and live all things Thrift!

Anyhow, I wanted to welcome you into my world of Thrift. I hope you enjoy what you find here, learn a great deal, feel inspired and try Thrifting out for yourself even if it is a one-time thing.

We were in funky Melville, Johannesburg and explored the different stores before we got to the Thrift stores.

We had an absolute blast http://junkiecharitystore.co.za/, which is a real gem and has so much character and http://www.charitysa.co.za/bounty-hunters.html which is filled with adorable kitties you just want to load in your car and take home as well a great finds on books, jewelry, vintage shirts and well as one off doo dads!

Welcome. As you can see you will not be disappointed.

I am constantly on the look out for cool and nifty finds. This would be accredited to my childhood, I was always a curious kid, poking my nose where it does not belong (getting into a lot of trouble while doing it) and growing up in my Grandmother’s house is the possible reason because all the trinkets and things from yester year that are there that sparked it all.

I was always in Antique and Thrift stores with my mother and grandmother, so exposure was key in this sense and ever since then I was hooked.

It is the most fun I could have on any given day, leave me with all the things you consider “ garbage” and I will sort them out for you. Leave me in a Thrift store in Melville, Downtown Johannesburg or Orange-Grove, you name it. I’ll give you cabin fever just looking at me go!

I feel most inspired when I use my hands, it is the most stimulating thing you could do for yourself. You need to enjoy what you are doing to create outstanding work. Once you get the hang of something through continuous failing and diligence, this is how magic begins. This is when you find your NICHE.  While you sift of course, you are going through a mess to get to the great stuff that is worth keeping and investing in. I use the same analogy in all areas of my life as well as particularly in my creative work.

Just like Thrifting, you go through a process of selecting the most worthy items to go home with you as well with all things creative. Try them all out, check the value and use it with pride. Take your time as well.

This is all we ever ask for as creative’s’ right? Time.

http://austinkleon.com/ 

Take time to be bored, try new things even if they seem scary at first and never forget to have some fun.

Here is some of my Tips To Thrift:

1) Drive unexpectedly to a place you have never been, as long as it is not a place where you could get injured, it is all-good.

2) Wear comfortable clothing and SHOES! Because … 2.1) You will get dirty, 2.2) Sweaty and finally you need to be comfortable enough to move around, pick things up and try on.

3) Don’t take a handbag, keep cash or your cards in your pocket (yes we live in the 21^st century and these places have electronic machines’ now, isn’t that great!). Your handbag gets it the way and could get stolen.

4) Keep hydrated and eat something! It’s going to be a long day and you need the energy.

5) Pace yourself, otherwise you will get overwhelmed. It is okay to take your time.

6) Pacing yourself will lead you too cool finds and vintage magic, keep your eyes peeled.

7) Talk to locals, they always have their ear to the ground on great markets and stores which stock the best stuff at great bargains’.

8) Keep an open mind. Don’t be hard on yourself if you come home with not-so-great stuff on the first day, it’s cool. Everything comes with practice and giving it another shot right?

9) Take a friend with you and share the experience. It will also assist you having someone around who can give you an opinion you can trust as well as a fresh eye.

10) HAVE FUN!

What is the point of doing it if you can't have a bit of harmless fun ? They owner kept checking on us to see if we did not break anything ha ha ha !

Inspired by the lesson: “ Do good work and share it with people”.

A BIG shout out to my friends http://junkiecharitystore.co.za/ for allowing me to shoot in your beautiful space, teaching small, detailed lessons that have a big impact on my perception and sharing your knowledge with me every time I visit.

Viva La Thrifting !

Thank you to favelafrica.blogspot.com, for being my designated photographer for the day, I hope you learned as much I did loved to share it with you.

P.S Check Out some of these cool places to Thrift: 

Junkie Charity Store

 4th Avenue, Melville Johannesburg  - http://junkiecharitystore.co.za/ .

Bounty Hunters Charity Store

4th Avenue , Melville Johannesburg  - https://bountyhuntersthrifting.wordpress.com/

http://www.charitysa.co.za/bounty-hunters.html 

Orange Grove HospiceWits

Corner 9th street and Louis Botha Avenue.

http://www.charitysa.co.za/orange-grove-hospicewits-charity-shop.htm

SHARE x THRIFT x BE SELECTIVE x LEARN x LOVE x BE CURIOUS.

Sift in order to carry on Thrifting!

Walking around the block , Melville Johannesburg .

Every time I thrift , I cannot believe my finds !

Thrifting Haven !

How beautiful is that genuine leather drum ?

The jewel of your eye , a vintage perfume bottle.

Step into my world. I will give you the grand tour.

Books x books x more knowledge x more exposure x better dreams.

Lps are back in fashion . Rummage through all these crates , could take you a good few hours.

Let's go somewhere ? Run away x wander x get lost x so beautifully stacked x waiting to be bought.

Alice in Wonderland x Neff in VegaWorld.

We from the Motherland baby !

So many shoes !

Welcome to China x me love you long time .

Welcome to Mexico x Guantanamera x Blanca.

Make that Afro Pop!

Afro x For Your Afro Pop. https://www.facebook.com/tiaan.art.design

All hail The Queen of Thrift !

Floetry Poetry!

“ At fifteen you had the radiance of early morning. At twenty you begin to have the melancholy brilliance of the moon.”

-       F. Scott Fitzgerald.

An Ode to the Creative Light

Half empty,

Half full,

Deep enough to drown in.

It has been a ride,

A bit of an open tide,

You showed me all you had to offer, like an open book with no lines,

I became intertwined in this new world like a pair of vines.

Thank you for being complicated, one big mess to sort out, beautiful and misunderstood.

As I continue to walk around curious to keep sifting while thrifting.

This is my attempt at Haiku poetry  http://tylerknott.com/, inspired by a treasured writer : Tyler Knott Gregson.

This photograph was taken at Ogilvy&Mather Johannesburg ( http://www.ogilvy.co.za/ ), a place I am proud to say has become my second home. I always leave there with something , be it a lesson , a new insight ,laughs , a big smile , full tummy and most of all inspired x1000.

Infuse The Muse.

It is all fine and dandy I give thanks to these muse’s around me but there one I had to save. This had to be my dad.

He had his roots deeply embedded in the soil of the Cape Flats that no matter where he went, he always came back there and if I reflect back how his face used to light up at just the sight of Table Mountain. Growing up, I remember how I used to hear the dreamy sounds of Herbie Hancock’s “ Watermelon man” play from the record player that rested on the counter top that I could never reached, smells of the mystical Nag Champa burning as if it calling for “Namaz” which is a sacred ritual perform by my father every morning to give thanks to the mystics for another day. Later on I got to the conclusion that this was the very ritual that started the magic; it had invited all of my father’s muses’ to join the open jam session that was about to commence.

My little hands used to hold the coat stand as I watched my father almost enter a trance-like state from deep within him. To me it was the most fascinating thing to observe because his head would go low-down and sway from side to side and his fingers would move in such a melodic way, almost like how blind people read brail; his fingers just knew what to do as if they were born knowing how to bring out the notes from the piano. Just as my little hands would grab the coat stand, so would they be grabbing onto various objects like the walls of backstage, the doors of his dressing rooms, recording studios, his office http://www.ufh.ac.za/centres-and-institutes/eavc/about.html ) and ultimately his hand. It led me into his world, the world where of crazed drunks’ and substance users, hazy underground jazz clubs and dysfunctional but brilliant artists from all walks of life, my father never had an itch for the spotlight. He was quite an elusive man, if I reflect back on those years, he was a very grounded and disciplined. 

Many occurrences’ happened in that way, I was surrounded by creative beings everywhere I went. In many ways this was the key to the creative process which belonged to him, sometimes he needed space … the space to be himself and alone with the music. He needed a space to be surrounded by his masters and channel them. Other times he needed people, because when fire and fire come together cause more friction, bigger fires and that’s how magic is born. There is no “ how-to-guide” when it comes to creating brilliant work and having something magical happens, that is what I have come to a conclusion about. You either stumble on it by accident or its your usual routine, nothing special cause if you keep at something, no matter how mundane it is, something different will occur.

Every now and again, I perform the same ritual he once did. He filters through many of the creative channels I have pursue in my own life and in many ways he is still here, a master in his own right.

Many people never understood why “ Hotep Galeta’s daughter “ does not know how to play the piano. My dad was a perfectionist, now please imagine little me sitting there pounding the piano like a scene from an Oliver Twist movie with bowls and spoons demanding more food, I kid you not that is what it looked like.

In all fairness he tried but it’s hard teaching your kids because they are close to you and of course it’s damn frustrating.

He passed on long before he could fill me with all his worldly knowledge and creative insights but the box he left me, that I hold very dear to my heart has and will come in handy much later as my journey carries on.

He did leave me with a few tips that I thought I would share with you:

1) Respect Your Craft; It will thank you for it someday.

2) Everything in Moderation.

3) Be kind, to yourself and the world around.

4) Be curious.

5) Work hard in all spheres on your life and take pride in all that you do, even if you would like to set your boss and the desk on fire, don’t. Just carry on giving your best even when people don’t give you theirs. People are stupid; don’t blame them cause they do not know any better.

And lastly, “Neff please put the dishes away when you are done!”

I miss you. I love you always. My hope is that , one day I could have just an ounce of your greatest be in my life as well as my work.

RIP <3.

The opening of the Miriam Makeba Centre of Performing Arts/ Audio Visual Centre in East London. My Dad created and nurtured this idea of preserving indigenous music as well as art in South Africa. http://www.ufh.ac.za/centres-and-institutes/eavc/about.html

This is the frontal view of the MMC, I remember coming here from primary school , sitting in on meetings with my dad and even taking paper from the printer and lying on the floor and drawing.

Back in the day , underground jazz clubs. Young Hotep on the keys. http://www.capetownjazzfest.com/

No wonder you had to flee from the country, busy with white ladies at the train station during the height of Apartheid . Oh my gosh ha ha ha ha !

Papa and Uncle Nat Reeves , back in the Big Apple! Looking dapper. http://harttweb.hartford.edu/faculty/academic/jazz/nreeves.aspx

Keep the muses close. Grandaparents x Father

In the recording studio at the state of the art Audio Visual Centre in the Eastern Cape. My father with his esteemed friend, poet and political activist Willie Kgositsile. It also just came to my knowledge that is the father of one of the coolest rappers from Odd Future http://oddfuture.com/ EARL SWEATSHIRT ! http://www.unisa.ac.za/news/index.php/2012/09/poet-laureate-keorapetse-kgositsile-lifelong-education-is-key/

Continuing your legacy. 2007 winner of the Johnnie Walker Pioneering Spirits award. Check out the Walk of Fame in Newtown, Johannesburg. http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/sowetan/archive/2007/05/21/local-jazz-legends-are-now-walking-on-fame

One of my favourite albums, especially the song you created for my younger brother and myself . " Bolero for Nefertari and Jazz." http://www.allmusic.com/album/malay-tone-poem-mw0001477020

My Dad's last album , released around the time Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009. My Dad was truly inspired by this moment in history , considering he spent 30 years in exile in the United States. http://www.capetownmagazine.com/social/cape-town-creates-beads-and-beats-for-obama/118_22_10067

This how the magic is born.

Jam session. Robbie Jansen Band x circa : 2003. http://www.capetownjazzfest.com/

Post It.

-       v

A piece of paper with an adhesive strip on one side designed to be stuck prominently to an object or surface and easily removed when necessary.

Today I was inspired by a Post’ It Sticky. You know the one that comes in all these happy colours' that scream, “ WRITE ON ME!”

Since I’m an aspiring copywriter, I am constantly on the look out for any innovative way to use words as my visuals but also not forgetting about the love I have for art as well because it is no longer confined, all the boundaries have left… and dropped off an interesting package of trinkets to start experimenting with. 

To tie in with the previous post on " Distracted Scribbling", I got some friends to do personal doodles for me on yellow Post Its' . All these doodles are visual representations of me through those around me. I have come to the conclusion that art does not have to be these grand paintings , it is basically anything YOU HAVE CREATED. It infuses your work with your personality and as much as " nothing is original" , this is in a way something that is originally you.

We did a " Creative Challenge" awhile ago , basically you were given specific drawings to do each day for eighteen days. It was challenging , some were utter rubbish but that's okay. Its my utter rubbish. Other came out really unexpectedly great as well as some could have been really interesting , hadn't I procrastinated ( he he he !).

Experiment though, you never know what you will stumble upon. 
Hey speaking of stumbling upon , check this website out : https://www.stumbleupon.com/ , StumbleUpon is basically a network that you can sign up for , you choose your interests and everytime you log in or are on the site , every time you use it , you end up on an epic journey through webpages you may have never found without the help of this tool. It pulls up articles, blog posts, blogs to follow and other interesting finds.
Stumble x And Sift.

 EXPERIMENT x TYPOGRAPHY x ADOBE SOFTWARE x  NEWSPAPER BLACKOUT POEMS x CREATIVE CHALLENGE.

Be inspired!

I did a few " Newspaper BlackOut Poems" which were inspired by Austin Kleon  http://austinkleon.com/category/newspaper-blackout-poems/  

Here is an overview of my " Newspaper BlackOut Poems" as well some of the "Post Its' done by my other fellow creatives.

From the left : Frustrating time x sustained x Johannesburg CBD x Following x It has been difficult x Looking forward x Media conference x Bargining x Mediate and resolve x Parktown x Library Garden x Inner-City and Braamfontein.

From the left : Making a Difference x Keeping record x Serial numbers x The lesson x Help the community x " What happens if you take tea without permission"

 

From the left : Upcoming winter x Fight blazes x Fire line x Looking forward x Motivate each other x Intense x Passion to fight x Conserving their environment x Survival of the fittest x " If you are not fit, you can't survive" x Safety x Rainy conditions.

Meet the Post Its' :) .

I assume this is me meditating , I can tell from the depiction of the Fro .

Abstract art , looks like they were trying to vent out some unresolved feelings ( He He He ). P.s Anonymous you could always book an appointment with Shaina .

I love this one , it is entitled : " Play". I could do with some of that after this long semester. No doubt.

The third eye. The creative eye.

Flowers that you could possibly find in Alice in Wonderland , maybe Vega Land .

Eye-see-you.

Fresher than you !

This is undoubtedly my favourite : It is called, " The Neff". I am sitting there alone on the beach , possibly reflecting and enjoying the silence. Many do not know that side of me but I can be an extreme introvert and sometimes you need that alone-time.

Day Five from the Creative Challenge : It was entitled, " Your best friend ". To me books are my best friends , just to show you how introverted I am.

The first day of the Creative Challenge: This one was entitled," Portrait of yourself". I was really proud of this one because I had no drawn anything in years and this is how it came out. It is fineliner on paper and it was a rough start but I held on and just continued. I feel like I broke a lot of boundaries and walls I placed on myself.

Day Eight of the Creative Challenge: This one was entitled," Your favourite word." The word I chose was Wanderlust because to me all those who wander are not lost , they are explorers'. It also incorporates my love on travel.