Part of ACF’s research and travels around Africa is based around discovering many growing subcultures. There was one thing most of the cities had in common and that was surf.
Surfing may seem a mainstay of the west or for white people but that’s in fact a falsehood. There’s been a cultural history of black surfing in Africa dating back to the 1940s. Currently Africa is home to some of the world’s best surf destinations.
A research paper titled, “A Cultural History of Zulu Surfers in South Africa” sets out a genealogy of Zulu surfers in surfing magazines, surf industry advertising and films featuring surfing (surf films, documentaries and feature films) from 1965 to the present.
According to the paper two films have foregrounded Zulu surfers, the feature film Otelo Burning (2011) which is the story of 16-year-old Otelo Buthelezi, his brother Ntwe and documentary film Kushaya Igagasi (2013), translated as “Hitting the Waves”.
Black surfing was impacted heavily in 1953 when the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act No. 49 that was signed into law prohibited different races from using the same public amenities (such as beaches). Under this law, those not classified as “white” were allocated under-resourced and more dangerous beaches, very few of which would later be good surf spots.
In 1985 pro surfers worldwide boycotted the South African leg of the World surfing tour due to Apartheid. This happened despite South Africa having some of the best waves in the world and the longest running surf competition thus increasing isolation, both from other races and international surfers. This changed in 1991 when South African amateur surfing returns to international competition due to intervention by the South African Surfing Union.
This was the first time to create our textile print design; the idea was not to make a traditional surf print with palm trees and sunset. We ACF find it by using this flower motif, which represents how we view Africa, soft but edgy by adding our craftsman weapon of choice " scissors." Imitating the African textile print look with a modern flare.
