When copies of a new issue of ARISE first arrive in the office it’s always a slightly surreal moment. After weeks of scribing, shooting, subbing and quiet shouting, the team reluctantly let go of the pages and a few days later, as if by magic, the magazine appears. Ta-da! Issue 13 landed Wednesday. We each grabbed a copy and dived between the sheets, excited to experience the fruits of our collective labour in all its tactile, freshly printed glory. It’s delivered to the shops next week so I hope you feel the same sense of anticipation too.
What to expect? In the Fashion section, cover girl Arlenis Sosa gets kinky in autumn/winter 2011/12’s monochromes. ARISE fashion editor Sabrina Henry took her to Brooklyn’s shoreline for the shoot, where the Dominican bombshell had no qualms about being blindfolded and crawling across craggy rocks. That-a-girl. Diana Ross circa 1974 fuels our retro beauty shoot and Georgie Badiel, who last appeared in ARISE issue 3, models key looks hot off the ARISE Magazine Fashion Week – Lagos 2011 catwalk.
Ahead of the ARISE Magazine Presents… The Colors Of Africa Fashion Collective show at New York Fashion Week on September 15, the designers taking part also reveal to me the work that has gone into their spring/summer 2012 collections. Look out for our NYFW blogs soon.
In Music we meet Philly soul queen Jill Scott, South Africa’s “post-apartheid, post hip hop poster boy” Spoek Mathambo, Ivoirian reggae icon Tiken Jah Fakoly and London MC Tinie Tempah. We also delve into the day-glo, sweaty and fast-footed Shangaan electro scene.
In Culture, Botswana’s heavy metal cowboys flip the bird, Booker Prize winning author Ben Okri meditates on his vision for the future of Africa; artist and curator Temitayo Ogunbiyi explores Nigeria’s contemporary art scene and we pick the best of Africa’s luxury eco beach resorts. We also introduce a new regular feature, The Big Question, which asks a selection of experts and pundits their opinions on pressing issues. Our first one is: should non-Africans be allowed to adopt African children? ARISE editor-at-large Sarah Bentley felt one answer, from writer and performer Lemn Sissay MBE was so enthralling, that we’re running it here in full.
In Polity, we meet the activists, victims and advocates of Uganda’s contentious Anti-Homosexuality Bill and take to the sky with Dr Ola Orekunrin’s Flying Doctors Nigeria air ambulance service. We get to know the South African blogger behind the colourful infographics portal Afrographique and highlight the young generation of change-makers who are making a difference in Kenya. I talk to Arnold Schwarzenegger about his time as the Governator and meet the developers of Eko Atlantic, a new megacity emerging out of the Atlantic next to Lagos.
Sounds lots, doesn’t it? We’ve also condensed the issue into a sampler, which can be found in the October issue of British Vogue out next month. More highlights from the issue will be coming online soon too.
Thirteen: unlucky for some, but not for ARISE. Enjoy.
Helen Jennings | ARISE Magazine, editor