Reform The Funk is an independent cultural platform created in a bid to challenge the status quo by promoting thought-provoking and emotive art.
Starting from their roots as a nine-piece, Cuban-infused musical collective, WARA have always lent their voice to the world’s injustices.
Christelle Kocher may be French born-and-bred but this designer is less traditional Parisian chic and more haute couture mashed-up with street wear.
Melodic guitar playing, impassioned poetry and foot stomping rock vibes are a few elements which you can expect from up and coming artist Rasha Nahas.
Yassmin Abdel Magied is a force to be reckoned with.
ShayShay is a drag artist and activist devoted to empowering the queer community, exposing intersectionality, and raising marginalised voices.
Palestinian Hip Hop band, DAM, offer an abundance of personality, humility and passion. Made up of rapper Tamer Nafer, a force to be reckoned with, whose dry sense of humour and passionately profound statements keep any audience on their toes
Born in Chicago, Ahmed is an ethnic Pakistani with a degree in medical anthropology from Michigan State University.
With a back catalogue of over 70 albums and EPs to date, Charif music transports you into a world that bounces between classic soul, funked up afrobeats, zippy acoustic guitar riffs and vintage Italian movie scores.
Nuri’s music can be best described as a mix of bass, beats and dirty old sounds layered between samples of Afro and Global melodies
Starting from their roots as a nine-piece, Cuban-infused musical collective, WARA have always lent their voice to the world’s injustices.
Christelle Kocher may be French born-and-bred but this designer is less traditional Parisian chic and more haute couture mashed-up with street wear.
Since their invention approximately three and a half thousand years ago, pills have become a common component of day-to-day life.
Melodic guitar playing, impassioned poetry and foot stomping rock vibes are a few elements which you can expect from up and coming artist Rasha Nahas.
Reform The Funk has been keeping an eye on the whirlwind of talent coming out of the Middle East.
Ashton Attzs came into the mainstream eye the latter end of 2018 when they won the Evening Standard Art Prize with their piece ‘Don’t Stay In Ya Lane
Yassmin Abdel Magied is a force to be reckoned with.
Fancy getting familiar with who the the key figures (past and present) of New Zealand’s hip hop scene?
We speak to those that have grown up with a love of Kiwi Hip Hop – including current artists leading the scene - on how it evolved into a uniquely homegrown sound and continues to diversify today…
Arab Palestinian musician, Moody Kablawi has been working his way through the music scene since his early teens.
Hungarian journalist and filmmaker, Bence Máté introduces us to Koka, a man living and working in Garbage City, an area of Cairo that houses both people and pigeons.
In her decade-long documentation of adolescence in China, ‘Girls’, Luo Yang revolutionised Western conceptions of girlhood in a country we often believe we are seeing through a bawdler lens
ShayShay is a drag artist and activist devoted to empowering the queer community, exposing intersectionality, and raising marginalised voices.
Unified through a glistening, uniform appearance, these two figures take us to a place where a new army of solidarity exists, governed by their own rules.
Palestinian Hip Hop band, DAM, offer an abundance of personality, humility and passion. Made up of rapper Tamer Nafer, a force to be reckoned with, whose dry sense of humour and passionately profound statements keep any audience on their toes
The BBC Arabic festival provided a refreshing and diverse supply of contemporary Middle Eastern narratives which both educated and challenged the audience.
Many know Doja Cat as the mastermind behind the now infamous viral video Mooo!.But unbeknownst to many the American rapper has been “tryna make moves” since 2013 with the release of her first EP Purrr.
Kokosmos is a stunning visual piece that embraces reality and intelligently manipulates our ideas about the possibilities in space.
Bladi, translating to ''my homeland'' is an ongoing photographic series and project by Haifa born Palestine-American photographer Yasmine Omari.
Twenty-Eight year old Tomisin Adepeju is at the forefront of a new wave of British filmmakers exploring topics that offer an insight into the generational shifts of the African Diaspora.
Lugha ya Mama (meaning the Language of Mothers in Kiswahili) is a short documentary film exploring the stories of five women and their individual life experiences.
Arab Palestinian musician Shaden Nahra has travelled around the globe performing with multiple Orchestras, hip-hop crews and fresh new bands from the Haifa scene.
Described by Vogue Arabia as ‘The Queen of Arab Hip Hop’, rapper Malikah is setting an example for females on a global scale.
Making it in the film industry is not for the faint of heart. It is notoriously known for being hard to get into. Screenwriter and director Dionne Edwards is in the curious position of having not just succeeded, but having succeeded really well.
Olivia Brazier’s artwork sucks you in by her use of delicious colours and familiar imagery all applied with the same brush of intelligent mockery from a female stance.
Artist David Shillinglaw takes you on a journey to explore lands of colourful creations that buzz with gentle familiarity.
Photographer Kim Lang and stylist Femi Ayo focus on figure and form in their latest collaboration. This imaginative editorial creates a dance between moving bodies, flowing fabric and the crisp winter backdrop.
Koko Brown creates experimental pieces of musical performance, resiliently telling her stories through a blend of spoken word and looping sounds.
2023 is a film inspired by the powerful and emotive music of Alxndr London. In it’s essence it is a visual representation of the soundscape in the EP 2023, futuristic in design yet at it’s core very raw, emotive and spiritual
She opened for Masego at the Bristol stop of his 2018 UK Tour, and since releasing her debut album Colour Reaction, LayFullStop is definitely one to watch this year.
Illustrator Nabigal – Nayagam Haider Ali has created a world of characters which shine with childlike appeal.
Stanley Chow’s work is both retro and unique. The cartoonist and illustrator has contrived a double decade career out of minimalist portraits that have been seen all over the world.
For Writer and Director, Koby Adom, the path to his calling is an extremely insightful one. Growing up in Thamesmead, South London, Koby hadn’t always known that making films would become his passion.
The agency, established in 2018, embodies diversity, inclusivity and individuality with the models they represent looking more like people you may pass on the street rather than a typical runway model.
British Artist George Butler illustrates stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances in places such as Afghanistan, Syria and West Africa.
2007 brings to mind unforgettable fashion trends and the inception of Tumblr, it would grow to become every alternative teenager’s obsession. This was the case for influencer and photographer, Erika Bowes.
From the age of 14 Percelle Ascot was certain he wanted to be an actor. He sure that his early decision would put him four or five years ahead of his peers with the same dream.
I’ve been following Rosie Foster’s photography account on Instagram for over a year now. When I saw that she will be visiting London to shoot new work, I knew I had to approach her to make a behind the scenes film
Stylist Femi Ayo and Photographer Derrick Kakembo’s new fashion editorial explores antagonist emotions in dystopic world MMXXIII.
There’s a significant gap in representation for darker-skinned folk, and Simrah Farrukh wants to do something about it.
Raised in Nigeria, a 16 year old Faridah Seriki famously known as Kah-Lo traversed to New York for study and began her musical career performing in cafés and coffeeshops, with a round the clock pursuit of approval from AnR’s and record label execs without any palpable results.
Olga De la Iglesia enthusiastically uses her eyes as tools to uncover details in the random truths of everyday life.
Singer/songwriter and producer Estere (born Estere Dalton) grew up with a fondness of music, listening to her parents’ old cassettes and records in the beautiful city of Wellington (capital of New Zealand).
Her mode of storytelling is visceral and captivating, an art form that sets her apart from her peers in her industry.
Afropunk Paris. The annual and infamously black arts festival has been celebrated in Paris, France for the past two years; 11 years after it’s initial debut in Brooklyn, New York.
When does a photograph become something more than just photography? Chicago-based photographer David Kasnic answers this question with the authentic images he captures which reveal stories of individuals in a genuine way that depicts realities rather than forced assertions.
Our conversation with Deva Mahal (pronounced Diva) is very telling of the profundity she beholds as a person, and her ability to peel back layers of herself just to bare her soulful reveries, is as if sacrificial.
London based French artist Alix Marie works interconnectedly between the two creative fields of photography and sculpture; producing her exceptional three-dimensional installations and objects which hint to a single specific notion: TOUCH.
We talk to 7 models to watch from some of London’s most ethnically diverse modelling agencies. They discuss their ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and their colourful, layered London realities.
Kayleigh Daniels Dated is a series of short sex stories drawing attention to the realities of female sexuality.
Born in 1990, self-trained Ethiopian photographer Girma Berta, utilizes the camera of his iPhone to capture unique images which record the daily lives of people of his hometown, Addis Ababa.
One-third of the female dance group, CEO Dancers, who found fame as 2013 semi-finalists on Britain’s Got Talent, she remembers that period as an opportunity to fly the flag for African dancing.
SPECTRUM is reinterpretation of the dated archetype of a man, which operates in the mainstream culture.
Ghanaian singer and songwriter, Jane Awindor, better known as EFYA transcends the scope of Afrobeats in a romantic applaud to a genre so rigid in its rhythm and drum melodies that she dictates a whole new sound veritable on every body of work she puts out, be it features, refixes or her own music.
Using the audacious art of cabaret to discuss gender, sex, colonialism and mental health, sounds like something that would tip the credibility scales into cringeworthy territory. Not so in the case of neo-burlesque troupe Hot Brown Honey.
Luis Alberto Rodriguez, New York born and raised creative, has managed to depict this link between dancing and photography using the human body as his key tool.
Students at the University of Manchester have become the subject of controversy after defacing a mural of Rudyard Kipling’s poem ‘If’, painted on the wall of a newly renovated student union, and replacing it with Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’.
There’s a certain whimsicality to Masego that is present in everything the hip-hop and jazz multi-instrumentalist does.
Pride is over; and for most that means their yearly quota of rainbows, sparkles, drag queens and club kids has officially been fulfilled. However, what always gets lost in pride season, particularly in recent years, is that pride, the event, started as a riot.
A group like CUTWITH, on paper, shouldn’t work. The members, Sean, Shem, and Betty Adewole, who met through nights out and mutual friends, began freestyling together and knew instantly there was a music chemistry they wanted to tap into.
South Korean based illustrator and animator Inji Seo’s creates characters who are bold, curvy and beautiful.
‘Reaching Europe’ is a photographic series by Danish documentary photographer Sofie Amalie Klougart. The series documents the conditions of African migrants after arriving on the Italian coast of Sicily.
We caught up with model, personality and winner of Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model 13 to discuss diversity, ageism and being a model of colour in the fashion industry.
Within the past two years, Cupcakke has released five bodies of work; two mixtapes – both of which were featured in Rolling Stone’s Best Rap Album of 2016 - and three studio albums. To release music so frequently and have it acclaimed is no easy feat.
Planet Ninalem, a futuristic world where there are no conventions or responsibilities; a place where the only gender and currency permitted is artistic liberation.
Jessica Gao is an American screenwriter of Chinese descent who first chiselled her way into the industry when she won Nickelodeon’s screenwriting fellowship.
Jonny Negron is a Puerto Rican born artist whose illustrations are an intriguing and fresh stylized take on sexuality, featuring nude curvy women.
Saba’s newest album, CARE FOR ME, just might be the breakthrough of dreams. Deeply confessional poetry over caramel brown neo-Soul piano vibes makes the rapper’s fifth release to date a record you’ll marvel over, even if it besets you with a vague, nagging melancholy.
It was a primary school story writing competition that sparked Theresa Lola’s love of writing. The British based Nigerian poet is now, amongst numerous other titles, the current champion of the Hammer and Tongue National Slam.
South Korean based illustrator Yu Dori has made her name creating sensual, exotic and erotic art.
Bisi Alimi probably carries more courage in his pinkie fingernail than most of us do in our entire bodies. In 2004, Alimi made headlines both locally and abroad when he became the first Nigerian to openly come out on national television.
Born and raised in Brazil, Ingrid Silva began dancing at Dançando Para Não Dançar, a favela based programme that offered training to children who could not afford dance classes. Ingrid was 8 years old when she began training in ballet and although she had always dreamed of becoming a doctor, by age 13 she had decided to dedicate herself to dance.
Even in 2018 we’re desperate to put people into boxes. You’re either this or that, known by your career goals or sexual orientation. However at the forefront new wave of London Club Kids is Prince JayJay, who simply defies any box you’d like to try and fit him in.
Nigerian music artist Runtown seemed to swan out of nowhere, creating unimaginably influential waves on the Afrobeat genre with relaxed, summer-smooth rhythms and his native patois.
In their just released album, ‘The Kids Are Alright’, Chloe and Halle create an airy, wide open space with plenty of distant, dreamy synth and rich, lilting vocals where the sisters illustrate the full range of their vocal capacity.
Meera Sethi is a Toronto based visual artist. Sethi’s artwork explores relationships between, migration, diaspora, fashion and identity.
Photographer Kim Lang caught up with some new faces that are currently breaking into the modelling industry.
Gods Taking Selfies is a personal tumblr project started by Indian visual artist Adrita Das. Adrita reimagines where South East Asian Gods and Goddesses to make them appear as though taking selfies.
Despite being a musician since before she can remember, Deva (pronounced Diva) Mahal is surprisingly humble. The soul singer has been surrounded by music her whole life, so it only seemed natural for this to be the path she followed.
With razor sharp features, chiselled jaw, dark piercing eyes set upon a heavy browed, freckled face, the Persian’s beauty holds a spiritual affectation that encapsulates both the softness and strength of her femininity, oozing through her multi-disciplinary art forms.
Laura Callaghan is an Irish illustrator whose work focuses on female sexuality, fashion and feminism. Her work is bold, beautiful and aims to fight against the male gaze and slut shaming.
Reform the Funk spoke to Curator Nicole Crenstil about international women’s day, her work and being a woman in today’s society.
Jasmin Sehra is a British-Asian artist who is using art to explore her culture and dual nationality. Her latest collection, BollyHood, is a mash up of Hip Hop and Bollywood, with cultural icons being immortalized as Bollywood movie posters.
For the first time in history, the official portrait of America’s first lady has been created by an African-American artist - Amy Sherald.
The official Presidential portrait has, for the first time in history, been painted by an African American; Kehinde Wiley.
Given that Layo skipped her graduation to attend a dance job, it's fair to say to say that her passion for dance is her number one priority.
Artist Ejatu Shaw is using photography to explore the elements that define her existence and construct her identity.
In October, Reform The Funk held it’s very first exhibition, Space, a celebration and showcase of Black Art.
Nnedi is a first generation Nigerian-American and rightfully uses her roots to influence her work. Being a University Professor, a PHD holder and having various novels/comics under her belt, it is great to see African imagery within a very white dominated genre.
Cartèlea and Honour are black girls who rock. Based in London and working as a model and artist, respectively, they speak to Reform The Funk about their style, dreams and walking in faith.
Attending a top class art college or university is the holy grail for many aspiring artists but Stephanie Kane decided to go her own way and manifest opportunities within her industry for herself.
Born in Long Beach California in 1972, Ava is the director behind, Selma, the 13th Documentary and TV series Queen Sugar; amongst many others. The UCLA graduate made her directional debut with the highly acclaimed hip hop documentary ‘This Is The Life’, Ava DuVernay knew she “just wanted to make films”.
Kei Maye's work is modern and has a focus on real life situations with a light humour– especially with the harsh realities of millennial life.
Since 2013, Tedx has partnered up with UCL (University College London), to host TedxUCLWomen. This is a movement celebrating the women of UCL and the wider community while looking at the barriers preventing women and girls worldwide from achieving their full potential.
Samuel Ross has created a signature for himself through his urban luxury clothing brand, A-COLD WALL*.
Julia Gunther’s photographic documentary series Rainbow Girls takes us to South Africa, where she explores the oppression experienced by lesbian women in the townships of Gugulethu and Khayelitsha.
We caught up with African ballet dancer Mthuthuzeli November. Ballet is changing and Mthuthuzeli is excited at changes within the art form.
Yumna Al-Arashi is a female photographer resculpting the parameters of understanding that surround modern Muslim women with her latest project entitled “Shedding Skin”.
We’re all artists at heart and at one time or another it’s likely we’ve used either writing, music, art or dance as a form of self-expression. One rising artist taking her writing to the next level is poet Sophia Thakur.
Over the last ten years, K-pop has distinguished itself by appropriating enticing elements of rap, Hip-hop, jazz, and rock; all genres which emerged and was created by black musicians.
Festival hair. According to Google images, the trendiest hairstyles for festival flair include glitter partings, space buns and a boho braid or two. However, if you attend Afropunk you will find that the trendiest hairstyles are not those typically found in a festival lookbook.
Afropunk. The one and only annual arts festival that embraces and celebrates black culture and is undoubtedly made for us, by us (FUBU baby). By it’s own definition, it represents spirit and heritage, blackness and rebellion. This is felt not only by the art that is provided, but also by the people who attend.
Rémi Laudat, stepping outside the traditional framework
As Afropunk 2017 fast approaches, we look back on last year’s celebrations of fashion, culture, style and the people who make the festival iconic.
It’s this love of literature that led Caleb to being named the Young People’s Laureate in 2016.
Trying to leave your own stamp in the creative industry is a difficult feat for any budding artist, something New Orleans based photographer, Akasha Rabut is very open about.
The animator and illustrator’s latest animation “Black Barbie” is a story about her own experience with skin bleaching.
Although Will Prince does not wish to be known as an artist who solely draws rappers, hip hop is where his art lives.
It’s been 10 years since Afrikan Boy, the self-proclaimed afro-grime rapper, stepped on the scene
Illustrator and digital artist, Nomes Dee is the latest name to have on your radar. Her work is a bold and beautiful showcase of women of color, as well as figures of popular culture, but it's her futuristic style that separates her work from others
Sony World Photography Award nominated Sebastian Barros presents Boys in the Clouds, an intimate portrait of the men left behind in one of the fastest growing cities in the world.
Skepta has only broken through on a mainstream platform where the culture has become watered down and lost to those who grew with the UK Rap scene.
