Meet The African Taste-makers On This Year’s Dazed 100 List

Dazed 100 is an annual guide of those who are redefining the future of style and youth culture. The list fetes actors, activists, artists, collectives, designers, filmmakers, models, musicians and photographers. 

Here are the Africans that have landed this year’s list.

Stephen Tayo

The 24-year-old Lagos-born photographer is exploring his heritage through imagery.

Hailing from Ikere-Ekiti State, but living in Lagos, Stephen Tayo has a knack for telling authentic stories through his vivid photography. Looking at Nigeria through his lens, you don’t just get a sun-soaked snapshot of everyday life in the heart of West Africa, you gain a deeper understanding of the culture. From IBEJI, his series exploring how twins are sacred in Yoruba culture (“the most exciting thing” he’s worked on, he says), or his ongoing assignment capturing the beauty of geles, intricate women’s headwraps tied for special occasions.

Aweng

The 20-year-old South Sudanese beauty has captured the industry – but has big plans beyond fashion.

When she’s not walking the runways of the fashion capitals, Chuol attends law school and is set to graduate next year. She’s worked with charities like War Child and Children in Conflict, and later this year, the model will mark her 21st birthday by speaking at the UN’s mental health forum, in efforts to increase conversations around the mental health of refugees. “I feel like my last three birthdays I have been doing some amazing things and I want to continue that,” she says. “Getting to speak in front of international bodies, presidents, and prime ministers on mental health – especially mental health in refugee girls – is something that I am anticipating!”

Ncuti Gatwa

Ncuti Gatwa is the Rwanda-born actor who stole hearts in Sex Education.

So often, mainstream television gets the queer experience wrong. That’s why Rwanda-born, London-based actor Ncuti Gatwa’s role as the hilarious, horny, lovable Eric in Netflix’s Sex Education has been hailed as one of the most moving and on the money depictions of being a queer person of colour of our generation. The scene where Eric’s strict Ghanaian father reveals he’s learning from his son’s fearless decision to be his most glorious, gold-lipsticked self, captured the hearts of the show’s viewers, shooting Gatwa to prominence overnight.

FAKA

South African duo FAKA are using music, art, photography, and performance to amplify the voices of South Africa’s LGBTQ+ community.

Founded in 2015 by Fela Gucci and Desire Marea, Johannesburg-based duo FAKA’s work spans art, photography, and performance, but it’s for their music they’re best known. Fusing elements of traditional South African Zulu sound with innovative, pounding electronic beats, the pair also founded inclusive club night Cunty Power, and use their platform to amplify the voices of the country’s LGBTQ+ scene. Released in late 2018, Angel Ho-produced track “Queenie” saw the pair invite members of its queer community to discuss sexuality, gender, and identity: “Art’s ability to heal and create new realities is what drives us,” they explain.

Obongjayar

Obongjayar is the musician defying labels.

When people call Obongjayar “genre-defying” it’s not just a buzzword – it genuinely is impossible to put him in a box. Slipping in and out of a pidgin dialect to a more British twang, his voice can sit anywhere between a gravel-like rasp or a chant, to the clear falsetto tones of tracks like “Adjacent Heart” – but you’ll always know it when you hear it.

See the full list here

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