About
Welcome to VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE, a podcast and multimedia project delving into the realm of second-hand clothing from a Ugandan perspective.
Uganda is the ‘other side’ of the clothing donation bin. And we explore the vibrant afterlife of millions of garments that are donated [read: dumped] here weekly. These discards clothe 80% of our population, have created a bustling secondhand clothing market and quite literally line our streets.
But Uganda once clothed herself in her own cotton; are these donations fashionable vintage or industry-crushing violence?
Hosted by designer Bobby Kolade and documentary filmmaker Nikissi Serumaga, each episode presents candid conversations with individuals across the spectrum of the secondhand fashion industry. From importers to factory owners, vendors to cotton growers, innovators to consumers, and experts alike, we unravel diverse perspectives that not only shed light on environmental impacts, but also spotlight the human stories within. Digital artworks, short videos and research interviews accompany the podcast to build out the rich worlds explored in the podcast.
Africa is a dumping ground for the world’s fast fashion waste. Are we going to drown in it? Or innovate for change?
@2ndhandviolence
TEAM
HOST & Co-Creator
Nikissi Serumaga
Nikissi is a filmmaker based in Kampala by way of Toronto, Johannesburg and Maputo. Documentary is her primary medium, inspired by her visual arts practice.
She uses personal stories to map reflections on contemporary Ugandan politics across her respective media. She is currently in development in her debut documentary VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE which has been selected for Sundance and DW Akademie grants. Nikissi has also connected with African film as casting associate on the Disney film “Queen of Katwe”, directed by Oscar-nominee Mira Nair and working at Toronto International Film Festival, Encounters Documentary Festival and Regent Park, Images and Maisha Film Festivals.
She rooted herself in Kampala through her 2-year tenure at 32° East, an organisationorganization for the creation and exploration of Ugandan contemporary art. She continues to explore visual arts on her own, and has taken part in two residencies since leaving 32° East. She completed a multi-media video, photo and paper-making residency, Pictures of Aging, in conjunction with Makerere and Cambridge Universities and 32° East. Most recently, she completed a digital arts residency with Wysing Arts Centre and British Council EA, which saw a mix of paper-making and animating ancestors’ portraits for exhibition in May 2021. She has also been published in Toronto International Film Festival’s “Review” as well has featuring on their podcasts.
She is the creator, director and co-host of VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE.
HOST & Co-Creator
Bobby Kolade
Bobby Kolade is the co-host and co-writer of VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE.
Kolade has been practising design for 17 years and is currently the creative director of Buzigahill Clothing Company. He holds a masters in Fashion Design from the Academy of Arts Berlin Weissensee and has professional experience at Maison Margiela and Balenciaga in Paris.
His eponymous brand (2013 – 2016) featured several times at Berlin fashion week, and won awards for his experimentation in Ugandan barkcloth, including the New Star Award at the Shenzhen Day Prize, awarded by the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. He returned to Kampala in 2018 and began a two-year stint in the Ugandan cotton supply chain. His exploration of the landscape of Ugandan textiles has resulted in Buzigahill, and its first collection RETURN TO SENDER, which sources clothes from bales of used clothing dumped in Uganda, and upcycles them for sale back in the global north. Kolade is also the lead of Aiduke clothing research, in initiative dedicated to the improvement of the textile sector in Uganda for small to medium businesses, artisans and weavers in Uganda.
Oluko is a cultural producer with over 20 years experience across film and television production and distribution in Africa. She was notably named in the Mail & Guardian’s Women Changing South Africa in 2018 and is committed to spaces where storytelling, in all its forms, reigns supreme.
She produced the most-watched late-night talk show in South Africa, RISE!, including coaching the hosts in on-air hosts in presence, presentation and content delivery. Oluko also produced the first female-led late night talk show in South Africa, Late Night with Kgomotso.
She is currently a story scout for Snap Judgement, and their Lupita Nyong’o-produced podcast featuring African diaspora stories around the globe.
Through her company, Rosemary & Ginger, she is producing and co-writing the feature documentary VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE which has recently been selected as a Sundance and DW Akademie grantee. Oluko also holds a wealth of experience in film festivals, having curated and programmed award-winning documentary films for festivals in South Africa and Europe.
She currently serves on the board of the Market Theatre Foundation, South Africa’s seminal cultural institution.
Process Facilitation
Social Media Manager
Michelle Isinbaeva
Sound Design
Sound Engineering
Wana Benjamin
Visual Artist
Charity Ankunda
Web Design
Ian Nnyanzi
Accounting
Production Company
Rosemary & Ginger
Research Partner
The Or Foundation
The Or Foundation (pronounced “or”) stands for choice. Choice is agency – agency to escape the predominant violent socio-economic system of corporate colonialism and to change it from within. We are a 501(C)(3) public charity in the USA and a registered charity in Ghana that has been operating in both countries since 2011. Working at the intersection of environmental justice, education and fashion development, our mission is to identify and manifest alternatives to the dominant model of fashion – alternatives that bring forth ecological prosperity, as opposed to destruction, and that inspire citizens to form a relationship with fashion that extends beyond their role as consumer.
Tangibly our goal is to catalyze a Justice-Led Circular Economy. There are many layers to this work, including immediate relief through direct action on human rights and environmental abuses, educational programming and awareness in order to shift individual actions, and research and institutional advocacy to steer systems level policies and investments. At every level our initiatives are founded on the belief that Justice within the violent yet beautiful world we share begins with Reckoning, Recovery and Reparations. There is much work to be done.
Taken from their website: https://theor.org/mission
Research Partner
BUZIGAHILL
BUZIGAHILL is a Ugandan clothing brand founded 2020 by Ugandan-Nigerian-German fashion designer Bobby Kolade.
BUZIGAHILL is a brand with a mission to return Uganda‘s textile industry to the peak levels of the early 1970s, when more cotton was processed locally than exported.
RETURN TO SENDER is the first project series by BUZIGAHILL. Second-hand clothes are redesigned in Kampala and redistributed to the global North, where they were originally discarded before being shipped to Africa.
Second-hand clothes have flooded the Ugandan textile market and are the leading source of all textile goods in the country. It is estimated that 80% of all clothing purchases in Uganda are second-hand.
RETURN TO SENDER is a reaction to the state of Uganda’s textile industry and the impact of fast-fashion consumption in the global North. In the absence of locally produced textiles, BUZIGAHILL is adamant that industry can be rebuilt using second-hand clothing as a resource.
Research Partner
Aiduke Clothing Research
Our podcast episodes were recorded in Kampala at East African Records, Sankara Pan-African Library and at Podcast Studio Ultimate Group.
VINTAGE OR VIOLENCE is made possible through a grant from Resource Of Open Minds (R.O.O.M) – Hivos East Africa.
