Covering the NBA, creating awesome exhibitions and training the youth, Joburg-based man-about-town Mpumelelo Mfula has a number of interesting projects he keeps himself busy with. We caught up with him between travels to chat.
Hi Mpumelelo! How are you, where are you and how are you doing?
Hi, As I answer this question, I am in Braamfontein at a courtyard after a game of basketball at Zoo Lake. I’m new to the game and sport, but I think it’s gonna be my thing for this year.
Indeed! Tell us more about your new gig covering the NBA.
I’ve recently received an opportunity to co-host a basketball lifestyle show called NBA Life that’s on SABC 2 every Sunday.
My recent trip to Indianapolis for the NBA All Star weekend was to get South African and African audiences closer to the game and all the action from an African perspective. I got to meet and speak to NBA legends, and present courtside while the likes of Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James were warming up, it was an incredible experience to be in the midst of all those greats and the NBA entertainment culture – all to be featuring in an upcoming episode.
You seem to be a renaissance man of sorts, having your finger in every pie. What would you say you do?
That is true, I’m involve and participate in a number of things and cultures for a living. It all starts with me being primarily an ethnographic researcher in the commercial marketing and community development space. This work has given me multiple opportunities to tap into different communities, cultures and faculties which I have fully immersed myself at most times. So, in essence I come off as a renaissance man because of my ability to learn.
Tell us more about a few of your projects, especially with your involvement with schools.
“Lets Play Outside” is a development agency that focuses on youth and community development. LPO started as a short-term workshop project for youth in Braamfontein in 2015 but has since grown into a development agency and soon an organisation that mainly works with the development of youth using storytelling as the vehicle.
We are currently working with two schools. In the East Rand we have Phumulani Secondary School in Katlehong, and in the west we have Daliwonga Secondary School in Soweto, with our third group consisting of our alumni students who are now in tertiary education. The learners go through two levels, the first to teach them fundamentals of photography and videography, how to develop a script and how to publish and monetise their story.
The second part comes in their second season where we have them focus on publishing and monetising stories within their school and community. The idea is for alumni to pass down what they have learnt through workshops that will be hosted at collaborative youth based events across Johannesburg – it’s about “Each one teach one “ philosophy.
You did an awesome exhibition last year where you used Instax to help illustrate certain points on a subway map. Tell us more about your thought process behind it.
I’ve used an Instax camera or printer (sometimes both) during my travels since 2018, that has given me the privilege of sharing and collecting memories through hundreds of Instax I have kept. A recent trip to New York put me in a position where I had to access minimal fancy camera equipment, it was just me and my phone, very similar to how I started as a researcher in the streets of Braamfontein.
As part of the screening of the content I created from the NY trip for my online show “The Mayors Office”,, I pulled out all my archive Instax collection to create a visual timeline story of how I started in Braam with minimal equipment and still used the same method and approach 10 years later in the Big Apple. I hosted this screening in Braamfontein to show the younger that they don’t need much to start, develop and compete on a global level.]
What Instax do you own and what do you use it for?
I own an Instax mini Evo and a mini Link 2 printer, The mini Evo definitely goes into my moon bag when I go to festivals and during travel, taking a pic using the different lens and film effects is the fun part. Sometimes I use my phone and print out on the Evo as a party trick anywhere in the world, it has helped me start conversations and fruitful relationships across the globe. The mini link 2 printer is always my back-up and also gives me opportunity to print images at a later stage if I didn’t get a chance to print during my travel experience.
It’s a movie I watched recently, A South African production titled “Knuckle City” and it’s on Netflix.
What would you rather be doing at the moment?
I would rather be in eNqileni, my favourite part of South Africa, its a rural village in the Wild Coast Mthatha, Eastern Cape. The Xhosa people there are known as amaBomvana and there’s a lot of beautiful magic that lives in that village.
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