User:Perri100/Saki Mafundikwa

Saki Mafundikwa (b. 1955, Harare, Zimbabwe ) is a visual communicator, design educator, author, speaker, filmmaker, and farmer is the founder and director of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA) in Harare Zimbabwe. Mafundikwa is globally recognized as an expert on African writing systems.  His book Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika describes more than twenty African symbol systems and alphabets used on the continent and in the African Diaspora. Mafundikwa has participated in exhibitions and workshops, contributed to a variety of publications and lectured about the globalization of design and the African aesthetic throughout the world. Convinced that until Afrika finds Afrikan solutions to her problems, she will always be colonized by others, he has dedicated his life to sharing Zimbabwean culture through design, film, and education.

Early life
Mafundikwa was born and raised in Zimbabwe, but moved to the United States in the 1970s at the height of Zimbabwe’s civil war. In 1983, he graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in both telecommunications and graphic design. He then attended Yale University School of Art’s graphic design MFA program and graduated with an MFA in 1985. It was there that he was inspired to look into African writing system. Alvin Eisenman pointed him in the direction when he applied for admission.

His graduate work in typography led to expertise in the written traditions of the many Afrikan alphabets and their symbolic representation. These studies led to a comprehensive review of African writing systems, ‘Afrikan Alphabets, The Story of Writing in Afrika, published by Mark Batty in 2004. It presents more than twenty African symbol systems and alphabets in use.

Career
Upon completing his master’s degree, he moved to New York City. There, he worked at various jobs as an art director for advertising and publishing. He designed and art directed for various imprints at Random House. In addition, he created promotional materials for popular recording artists. And he took part in the media boom as part of the team developing the Fodor's website.

In 1994, he began teaching design at Cooper Union in New York City. Inspired by his MFA thesis on writing systems in Africa, he created a course, “Writing Systems from Non-Western Societies.” The course became the basis for his book on Afrikan Alphabets. For Mafundikwa, there is a stereotype that Afrikans have no written tradition. "The truth is that Afrikans have known writing since the very early history of humanity." Although every society had developed some form of writing or record keeping, relatively few were covered in contemporary graphic design courses. The course eventually morphed into “Experimental Typography.” In addition, he has taught at Cornish College of the Arts.

In 1997 he returned to Harare, Zimbabwe. Not happy with the work coming out of his country, he decided Zimbabwe deserved a world-class design school that looked within itself for design inspiration. In 1999, he instituted Zimbabwe’s first graphic design and new media college, the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA.) The idea was for an “Afrikan Bauhaus” was politically derailed. Prospective funders balked at Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule of Zimbabwe. The school ran for twenty years without funding. Despite these challenges, many of my students have found career success in design firms, corporations, and international design schools.

His book, ''[https://www.amazon.com/Afrikan-Alphabets-Story-Writing-Afrika/dp/0972424067#:~:text=OK-,Afrikan%20Alphabets%3A%20The%20Story%20of%20Writing,Afrika%20Hardcover%20%E2%80%93%20October%201%2C%202006&text=Find%20all%20the%20books%2C%20read%20about%20the%20author%2C%20and%20more.&text=Through%20text%20and%20illustrations%2C%20describes,continent%20and%20in%20the%20Diaspora. Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika]'' is widely known. Besides being of historical importance, it is also the first book on Afrikan typography.

In 2009, his award winning documentary, Shungu: The Resilience of a People premiered at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The narrative explores the everyday strategies ordinary people use to survive the political and economic strife in Zimbabwe today.

Mafundikwa goal to transform global awareness of typography, symbolism, and design culture. He leads workshops and lecture throughout the world, helping designers create a new visual language by understanding their own culture.

Today he encourages African graphic design students to look to their history and culture for inspiration. While he believes that one might have to leave home to find out who they are, he also believes that it’s important for people to know about their cultural heritage.

Filmmaker
His feature film: Shungu: The Resilience of a People, 2009, is an objective, in-depth look at the causes and effects of Zimbabwe’s political and economic decline through everyday voices of local Zimbabwean citizens. Mafundikwa uses archive footage to throw light on British colonialism in his country, wars, the politics of Mugabe, and the opponents of the dictator, who hope to offer their country a better future. The documentary follows the brutal Zimbabwean presidential election of 2008, during the campaigns of Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition party.

When films are critical, their political content often makes them unsafe to screen at home. Shungu, for example, has been screened at numerous international film festivals to high acclaim and has received several prestigious awards, but it is considered contraband in Zimbabwe, where Mafundikwa fears arrest should he dare to screen it.

Author
Mafundikwa is author of Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika  Besides being of historical importance, it is also the first book on Afrikan typography. In it, he celebrates the many forms of written communication across the continent of Africa. From simple alphabets to secret symbolic languages, highlights the history and legacy that are embodied in written words and symbols, and urges African designers to draw on these graphic forms for fresh inspiration.

For Mafundikwa, there is a stereotype that Afrikans have no written tradition. Although every society had developed some form of writing or record keeping, relatively few were covered in contemporary graphic design courses. The book demonstrates that Afrikans have known writing since the very early history of humanity." In addition to Afrikan oral traditions knowledge has been passed on in unique written form.

Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts (ZIVA)
Founder and director of ZIVA, Zimbabwe’s first graphic design and new media college, in Harare,1999. Initially he intended for the school to be an African Bauhaus, prospective funders balked at Robert Mugabe’s autocratic rule of Zimbabwe. Although the Zimbabwean economy has failed several times since its opening, the school is still in session.

Vigital, a word he coined to describe the zeitgeist intersection of digital tools and visual arts in design today. At Ziva, it denotes visual arts taught using digital tools.

Ziva is the word for ‘knowledge’ in Shona. At ZIVA, Mafundikwa encourages design students to learn from Africa’s rich visual heritage to advance not necessarily an African aesthetic, but an African attitude. This is summed up in his favorite Ghanaian glyph, Sankofa, which means "return and get it" -- or "learn from the past."

Farmer
Mafundikwa has land outside of Harare where farms organically, rears cattle and goats and is in the process of constructing horticultural greenhouses. He sees a connection between all the things he does, the design school, the books he writes, the films he makes and the organic farming.

Shungu: The Resilience of a People, 2009

 * World Premiere: 2009’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
 * Official Selection: Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece), 2010.
 * Winner: Ousmane Sembene Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival, 2010.
 * Winner: Best Documentary at Kenya International Film Festival, 2010.


 * Zanzibar International Film Festival, Ousmane Sembene Prize, 2010
 * Regional Design Ambassador (Afrika) International Design Congress, 2015, Gwangju City, South Korea


 * TED2013 Fellow – Ingenuity and Elegance in Ancient Afrikan Alphabets, Long Beach, CA, 2013

Published Books
Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika presents a collated introduction into the history and development of more than twenty alphabets. By leading us through pictograms, mnemonic devices and syllabaries, the book charts how writing has and continues to evolve across Africa.

Film
Shungu: The Resilience of a People  A narrative of the everyday strategies ordinary people use to survive the political and economic strife in Zimbabwe today. The documentary follows the brutal Zimbabwean presidential election of 2008, during the campaigns of Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition party.

Shungu premiered at the: World Premiere 2009 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA)

Heartline 2018; 9.45 min

Kinects 2017; 9.06 min

Le Luminarie 2013;  11.45 min

Dominic Benhura 2011; 15.14 min

Basilwizi Trailer 2010; 9.57 min

Safirio Madzikatire Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Film were awarded to the late Simon "Mutirowafanza" Shumba, Chiwoniso Maraire, Mackey Tickeys, Jackie Cahi, and Saki Mafundikwa. This honors individuals who have made immense contribution to the development of the film sector in Zimbabwe.

ABECEDARIA Saki Mafundikwa, July 20, 2005, http://abecedaria.blogspot.com/2005/07/saki-mafundikwa.html
Anaforuana From Afrikan Alphabets: The story of writing in Afrika by Saki, Mafundikwa, 2004, 115-208

AIGA Design Journeys Saki Mafundikwa https://web.archive.org/web/20170728010537mp_/http://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-saki-mafundikwa

African Arts, MIT Press Journals, Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art, review, December,24, 2007

Art Africa Typography + Language + Writing Systems = Afrikan Alphabets; Ima-Abasi Okon; V11.3, 2/4/2013

Atlanta Black Star, Saki Mafundikwa Explores African Art,Tradition of Writing, ABS Contributor, March 1, 2013

Black Issues Book Review; Reynolds, Clarence V. Fairfax Vol. 6, Iss. 6,  (Nov/Dec 2004): 44.

Building letters; Typefaces for Africa; November 2003

CommArts Looking Within   Graphic designer and instructor Saki Mafundikwa encourages designers to embrace their roots to create their own styles.

Design Observer Pan Afrikan Design Institute, Adrian Shaughnessy, April 28, 2021

E-flux Journal; https://www.e-flux.com/video/407003/shungu-the-resilience-of-a-people/.

Eye Magazine  Face to face with the Afrikan written tradition, Steven Heller, Saki Mafundikwa. Autumn, 2004

The Good Page  Design-It-Yourself & Uncolonized Minds   https://thegoodpage.net/2015/01/07/design-it-yourself/

Graphis Language Culture Type: International Type Design in the Age of Unicode; John D Berry; Mark Batty; Robert Bringhurst; Maxim Zhukov; Matthew Carter; ATypI: Graphis, New York, N.Y. : 2002

Huffpost  Visionary on a Mission - Introducing Saki Mafundikwa   https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/visionary-on-a-mission-in_b_5603755

Letterform Archive The Black Experience in Graphic Design: 1968 and 2020; july 8, 2020

Print Expansion Set: Rewriting Black Design in America,Rick Griffith March 3, 2021

Radical Type Design, Teal Triggs, Collins Design UK, April 2003 New York : Harper Design International, 2003.

Ted Ideas What I Can't Live Without, Dec 11, 2014 https://ideas.ted.com/saki-mafundikwa-what-i-cant-live-without/

Type design: Radical innovations and experimentation / Teal Triggs, New York : Harper Design International, 2003.

Typographic Reification: Instantiations from the Lucy Lloyd Archive and Contemporary Typefaces from Southern Africa

Upper and Lower Case: the International Journal of Graphic Design and Digital Media (U&lc); International Typeface Corporation “Saki Mafundikwa & ZIVA” Vol.25 No.3 : Winter

World History Encyclopedia Writing, Joshua J. Mark, April 28, 2011

Zimbabwe's Cinematic Arts : Language, Power, Identity. Thompson, Katrina Daly. 2012; Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Accessed February 26, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Speaking Engagements
Ted Talks Ingenuity and Elegance in Ancient African Alphabets, Jul 5, 2012

Design Observer Pan African Design Institute (PADI) Keynote: 1st conference in Ghana February, 2019 review in Design Observer,

BIPOC Design History; Afrikan Alphabets and African Diasporic Design Lineages, 2019

e-fluxVideo & Film; Shungu: The Resilience of a People, interview, 2021

Letterform Archive Saki Mafundikwa A Typophile’s Twenty Year Adventures in Zimbabwe, interview and film, 2021,

Design Lecture Series http://designlectur.es/events/saki-mafundikwa/ ; January 27, 2017;

Foresight for Development Saki Mafundikwa: Ingenuity And Elegance In Ancient African Alphabets;

TED Talent Search Saki Mafundikwa: The Intricate World of African Writing Systems,

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=================================================== ====== 2017 “Reimagining the Script” Chimurenga Chronic, vol 4,

2016 “Afrikan Alphabets” OGOJII Design magazine, Issue 6, Johannesburg

2013 “Cultural value of Graphic Design” Sustainable Thinking, Aaris Sherin, Bloomsbury, US/UK

2011 “The True Size of Afrika” Eye magazine UK, vol 78 Winter

2010 “Afrikan Alphabets” 50 years of African In-Dependence” AfricAvenir, Berlin

2009 Novum Design Magazine : Editor “Afrika Issue” Munich, Germany, July

2008 AREA 2, Curator: Phaidon UK, Jan

2006 “Harare’s Unsung Type Heroes” Eye magazine UK, vol 15, Spring

2005 SocialDesignZine vol 1, Andrea Rauch & Gianni Sinni, Lcdedizioni, Rome

2004 World Graphic Design, Geoffrey Caban, Merrel UK,

2003 Typography in Afrika, essay: Culture Types, Graphis Books, USA

2001 Etapes Graphiques magazine, #72, Paris, France, April

1999 “Afrikan Design” DRUK, Fontshop magazine, Number 1, Netherlands, Summer 1998

Articles
Lectures and Presentations without links

Feb ’19 Keynote Speaker, 1st Pan Afrikan Design Institute (PADI) Congress, Weneba, Ghana

Apr ’19 Keynote Speaker, “Design Decolonization”, SAVVY Spinning Triangles, Kinshasa, DRC

Oct ’18 Binghamton University, What I’ve learnt in 38 years living in a Dictatorship

Oct ’18 University of Buffalo, Decolonization of Design Education, Buffalo, NY

May ’17 Lecture, My Work, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Apr ’17 Lecture, Ringling College, How Art History has influenced my work, Sarasota, FL

Jan ’17 Speaker, Seattle Public Library, Design Lectures Series, Seattle, WA

Apr ’17 Speaker, Design Week Portland, Portland, OR

Oct ’16 Speaker, AIGA Frontiers Conference, Montana State University, Bozeman

Nov ’15 Speaker, 2015 International Design Congress, Gwangju, South Korea

Sep ’15 Speaker, My Work, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

Mar ’15 Speaker, Penny Stamps Speaker Series, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Jul ’14 Speaker, World Domination Summit, Portland, OR

Feb ’14 Keynote Speaker, Autodesk University, Education Keynote, Las Vegas, NV

Feb ’13 Speaker, TED2013, Long Beach, CA

Dec ’12 Speaker, Rio+20: UN Environmental Summit, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sep ’11 Keynote, Afrika Day: Design, Development, Research, CPUT, Cape Town, RSA

Mar ’11 Cultures-Based Innovation Retreat, Rockefeller Centre, Bellagio, Italy

Oct ’08 Speaker, Afrikan Akphabets, ICOGRADA Multiverso Design Conference, Turin

Aug ’08 Speaker, Black Designers’ Forum, University of Illinois, Chicago. IL

May ’08 Jury member and Speaker, ZGRAF 10, Zagreb, Croatia

Oct ’07 Speaker, Design Educator’s Forum Conference, Cape Town, RSA

Oct ’07 Speaker, Afrika Design Day, Cape Town, RSA

Jun ’06 Speaker, Afrikan Alphabets, Congreso de Tipografia, Valencia, Spain

Feb ’06 Speaker, Tasmeem Doha Design Conference, Doha, Qatar

May ’05 Speaker, Afrikan Alphabets and ZIVA, Typo2005, Berlin, Germany

Aug ’04 Speaker, ISEA2004, Helsinki, Finland

July ’04 Speaker, Afrikan Alphabets, Typecon, San Francisco, CA

Sep ’01 Speaker, ICOGRADA, Johannesburg, SA

Nov ’00 Exhibition: Graphic Designers from Around the World, Echirolles, France

Aug ’00 Lecture: Two Types, With Erik Spiekerman, San Francisco, CA

Jan ’00 Lecture, Universidad ICESI, Cali, Colombia

Sep ’95 AIGA National Conference, Seattle, WA

Sept ’94 Speaker, Organization of Black Designers (OBD), Dogon to Digital, Chicago, IL

Wiki links: wiki pages that link to Saki:

 * McDonald's African American Heritage Series Lyte - Underground Railroad Avery Brooks - Closing Statement Artwork: Saki Mafundikwa Scriptwriter: Ann Ashwood Music: Jana Productions, NAJEE & RIZE Publisher:  1 KB (104 words) - 05:46, 31 May 2020
 * Timothy Botts well as ancient African scripts he came across from some research of Saki Mafundikwa. He also included 19th century American adaptations of Black Letter  6 KB (766 words) - 02:28, 23 August 2020
 * Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series Winter 2015-03-26 Tacita Dean Visual Artist 2015 Winter 2015-03-19 Saki Mafundikwa Graphic Designer, Typographer and Design Educator 2015 Winter 2015-03-12  32 KB (676 words) - 16:09, 13 October 2021
 * Writing systems of Africa alphabets and Yoruba holy-writing. African Language Studies 10:161-191 Mafundikwa, Saki. 2004. Afrikan alphabets: the story of writing in Afrika. West New  27 KB (3,140 words) - 21:59, 7 February 2022


 * Timothy Botts ‎ (links | edit)
 * Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker Series ‎ (links | edit)
 * User:Topbanana/TestData ‎ (links | edit)

Additional links, are they credible?
Typegeist IMA-ABASI OKON WITH SAKI MAFUNDIKWA, AFRIKAN ALPHABETS EXTENDED, PUBLISHED  10/21/2021 https://typegeist.org/article/afrikan-alphabets-extended

World Domination Summit Saki Mafundikwa at WDS 2014

Design Portland; Identity and Colonization in Typographic Design, 2017, https://designportland.org/stories/2017/identity-and-colonization-in-typographic-design

Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias; reference: Writing systems of Africa,

Quotes
“We must go to the past so as to inform our present and build on the future.”

“The creation of a new visual language looks inward for influence.”

“We must go to the past so as to inform our present and build on the future.”

“The dream is for something to come out of Afrika that is of Afrika.”

''“Afrikan Alphabets debunk the myth of the dark continent. They lay to rest the lies born of ignorance that have been leveled on beautiful momma Afrika.”''

''“As the original people, children of the sun, we have such a rich bounty of inspiration: our music, dance and art – they are all connected, there is no separation. Sankofa: learn from our rich past in order to inform our lives today and the future.”''

''“I see Afrikan alphabets offering a breath of fresh air that can rescue the Roman alphabet from the vagaries of style and trends. As a typographer, and more importantly as a designer, I am in the business of the creation and peddling of ‘Beauty’. Aesthetic value has gone out of typography in recent memory. Afrikan alphabets offer a more aesthetically pleasing perspective and alternative.”''

''“Art was not taught in school when I grew up in Zimbabwe. I taught myself drawing through observation of nature and everyday life. As a kid, I always doodled, and my doodles were always letter forms. I didn’t know that the letters I saw in books were printed by printing presses, I thought they were hand-drawn. And so, I developed a love of typography from a very young age. It is only when I came to the US in 1980 that I realized that what I had been doing for so long was called ‘graphic design’.”''

''“….Afrika is the source of it all. Let us go back to the source. The western world is looking to Afrika again for inspiration. This time they won’t simply walk in and take it (in fact, they don’t want to!) – rather, they will learn from us; there will be mutual respect for each other’s intellectual and creative property. There will be an equal flow of information and knowledge from north to south and vice-versa. That is the new order, and we are starting to create it now. ZIVA is only a small step in the right direction. We need more people who care to join us and chart the way forward.”''

''“It was the most natural thing for me to come home and start a school of design. Because I figured, my god, how many hundreds of young people in Zimbabwe would never know there is a field called graphic design. It was the right thing for me to do, because I felt so fortunate that I was able to figure it out.”''

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