[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]os Angeles based artist Ralph Ziman – aka Afrika 47 – has a new exhibit at The Rendon Gallery in the Arts District. L.A. Taco attended the opening of the exhibit called The Casspir Project, which features work inspired by Ziman's childhood in Johannesburg. Ziman's works draw from experiences growing up in post-Apartheid South Africa and "addresses human rights issues such as apartheid, the over-militarization of police, and state violence."
'The centerpiece of the exhibit is a massive Casspir military vehicle that Ziman has transformed into a work of art. During the Apartheid era, Casspirs were used weapons of terror, often used against civilians. Widely despised and feared, they became synonymous with violence, police intimidation, and institutional oppression. Post-Apartheid, many Casspirs were decommissioned, their hulls left to rust, a relic of the past better forgotten. Others were sold to the United States during the Iraq war years, and later, to local police forces.'
'Mr. Tempo' caught heat back in 2022 when L.A. preservationists came after him for gutting the 94-year-old Hollywood legend Pig ‘N Whistle restaurant without permits.
Los Lobos, Keyshia Cole, DJ Quik, Kurupt, The Paranoias, Jungle Fire, and Delfonics are among the many artists you can catch for free in L.A. this summer, if you know where to look. Just don't look at that Rivers Cuomo too closely.
Many Latino families inherited the same lesson generation after generation: When society views you as foreign, proving your Americanness can become its own form of survival.
