Based in South Africa. Active since 2016
I took a keen interest in Adjective when they published a short piece of prose online by Rosa Lyster called Creepy Crawly. The piece describes her childhood fear of swimming, accompanied by a photograph Lyster’s friend Rom took of said creature doing the rounds in his parent’s pool, in which the Creepy Crawly-cum-crocodile that lurked in the shadows would spring to life. Reflecting on the surge of memories inspired by this photograph Lyster writes, “Rom and I became friends at a very weird time in both of our lives. We were both 24, and both unemployed in a way that felt permanent.”
The metaphoric connection—between imagined childhood fears and the stark realities of youth unemployment—could help readers understand the nature of this new magazine, which is born from a similar sense of paralysis: a desire to move beyond the stagnant, economy-orientated backwaters of the South African art scape. Intent on grappling with the awkward translation of what we see, touch, smell, and hear, Adjective captures a playful spirit that is often lost on more traditional arts publications. As the title suggests, it functions as a descriptive precursor or residue — occupying and emphasizing the spaces between the thought and the thing.
– Sven Christian, Adriane Iann Assistant Curator of Books and Works on Paper at Zeitz MOCAA
