The idea of art as activism is something that has always plagued my mind. Where does one end and the other begin. Primarily people from creative spheres have at al least at one point in their creative life span been wanting to exert some sort of lasting influence on the social sphere. Whether it is Woody Allen preaching the impossibility of life or Suheir Hammad’s affirming it through her poems about memories of war and female identify. The notion of art and re-envisioning the social order has always been present. And South Africa is no different. Through the years we have been in varying degrees become accustomed to art that seems to articulate the present state of our society in both comforting and unsettling ways. In this vein I am thinking of writers like Ingrid Jonker, Gibson Kente and Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer.

But we are moving beyond that now. We are searching for new vessels to articulate our present state of mind. As Jim Morrison puts it, “Each generation wants new symbols. New people. New names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors” I fear that this notion has not been widely explored in our fledgling democracy. As a society that is still very much trying to pin down its identity we seem to be all too willing to accept any fading trend and passing it off as “iconic.” This if nothing else is model that is not sustainable for the well being of our diverse culture.

As the year begins and many of us have shacked of the festive blues I am sure there is a heightened sense of everything. Primarily the social jargon will be filled with resolutions and plans, from losing weight to saving more money. But all of these seem to converge at one main coordinate. The issue of identity or more specifically redefining ones identity. The New Year for many of us marks a new beginning and a fresh path in making our way towards the creative endeavors we desire.

It is in response to this that we bring you the fifth issue of MindMap-SA, The identity edition. Here we have decided to do something both daring and somewhat indulgent. In this issue we have dedicated the entire magazine towards profiling the ultimate creative persona.
Someone we feel is amongst the few that accurately articulate the social thesis of our post race era. Namely Tumi Molekane better known as the front man for the hip-hop/funk outfit Tumi and the Volume.

Now admittedly it was a hard choice to pick who we would profile in this mega issue. But as the team sat down to discuss the possibilities, although we had different ideas-the overriding principle was to pick someone with a multi dimensional character. And who better than a man who has the titles of musician, entrepreneur, activist, writer and family man under his name.

The MindMap-SA team has worked hard to bring you a 360 degree view of Tumi as a creative, all his work and life. We spoke to him about growing up in Tanzania, why he thinks South Africa is such an uncomfortable society and calling out local rappers in his song Usain Bolt. Resident contributor Khulekani Magubane critiques how Tumi’s poetry stands up when compared to his music. Contributing editor Russel Hlongwane pontificates on The Tao of Tumi being amongst the most fluid albums that Tumi has worked on yet and we also consider the visual aesthetics of three of Mr Molekane’s videos. All this and much more in this groundbreaking issue of your favorite monthly zine.

As always we would love to hear from you about what you like and don’t like about this edition. You can find as on Facebook or on Twitter @mindmapsa. We would love to hear what your plans are for the New Year and how you plan on redefining yourself over the next year and who knows you could be our next ultimate creative persona.

You can also download a full media kit at mindmapsa.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/mindmap-sa-media-kit3.pdf