Family Ties — a Night celebrating Bahati Creative Talent
An industrial building near Karangahape Road came alive on the evening of 23rd August, with a whole community turning up to support Tāmaki Makaurau-based creative siblings, Synthia, Frandson and Sonielle Bahati. The family trio of Burundian heritage took over the 2 Abbey Street location with an exhibition titled ‘Somebody in a Nobody Town’, showcasing their impressive range of work across multiple mediums and platforms, including painting, printing, photography, fashion and film.
The trifecta of stars aligning with the event gave rise to a tangible sense of energy brought by the crowd—Friday 23rd happened to mark the last day of the university semester calendar and coincided with iconic K’ Road party night, Filth. With guests arriving dressed to go the distance and drinks flowing courtesy of Dicey wines, Pals and Red Bull, there was no possibility of vibes falling short, especially with DJs Managaliso, CallMeAK and Warren Duncan serving up iconic playlists from the room’s central DJ table, adorned with Nineteen99-printed fabric.
A pop-up cinema created at the back of the building showcased a short film also titled Somebody in a Nobody Town, made by Frandson and collaborators; and the walls of the main area featured striking oil portraits by Sonielle accompanying photographic portraits by recent Masters of Fine Arts graduate, Synthia, with some further one-off prints created by Frandson.
Attracting more than 150 friends and supporters from the creative community, the crowd went wild over racks of sell-out Nineteen99 merchandise including ‘Somebody in a Nobody Town’ T-shirts made especially for the event. Such was the hype, the Bahatis found themselves selling exhibition props that weren’t initially intended for sale. Sonielle explains, “Frandson had a last-minute idea to print the exhibition logo on our dressing mirror, so that people could post selfies from the event. But a VIP wanted to buy it so we ended up selling that too. Literally everything was flying out the door.”
When asked about what the future holds, Sonielle goes on to explain that she’s hoping to secure a solo exhibition of her portrait paintings, and create an online point of sale. After graduating from Elam with her Masters of Fine Arts this year, eldest sibling Synthia is looking to publish a coffee-table book for her photographs, and Frandson says he intends to continue growing his clothing label Nineteen99, which has attracted a large following on Tiktok. When asked about the meaning behind his designs, Frandson adds “I guess I want to inspire people to reimagine black people in a thought-out, positive, futuristic way”.
Nineteen99 pieces are available for purchase here
Words by Sammy Saxton-Beer
Images by @felixrjack & @fatherkilter
