CRÉATION AFRICA: Meet the magazine that celebrates the unsung heroes behind the creatives

Who says you need to be famous to be in the spotlight? For Renaè Mangena and Anastatia Nkhuna, the answer is pretty simple: you don’t.

Since starting iQHAWE magazine in 2019, the pair have been documenting the people, places and ideas shaping Joburg’s creative scene. Today, iQHAWE is more than a magazine. It operates as a media platform, agency and non-profit organisation (NPO), with a focus on celebrating creatives, bridging the gap between aspiring creatives and the industry, and archiving contemporary culture.

With Création Africa backing its next chapter, iQHAWE Media is getting ready to turn the page on Issue 14. It’s given the company the push it needed to get the issue moving again and make the coffee-table book a more sustainable annual release. Création Africa supports emerging cultural and creative entrepreneurs in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi, providing mentoring and business support.

“Being selected has something less tangible: validation,” Mangena said.

The idea started when she was at university, trying to figure out how to get a foot in the door of the creative industry.

“So I thought about starting a publication and speaking to people who are behind the scenes and creating work. That became a means of entry,” said Mangena .

Documenting behind-the-scenes creatives

“A lot of the time you’ll see the cover star being the actress or the people who are in the spotlight, but not the people who are shining it, and that’s why we found it important to start looking at the people behind the scenes and documenting their process,” she said.

In 2020, Mangena and Nkhuna became co-owners of the publication and set out to put the people creating the work behind what audiences consume at the forefront – the photographers, cinematographers, directors, designers and other creatives. 

But it wasn’t only about who was being featured. It was also about who was being left out.

“You have to have done this, been there, and for us it was very important that your story be told regardless of where you are,” Mangena said.

That focus on emerging creatives has allowed them to watch people grow.

“It’s so beautiful that we get to see them grow. I remember with the DJ duo Nouveux of Soundset Sunday; they were still just DJs when we first featured them. They were starting Soundset at Royale, in an alley. When we returned to their story, they were working with Nike. And that’s the beauty of the archive that we’re building,” Nkhuna said.

Going for print in a digital age

Despite the internet being very much alive and kicking, iQHAWE Media is still betting on print. But don’t expect a flimsy fashion magazine which may end up in a doctor’s waiting room to join the old Drum magazines from the 2000s.

“The magazine is not even a magazine. It’s a coffee-table book,” said Mangena.

The publication moved away from monthly print issues because of the time and resources required to produce them. The plan is now one physical issue a year with digital covers published throughout the year.

Before going straight into mass production, Mangena and Nkhuna tested out the first print issue of the coffee-table version at Decorex in 2024; it sold out. The proof of concept was there.

“We don’t just go into the mass market and then figure things out from there. We try in small bits and then see if there’s an appetite,” Mangena said.

The upcoming Issue 14 will focus on South Africa’s fashion industry, profiling artists and designers who have managed to turn their brands into sustainable businesses. The issue will cover Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, with launches and pop-ups planned across the cities. The pair also hopes to collaborate with one of the featured designers on a capsule range and eventually take the product into a global market.

Getting to Issue 14 has not been easy. For two years, Mangena and Nkhuna pitched for funding before Création Africa came along. They even started a T-shirt fundraiser to help keep the project moving.

“It costs money to put it together and to interview these beautiful creatives,” Nkhuna said.

“There have been times where Anastasia and I had just finished a big campaign and we’re worried about our rent because of the overheads,” Mangena said. “You leave your nine-to-five for work and there’s no such thing – now you’re working 24/7. And literally, that’s us.”

They would like to grow iQHAWE Media and develop their newly launched NPO into an incubator for young women entering the creative industry and create more opportunities for women and black creatives.

“They are big goals, but they’re simple,” Mangena said.

Running a business together has also meant learning from each other – and occasionally driving each other slightly mad.

Nkhuna describes Mangena as a “go-getter” who likes to plan very, very far ahead. “She wants to know what we’re doing next year in October and I’m like, ‘Okay, can we focus on next week and next month?’.”

As Issue 14 prepares to make its big debut, iQHAWE Media is still doing what it set out to do in 2019 – giving creatives an in and making sure somebody remembers what they were doing when they got there. DM

Our writing about Création Africa is made possible by our partnership with the French Institute of South Africa (Ifas). Création Africa is an initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ifas and the Embassy of France in South Africa, Lesotho and Malawi.