#27: Lesego 'Folla.dora'
This week we are joined by emerging art director and YouTuber, Lesego 'Folla.dora', who tells us more about Dada Khanyisa's art, Asian & Mexican food, Clean (2018) by Juno Dawson, and more!
Lesego 'Folla.dora' is a Pretoria-based creative turning 20 this year, experimenting with YouTube, art direction & getting into making zines. The question of what they do is always a tricky one for them to give a short answer to as they’re within their experimental phase right now, which includes trying a lot of things such as photography, art, creative direction and photo & video editing using Adobe software. They also make jewellery (@indiekidaccessories on IG) but their main focus right now is growing as a creative in the most honest & organic way possible, which explains why their YouTube intro is: “I’m still in my experimental phase so subscribe to watch me grow in real time!”
We welcome them to The FRM Newsletter to share what they’ve been into recently.
👢🧵 FASHION
I love love love local and underground brands so my heart really goes to VigourMMXIX, Public Domain & KayxKnight. I’m really loving the knitwear trend and I think Katts Knits and Lov3 Land are killing it with those. I also really love the Broke Wear aesthetic. Shoe-wise I’m most definitely a Converse girl, but I’m really into New Balance lately. And an outfit cannot be complete without some fire accessories, which for me are usually my yellow tinted sunglasses and jewellery from Indie Kid Accessories or some crystal and evil eye neck pieces.
🎨🇿🇦 ART
Like I said, I love local above all & my favourite artists right now are Mbako Moemise, Bombisa, Dada Khanyisa (!!!), Thuli Sekati and Z.araiya. I recently found an artist named David Hollowell and I’ve really fallen in love with a mural he’s working on called ‘The Garden of Unearthly Delights’. Stephen Gibb is also a new favourite of mine. I just love art with a lot of saturated colours. To categorise photography as a form of art, I have to give credit to Wenzile Dube from Botswana. Their style mostly focuses on topics of intimacy & queerness. And then of course with music as an art form, I’ve really been into Archi and Club Valley, who are also local.
🎬🍿 FILM
I’m not too much of a film person, I’m more into series & books lately buttt I do have some cinematic favorites. Some of my top favorites include Shawshank Redemption & Dead Poets Society, which were actually introduced to me in high school. ‘Let It Shine’, which was on Disney Channel is most definitely a favorite, easily the best film to come out of Disney with the best Disney music too, that’s undebatable. All the ‘SPUD’ films are very nostalgic to me, I’ve watched them all too many times to count but they never get old. Anything starring Leonardo DiCaprio is usually really good so; ‘Wolf of Wall Street’, ‘Don’t Look Up’ & ‘The Great Gatsby’ are some favourites. I really enjoyed 5 Feet Apart too, but that had me cryingggg my eyes out so I have yet to give it a second watch lol, same with ‘Me Before You’. The funniest movie I’ve ever watched, that I can repeat a million times & never get bored is ‘Grown Ups’. It has the best amalgamation of comedic actors all in one, embodying their role so seamlessly & clearly having fun with it too.
📚💡 BOOKS
Choosing a top 10 here is hard because I’ve read so many omg! But to get all the John Green books out of the way, ‘Paper Towns’, ‘Looking for Alaska’ & ‘Turtles All The Way Down’ are classics. I also really enjoyed 'The Hate U Give’ by Angie Thomas. I’m forever grateful that I found ‘Beware of God’ by Shalom Auslander at the time that I did, it’s a book of short stories that challenge God’s intentions. I also really loved ‘Secrets’ by Freya North (this one is a bit more 18+ lol). Elisabeth Kübler-Ross released a book of essays called ‘On Life After Death’ which really helped me get over my fear of dying. I read an Afrikaans book in high school called ‘Asem’, which I surprisingly really liked. Above all though, my all time favorite book is ‘Clean’ by Juno Dawson.
🍱🇲🇽 FOOD
I’m really a little kid in the sense that I always order a burger and chips at a restaurant (you can never go wrong). But when I decide to be a little more grown I really enjoy Asian and Mexican food. Salsa is my favourite restaurant to eat at whether I’m having a chimichanga or a quesadilla. Recently I discovered Saigon Suzy though and they have this delicious beef and rice dish, wish I could remember the name though :/. I’m also a huge sucker for boba tea and boba coolers. I’m a slut for a coffee chiller and donut combo from Krispy Kreme in the morning when I get off the train. I also really loooove omg I love chicken chow mein, I love deep fried sushi and I love beef dumplings.
🧳🥂 TRAVEL & LIFESTYLE
I highly recommend you romanticise the fuuuuuck out of your life! Instead of talking about doing wholesome shit in the group chat, actually go out and do wholesome shit. Plan a trip to Cape Town or Sun City, or even Golf Reef City. Actually go gallery hopping. Get wine and paint and do the sip n paint. Have a picnic at the park. Bring your board games to someone’s place and have a games night. Go camping or restaurant hopping or to a sports game. Actually do the things you talk about.