Afrika Burn festival: An alien druid on stilts, a cosmic butterfly and mutant …

By
Nick Enoch

PUBLISHED:

14:15 EST, 24 May 2012

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UPDATED:

14:50 EST, 24 May 2012

If you happened to be wandering in the desert and saw an alien on stilts – or a man wearing pink fairy wings, his torso spattered with fluorescent paint and a day-glo Native American Indian headdress – you might think you’d succumbed to the heat.

But not if you were at the Afrika Burn 2012 festival of ‘radical self-expression’ in the Karoo desert in Tweefontein, South Africa recently.

The annual creative event, now in its fifth year, saw 5,000 revellers build, sing, dance, cook or play anything which took their fancy, riffing on this year’s theme of ‘Mirage’.

And the festival-goers here certainly got into the spirit of the occasion, with costumes on display including what can only be described as ‘Boba Fett vikings’ and a giant cosmic butterfly – as well as lots of ‘mutant’ vehicles.

Just one of the low-key revellers at this year’s Afrika Burn festival of ‘radical self-expression’ in the Karoo desert in Tweefontein, South Africa

The festival, now in its fifth year, saw 5,000 revellers build, sing, dance, cook or play anything which took their fancy

Participants were encouraged to embrace this year’s theme of ‘Mirage’, and also create wacky vehicles

‘Boba Fett vikings’ at the festival; right, a fish bike was one of the more surreal forms of transport on display

Each year, a temporary city, Tankwa Town, is formed – from the imagination of participants, naturally – to play host to the fun proceedings, which is a smaller version of the Burning Man festival held in the United States.

And every year has a different theme, with past ones being time, power, tribe, dream and primal mud.

The honours for this year’s theme went to Mariella Rossi.

Her winning proposal read:

Mirage – a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce an illusion of water, people, or objects.
What is there? What is real? And what is pure imagination?
Is this a mirror of ourselves?
A shimmering reflection. Temporary, transient.
We gather on that lively line where the hot earth meets an aloof sky, and this is where we dance, sing, rejoice.
But come quick, for if you wait too long, by the time you get there, we may be gone.

The event’s website explains what participants should expect: ‘There is no audience, everyone’s part of the show! Stand up on a soapbox, start a conga snake, recite poetry, break into song, or perform random acts of ballroom dancing – step into the middle of nowhere and give it your best shot, break a leg, knock ‘em dead!’

A man dressed as a giant cosmic butterfly feels the love in his green latex leggings

One of the mutant vehicles on show, possibly inspired by Mad Max and The Flintstones

The event’s website proclaims: ‘There is no audience, everyone’s part of the show!’ – as these conjoined purple people confirm, and that silver one

Participants were encouraged to make mobile art, or mutant vehicles, which are not allowed to exceed speeds of 6mph

And to add to the creativity, they are also encouraged to make mobile art, or mutant vehicles, which are not allowed to exceed speeds of 6mph – and they must be ‘significantly modified’.

These can be cars, bikes, couches, bars… or even jellyfish, bees, mice, bunnies or zebra, said the free-spirited organisers.

This year’s festival, which ran from April 25-30, saw a host of wacky transport: zebra bicycles, multi-coloured fish motorbikes, dalmatian spot-covered three-wheelers and a silver-armadillo hatchback.

No Afrika Burn would be complete without music and, not surprisingly, anything goes – from ‘soft and dainty’ to ‘loud and large’.

So the next time you find yourself in Karoo, be sure to expect the unexpected.

A huge puppet is taken for a stroll among the fun-seekers… while more purple people soak up the atmosphere

An example of one of the ‘significantly modified’ vehicles – this one inspired by a giant silver-plated armadillo

You might expect camels or cacti in the desert… but not peroxide blonde ladies in short skirts and sunglasses

Purple was a popular colour, with this woman accessorising with faux dalmatian puppies; right, pretty as a picture was the theme of one young creative