Her IG feed is filled with mostly rich monochromatic images. Rich in black, grey and white. Rich in Art. Rich in Melanin. Rich in Culture. Let’s talk about The Art of Cool that is Masi Mbewe.
Who is Sunset Punk?
SunsetPunk kinda just happened. I was in my dorm room when I was 19 and those two words popped up in my head and I ran with it! I guess at the time I was still trying to find my way, I’d just moved to Namibia from Botswana and I was in many ways finding myself. Maybe SunsetPunk is my spirit animal? Or maybe I’m just SunsetPunk. Hard to explain. I don’t think there’s a line between Masi and SunsetPunk.
I’m 24, will be 25 in January. I’m a copywriter/student/photographer/afrofuturist writer, I want to add model to the list but models get paid and I don’t! Also I make YouTube videos, not as often as I should but I love that part of me. I find it such a great outlet, I can just turn a camera on and speak about anything, that makes me really proud.
I was born in Zambia, grew up in Botswana and now I’m just kicking it in Windhoek.
What are you passionate about?
I’m really passionate about afrofuturism, which is basically the introduction of black aesthetics into sci-fi and fantasy. It is this whole really insanely cool and complex thing. I’m all about that. I’m also really passionate about feminism; I could talk about that all day. Besides that, art, fashion…fashion is an obsession of mine, film and music and of course writing about all these things. That makes me happy.
Talk to us about your style? Your hair?
My style is all about expression. It’s deeply rooted in androgyny but the older I get the more I explore femininity which is cool because I only started wearing lipstick recently and I bought my first skirt this year! Sometimes it is all about colour but most of the time I’m all about black from head to toe. Platform shoes, converse…that’s my religion. I have my really sloppy days but I try to make everyday a fashion moment. I like dressing like a groupie though, band t-shirts, skinny jeans, knock off Ray-Bans, I want to look like I can play the drums (but I can’t).
Most of my fashion icons are my friends actually, I like to ‘borrow’ stuff but up there obviously Rihanna, Amy Winehouse, Solange, I’m forgetting loads of people but sometimes I scroll through Tumblr and LookBook for inspiration.
My hair. Well, I cut my hair when I was 18, had relaxed hair and that turned into this really kinky afro. I used to get weird looks because it was before natural hair was the ‘in’ thing. After a while I started twisting my hair. I had little baby locks when I got on the bus to Namibia when I was 19. I looked like a 14 year old boy (which I’m totally fine with) but you know I was a girl so I hated being asked if I was a boy or a girl, it was frustrating. I got dreads because for some reason I was really tired of the relaxing and I knew that weaves just weren’t my thing so the natural route was my only option. At first it wasn’t about any politics but I am definitely pro-natural now. I get asked a lot of questions, have Rastafarian men hit on me and some really odd requests but all in all I appreciate my hair, I really do. I like to say as my hair grows so do I, emotionally. I don’t have a set routine, I’m really lazy so I have it twisted every two months. I use moisturising hair spray every morning and I’m good to go.
Talk to us about your Instagram images? Inspiration? Who photographs you?
Instagram…Instagram. I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram! There is definitely a lot of dream selling on there that’s why I use it as a digital portfolio for my photography rather than a ‘look what I’m doing’ platform. I want to build a certain aesthetic. I love black and white photography but every now and then I throw in a little colour just to throw things off. I definitely want my photography to grow and get better; I want more photographs of other people and things beside myself. I always beat myself up about not going into the city and just taking photographs of things I find interesting, I need to just do that. A lot of the photographs of me are taken by one of my best friends Elago Akwaake. He’s definitely been there from the beginning! If anyone knows my fashion evolution it’s him! Having him as someone whose mad photography skills I can abuse and learn from has been nothing short of a blessing.
Follow Masi:
Instagram: SunsetPunk
Twitter: @SunsetPunk
