(CFAD student Anishka Bisseru in her fantastical evening gown made from plastic off-cuts with flower detail)Durban’s most innovative art school, CFAD (Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design) will host their Annual Graduation Dinner, Fashion Extravaganza and TLTL Awards Ceremony at the DLI Hall in Greyville on August 10 from 17h30.
The coveted event – which has been running for more than a decade - sees three significant events rolled into one exciting evening: their annual graduation dinner which acknowledges the Centre’s graduates: a fun fashion extravaganza created by and hosted by CFAD students, and the TLTL Awards Ceremony.
A sit-down banquet in the atmospheric DLI Hall provides the backdrop for the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design’s most important annual event.
A highlight of the evening is the tertiary institution’s acknowledgment of unsung heroes instrumental in weaving the complex fabric of our community. “The TLTL - Too Little Too Late - Awards are given annually to individuals who contribute unselfishly to the community without the recognition they deserve. It is through their work people were able to break the silence,” said CFAD founder Nanda Soobben.
Awardees this year are tireless environmental activists Liz Palmer and Desmond D’Sa and ballad singer Sonny Pillay.
Although technically retired, Liz Palmer is more active than most working people! She is active in 350.org climate change movement; Amnesty International; Waste Minimisation Forum; Diakonia Council of Churches; Board member SAFCEI (Southern Africa Faith Communities Environment Institute); and Society of Friends / Quakers.
Desmond D’Sa is an environmental and human rights activist, and a proactive resident of Wentworth. For more than 15 years he has been a watchdog snapping at the heels of errant companies, particularly major oil refineries, who have polluted their way through decades of industrial expansion in south Durban.
During the 1950s, Shunna “Sonny” Pillay was one of the foremost singers across South Africa. Widely considered the nation’s equivalent to Frank Sinatra, Pillay headlined the popular Alf Herbert’s African Jazz and Variety shows that performed across southern Africa and featured the likes of Dolly Rathebe, Dorothy Masuku, Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba (whom Pillay married in the late 1950s).
The formality of the institution’s graduation and awards ceremony is a counterpoint to the fun, fantastical and frivolous organic fashions created by undergrad design students that address the challenges of waste with a focus on recycling. This year the designers are all working to the theme of Mayan Party – celebrating the possible end of the world.
“Started in 2000, this fashion design project is an opportunity to stretch the creativity of the graphic design students and to explore a unique solution to the age-old problem of pollution,” says CFAD staffer Tamlyn Martin.
The Centre for Fine Art, Animation and Design (CFAD) is a tertiary institution that offers training in fine art, animation (2D and 3D) and graphic design. The CFAD was established in 1994 by world-renowned cartoonist, illustrator and journalist Nanda Soobben.
For more info about CFAD, or book a space at the Graduation Dinner, contact Sasha on 031 240 8402.
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