While Beyonce has long been a fan of African designers, regularly sporting ankara and pieces from the continent’s top talents, digital artist Dennis Owosu-Ansah has been dressing Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Rihanna and more in traditional wears, digitally.
The Ghanaian uses an iPad, stylus and an app to create the digital portraits, recently putting the late Muhammad Ali in a colourful pair of boxing shorts, 2Pac and Biggy in Dashikis and American basketball star Kobe Bryant in traditional Kente – artwork Mr Owusu-Ansah posted along with the caption;
“CHANGING YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF AFRICA!! DO NOT BELIEVE WHATEVER YOU SEE ON THE MEDIA!!! ROYALTY TO THE BONE!!”
And the ongoing project seems to be all about perspective, with Dennis telling OkayAfrica of his inspiration;
“After witnessing my friend getting teased by a group of men for wearing a kente cloth on our way to church, I figured something must be done to change the perspective of people who are not familiar with the African culture.
They had no idea what my friend was wearing. One of the guys shouted, ‘That man has a blanket wrapped around his body like it’s winter time.’”
While Kimye, Jay Z and Chris Brown may not have a clue that they’re being rendered in traditional African garms, the talent is steadily showing off his artwork to a growing number of followers.
We at SPICE love the movement and can’t wait to see which stars Dennis Owusu-Ansah digitally dresses next – but take a look at his work here and let us know what you think, and if this is an African look you’d like to see Bey, Blue and Jay Z embrace.
Image source: @Denny_ow
