Afropunk Festival Brought Primary Colour Joy to a Grey London

If you happened to be around Surrey Quays in London over the weekend, and wondered why there was a sudden uptick in people looking photoshoot-ready walking near an otherwise-nondescript Odeon cinema, there was no need to be alarmed. Afropunk festival had arrived, taking venue Printworks and welcoming punters draped in everything from camo to kente cloth to primary colourblocking. Last year we said the festival made Fashion Week look like trash. This year, during it’s second annual run, the standard for looks was just as high.

We sent photographer Angela Dennis down to document the weekend’s festivities, which saw her winding through the post-industrial warehouse space to catch people watching Little Simz, Nao, Danny Brown, JME, Nadia Rose, The Internet and many more. As well as live acts and DJs, this year Afropunk hosted an incredible three-room installation put on by DJ collective BBZ London, in a link-up with i-D. Their collaborative My Yard project recreated three bedrooms that will have looked familiar to anyone who went through their woke, alt and road stages of teendom. Walking into them felt like stepping back in time, with so many details pulled out, from the perfumes everyone used to wear in the early 00s sat on a dresser in the “road” room, to incense burning near neo-soul posters in the “woke” one. Check out the rest of Angela’s photos below.

You can find Angela on Instagram.