Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival is the former OFWGKTA Carnival or Odd Future Carnival founded in 2012 by Tyler The Creator
Article & video by Doris + Photos by Laurent Depaepe
Los Angeles, weekend of the 10th and 11th of November the Odd Future gang, lead by Tyler the Creator, immerses us in a Willy Wonka colourful fest, mixing music performances with infamous swirling merry-go-rounds. Taking place during the wild fires, acid printed bandanas and clinical face masks are protecting most of the faces. Tinting the carnival with a splash of Mad Max vibe, a fiery sunset is swimming in the midst of a smoky sky.
For the seventh edition of the festival, this time the clan sets the picture on a bigger scale: the Dodger’s stadium in DTLA. Sold out since a couple months ago, thousands of fans make their way through the barriers and security portals, then strut joyfully to the human scale of what you could call a kid’s paradise. Neon Rainbow roller coasters, crazy free-falling rides and psychedelic swings tumble the kid’s brains ready for another ride or heat them up for a true pogo fight during the performance acts.
There are also the photo ops, stylized as if going to shoot a cover for NYLON magazine, the festival-goers have raised their game for the Carnival: solid vibrant colours, mixed with a plethora of vintage branding, customized with wacky geometrical shaped shades and worn with self-personalized messages – style is everything here. More than a music festival, Campfloggnaw proposes a new life style, world and way of being. Limits are pushed in order to come back to your childhood fantasies and dreams, where everything is possible. Cursing, fighting and laughter brings us back to what Syd the Kid from the Internet explains to us: “people give too much meaning to words.” Here a playground for total freedom is proposed, breaching the parental authority by stripping off all conventional stereotypes and behavior of everyday life – youth, fun and pure imagination are the foundations of the Carnival.
On the line-up we can count many of the Odd Future tribe rythming the performances during the day between the FLOG and CAMP stage. At night we have Kali Uchis, Lauren Hill and Jorja Smith bringing some girly pinky vibe balancing the boisterous sounds of A$AP Rocky and the Odd Future kids during the day. The crowd is entranced, the spirits are high and the rhythms are flowing, leading us to a 360 degree vision through a Polaroid vintage lens for 48 hours.