Sonya Rademeyer
Creative research lab
2022
South Africa
Weeping the World : this performance piece is divided into 2 parts and in direct response to the soundscape created by composer / sound artist, Franco Prinsloo. The third collaborator to the live experimental performance is poet Masai Sepuru.
Part I: I attempt to ‘capture’ the moving roots. This action speaks to notions of impossibility, of wanting to change an action, but which remains impossible to perform.
Part II: I open the tap attached to my performance outfit. The leaves of the Aloe plant serve as the conduits for the water to flow from my body, out and onto the floor surface. The action of ebb and flow is controlled by the way I comfort myself, so to speak.
The performative action of holding-the-self and releasing the pain (for the world) is what lies at the heart of the entire performance piece. I am, by way of the work, ‘weeping for the world’ through embodied tears … through water …
Short info here
photo credit: Boitumelo Choene / MyMalaika_Photography
Bodhi Khaya Artist Residency
2021
South Africa
My response to the land of Bodhi Khaya was to betroth it. Early on during this inter-disciplinary residency I buried my wedding dress into the earth in an abandoned quarry site, situated high up on the mountain. The colours of the quarry hold magnificent ochres that range from a deep pink/purple to a limestone green. As I explored the terrain through regular walks I started collecting a variety of fynbos from the Overberg veld. Through a heat-transferring process I was able to print a vast number and variety of leaf material onto fabric. The first performance entailed walking down the mountain. During the second performance, I invited audience members to pin these fabric leaves onto my wedding dress and in so doing, becoming co-collaborators.
Media post here
Short info here
photo credit: Bronwen Trupp / MyMalaika_Photograhy
Vrystaat Arts Festival
2019
South Africa
Miss/Seen: an experimental collaborative performance between myself, poet Nosipho Mtabani and singer/songwriter Kagiso Kekana. Investigating notions around how spirituality can cross cultural divides within a multi-cultural society, the performance takes place within an installation of 2800 silver strings. Within the strings, interventions such as African healing practices, singing and movement take place in search of cultural inter-connectedness.
The project is generously funded by the Andrew MellonFoundation.
Blogpost here
Short info here
photo credit: iFair Photography / Thuso Moilwe / Julia Drouhin
Stroud Green Festival London
2019
UK
I was invited to collaborate with soprano / Baroque singer, Chloe Lam, in a live performance together with a viola da gamba player and a harpsichord player. During the performance, the compositions of French musician and composer, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, were interpreted.
The live drawing performance took place in St Saviors Church, Finsbury Park, London, with the live-drawings - in multiple colours - were projected onto screens for audience viewing within the space,
The Japanese drawing pens were attached to my performance dress, hanging from the waist down with black elastic thread.
Tankwa Artscape Residency
2019
South Africa
2019 was the second Tankwa Artscape Residency I was selected for. Held in the Tankwa Karoo area of South Africa, this semi-desert region is geologically arid and desolate. Artworks are generally ephemeral and sensitive to the unspoilt created within the natural environment.
I regard Tankwa Artscape 2019 as a pivotal turning point in my artistic practice as the experience allowed me to start unearthing my own ancestral contributions to Imperialism, Colonialism and Apartheid.
Blogpost here
Short info here
Photo credits: Bronwyn Trupp / Niki Vanos / Tegan Fayne
memory & mapping
2019
South Africa
Performed at Freespace Zeitz Mocca Museum, as part of Darkroom Contemporary, this collaborative live performance explores mapping and the body through movement, drawing and sound. Live-fed music by Gustavo Fasani (Argentina) and live reactions by contemporary dancer Doke Pauwels (Netherlands).
Having created an installation with Copic-markers that hung throughout from underneath the overhead container space, I was able to draw and intersect my live drawing performance from any angle I felt moved to. This allowed for great range movement as evidenced in the large-scaled drawing.
Short info here
photo credit: Jodi Windvogel
admin
2019
South Africa
A collaborative live performance working within the conceptual framework of 'admin' and restriction. Set in the studio space of Darkroom Contemporary, the performative gestures were in response to experimental music by Gustavo Fasani (Argentina).
Having bound my arms in obvious constraint, my drawing gestures were restricted. An additional soundscape was created through the pencil sharpener (used quite regularly) which was fed back acoustically to Gustavo Fasani.
Drawings were discarded onto the floor surface.
photo credit: MyMalaika_Photography
UNFINISHED vol7
2019
South Africa
Darkroom Contemporary often works around multi-disciplinary arts collaborations.Working within the framework of a found audio clip of the forced removal of Mexican children at the USA/Mexican border due to Trump policy, the collaboration between dancer Yoke Pauwels (Netherlands), experimental musician Gustavo Fasani (Argentina) and myself explored concepts around empathy. Yoke Pauwels performed on - and with - my large-scaled drawing on canvas, eventually enveloping her body with it.
Blogpost here
Short info here
photo credit: Oscar Ryan / MyMalaika_Photography
Aardklop National Art Festival
2019
South Africa
Aardklop National Arts Festival is hosted annually in Potchefstroom (South Africa). At the opening of my exhibitions 'All we need is a Conductor' and 'The In-between', I did a live performance titled 'Shouting from the boulders'. This title references the "Untitled' poem around gender violence, by acclaimed South African poet, Antjie Krog. The performance was in direct response to the rape and murder of UCT student, Uyinene Mrwetyana on August 24, 2019. During the performance, large clay-clotted roots were attached to the performance dress, requiring these multiple roots to be lifted whilst walking . It also included a live-drawing performance with the smashing of one of the severed roots and shouting out "Nene!!!".
Images were taken by MyMalaika Photography.
For more images of the performance visit studio180
Blogpost here
photo credit:MyMalaika_Photography
I am because you are
2018
Portugal
A collaboration with Baroque singer Chloe Lam (Hong Kong) exploring empathy & environment through sound and movement. The premiere took place at the opening of the OLOS exhibition in Góis (Portugal). Wearing an elongated paper skirt made out of sonic sketches of Chloe's voice, the fragility of the current global environmental crisis is augmented through both the vulnerability of the performing artist (Sonya Rademeyer) and the haunting voice of the lamenting singer (Chloe Lam) singing 'Ubuntu'.
The video piece "I am because you are" was nominated for an Ovation award at the National Arts Festival (2020).
Blogpost here
Short info here
photo credit: Beatriz M Barrio
exposure #4
2018
South Africa
A collaboration with dancer Kimberly Burger (South Africa) and experimental musician MartinoMusic in real-time. Performed at Youngblood Gallery (Cape Town) the conceptual relationship between 'friend and foe' is explored in response to a call from Doctors Without Borders.
Inspired by Rebecca Horn's work around bodily extensions and performance-based work, I created long paint brushes which I used to interact with Burger's body throughout the contemporary choreography. The depicted image displays the paint from Burger's body on the canvas which was used to perform on.
Otherlands,Othersounds Residency
2018
Portugal
An interdisciplinary experimental residency with visual artists & musicians. Held in Góis (Portugal) the residency expanded possibilities around experimental and embodied collaborations.
I regards OLOS Residency as a pivotal point in my art practise as the holding space for initiating my performative public drawing practice. The use of silver, with its associations to the spiritual, also surfaced during this remarkable residency.
Blogpost here
OPENlab
2018
South Africa
An intensive residency platform that is aimed at generating new strategies and ideas in site specific, experimental and interdisciplinary practice.
Participating in this residency truly challenged me, not only as an artist but also as a human being. Being highly confrontational and evocative, OPENlab blew me right open. I imploded and exploded from the inside. I was introduced to performance as a powerful medium, and since OPENLab have included performance into my artistic practice.
more info on the bi-annual event here
hosted at MAP Projects
performance here
Blogpost here