BRICK BY BRICK!

Doing a live-art performance is usually quite a solitary experience, but BRICK BY BRICK was the polar opposite! Taking place moments before the official opening by art writer and academic, Ashraf Jamal, the performance took on a momentum of its own: it was truly a magnificent moment when the energy of the performance was immediately heightened through a collective chanting ... "brick by brick!", "brick by brick!", "brick by brick!", "brick by brick!", "brick by brick!" ...

This moment was preceded by me standing in front of my own pre-captured shadow created by my collaborator Keith Armstrong, and projected from behind a curtain of Fabriano 300gms paper. As I stood in front of 'myself', I became acutely aware of an elongated moment of Silence, a tension waiting to be released by all ...

Moments after removing my weaverbird headdress, the vocal command was initiated or perhaps even undulated, by my co-performer, Busisiwe Ntsele who was reading Pitika Ntuli's poem Decolonizing the Narrative. Demonstrating that all could participate in the deconstruction of colonisation brick-by-brick, the majority of the audience became collaborators to the live-art performance. What a magical moment in history, happening within a solo exhibition and within a satellite National Museum!

I feel as though I am still processing this moment, as it comes back to me in fragments and in the waking moments of my dreams. I am left with the distinct thought that there is much do be done still, opportunities that have to created for the larger, collective voices to come through.

To create collective change; to heal.

In collaboration with Busisiwe Ntsele image credit: MyMalaika_Photography