performance rituals
When I spend time in landscapes I like to do small ephemeral interventions to help me connect to the place, to offer some reciprocity to the land and to create a space for healing to take place. Below are some examples of performance rituals done in various places that I have come to love. It is my hope that these intentional acts have brought awareness to each place.
dart (2018)
Dart is a collaboration between Margaret Le Jeune (USA) and I, created at the UK leg of the Global Nomadic Art Project in 2018. The aim of the residency was to relate to the River Dart and to create ephemeral art. I packed away my paints and challenged myself to relate directly with the river as a painter. The black water of the river and its white foam gave me the perfect combination of elements to 'paint' with. Read more about this performance in my blog.
TITLE
Still from Dart
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2018
Series
Raaswater
REËNdans (2021)
In the performance film, Reëndans, I scratch the black stony surface of the desert to reveal the yellow ochre dust beneath the stones. This calling-of-rain ritual is accompanied by a soundtrack of my mother's voice, Helena Conradie, reading the poem 'Die Dans van die Reën' by Eugene Marais on the film. Read more about this performance in my blog.
TITLE
Still from Reëndans
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2021
Series
Spoorloos
SPOORLOOS (2021)
The word ‘Tankwa’ is assumed to have Khoisan origins and is believed to mean ‘Place of Thirst’ and ‘Place of the San’. Here in this desolate arid emptiness I walked barefoot, and as lightly as possible, as to avoid disturbing the rocks of this ancient and silent place, the Tankwa.
The text for this film has its beginnings in 2012 when I found a December 1938 copy of Die Taalgenoot in an old wagon chest that used to belong to my Grandmother. At the time I was tracking how the culture and history of my ancestors (and Western culture) shaped the values and behaviour toward the natural world. It pained me to read Dirk Mostert’s essay titled Stemme van Suid-Afrika [Voices of South Africa], as I recognised how many voices in South Africa (both human and other-than-human) were in fact not listened to.
Here in this desolate arid emptiness remnants of Stemme van Suid-Afrika came back to me: only short words and part sentences. In this vastness the text rearranged and transformed itself in my mind into a new meaning; into something which better represents who I have become, what I believe and my stance toward this place we call South Africa.
TITLE
Still from Spoorloos
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2021
Series
Spoorloos
performance rituals
When I spend time in landscapes I like to do small ephemeral interventions to help me connect to the place, to offer some reciprocity to the land and to create a space for healing to take place. Below are some examples of performance rituals done in various places that I have come to love. It is my hope that these intentional acts have brought awareness to each place.
dart (2018)
Dart is a collaboration between Margaret Le Jeune (USA) and I, created at the UK leg of the Global Nomadic Art Project in 2018. The aim of the residency was to relate to the River Dart and to create ephemeral art. I packed away my paints and challenged myself to relate directly with the river as a painter. The black water of the river and its white foam gave me the perfect combination of elements to 'paint' with. Read more about this performance in my blog.
TITLE
Still from Dart
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2018
Series
Raaswater
REËNdans (2021)
In the performance film, Reëndans, I scratch the black stony surface of the desert to reveal the yellow ochre dust beneath the stones. This calling-of-rain ritual is accompanied by a soundtrack of my mother's voice, Helena Conradie, reading the poem 'Die Dans van die Reën' by Eugene Marais on the film. Read more about this performance in my blog.
TITLE
Still from Reëndans
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2021
Series
Spoorloos
SPOORLOOS (2021)
The word ‘Tankwa’ is assumed to have Khoisan origins and is believed to mean ‘Place of Thirst’ and ‘Place of the San’. Here in this desolate arid emptiness I walked barefoot, and as lightly as possible, as to avoid disturbing the rocks of this ancient and silent place, the Tankwa.
The text for this film has its beginnings in 2012 when I found a December 1938 copy of Die Taalgenoot in an old wagon chest that used to belong to my Grandmother. At the time I was tracking how the culture and history of my ancestors (and Western culture) shaped the values and behaviour toward the natural world. It pained me to read Dirk Mostert’s essay titled Stemme van Suid-Afrika [Voices of South Africa], as I recognised how many voices in South Africa (both human and other-than-human) were in fact not listened to.
Here in this desolate arid emptiness remnants of Stemme van Suid-Afrika came back to me: only short words and part sentences. In this vastness the text rearranged and transformed itself in my mind into a new meaning; into something which better represents who I have become, what I believe and my stance toward this place we call South Africa.
TITLE
Still from Spoorloos
Medium
Performance Film
Size
Year
2021
Series
Spoorloos