South Africa >> Zimbabwe

South African interdisciplinary dancer Wezile Mgibe will spend four weeks in Zimbabwe from 27 February to 27 March 2020 working with Fedzai Veronica Muchemwa, curator for education at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, developing research towards a new collaborative work. The research will interrogate the dynamics of site, place and culture using art as a tool for social change to explore ways of creating more welcoming art spaces.

The Politics of Displacement continues Wezile’s ongoing series of work which seeks to reveal and explore prejudice and concepts behind unwelcoming spaces and the dynamics of reintegration in Southern Africa.

Wezile met and connected with Fedzai during a residency at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in 2019. While in Zimbabwe he will also engage with other local artists, traditional and cultural groups and non-artists around the politics of space.

Wezile explains: “The research will enable me to gather material around particular topics, which lead to the creation of a space where information is exchanged and a dialogue is opened on how we deal with the issues we have identified as shaping our spaces. My performance methodology will be adopted through the study of features and reactions, discussions, and observing body language, which reflects the consequences of prejudice and unwelcoming spaces. I will make use of these movement and gestures during the creation phase and I will host a development workshop where improvisation techniques are applied. I will use contact work, floor work, contemporary technique and Afro fusion during the implementation stage.”