In this episode, Kopano Maroga takes us on a journey through their cultural work, their inter-disciplinary collaborations, and their embodied practice. This episode reflects on the ancestral body noise process from Dumama & Kechou’s perspective, resulting in poignant conversations contemplating the complexities of the South African socio-cultural, political landscape and the role of the artist. Dumama and Kechou know Kopano from their time in Cape Town, and listeners get a glimpse of the 3 artists’ trajectories which honour imaginative resistance and the political, poetic imagination. Kopano shares insights and experiences concerned with post-humanism, gender, and the potent tools of biomythography and critical fabulation in the development of their dissertation piece, The Jesus Thesis. Kopano has also just released a riveting ontology of poems titled, The Jesus Thesis and Other Critical Fabulations.
“Maroga appropriates and creates a (sometimes literal) collage of religious imagery, sexual want, and embodiedness - eventually widening their gaze to encompass the realities faced by black, queer, femme and trans folk in South Africa and further afield.” - African Books Collective.
Engage with the work here: africanbookscollective.com/books/jesus-thesis-and-other-critical-fabulations
Song referenced in the podcast, South African folklore piece Ntyilo Ntyilo (this version by Miriam Makeba: youtu.be/XlTLtkj_KNU
---
The Ancestral Body Noise project is part of Oyoun's EMBODIED TEMPORALITIES curatorial focus.