In addition to a collaborative performance as part of the Woman/Humanity Festival, I also undertook two live painting performances at Artscape, to mark the opening of the festival and the opening of the attendant conference. During the same visit I delivered a lecture to 70+ students and others at Cape Town University on the subject of my wider art practice and the case for creative diversity, and followed this with a workshop for the same group with the objective of imparting in a practical setting the particular artistic skills which I deploy in the process of self-expression.
The idea and the visit manifest itself as a continuing process which began with my 2012 Cultural Olympiad International Unlimited Commission in which I created a cross-cultural collaborative exhibition of art, a dance/live art performance and a film in conjunction with the Bambanani Group, a group of HIV positive art activists, in Khayelitsha Township, SA.
The current project Talking Souls was brought into being as a result of British Council’s desire to build upon the legacy of the Olympiad commission, and therefore inviting me to travel back to Cape Town to undertake research and development over a period of ten days in May 2013, to open up a dialogue and establish links with artistic directors and practitioners including Mandla Mbothwe, Artistic Director, Steve Biko Arts Centre, Ginsberg, Cape Town University, Tina Smith, District Six Museum. The Talking Souls project was conceived as a direct result of the consultations which took place during this period.
I visited Cape Town from 30 August 2013 to 12 September 2013 and in terms of the process of drawing the elements of the project together it involved the following:
A) There was a period of pre-visit preparation to develop my own expressive ideas as to context and nature of the performance, and likewise in connection with the University lecture and Artscape live performance.
B) A continued dialogue with my proposed performance director (Mandla…) to develop the nature and context of the performance, its context and narrative structure.
C) The preparation of the fixed art/painting to be part of the art projection/digital backdrop.
D) A period of rehearsal and dialogue at the Magnet Theatre with the company over a period of ten days in the run-up to the performances, which took place on 9 and 10 August.
(The specific purpose of the visit to Cape Town was to achieve an international collaboration between UK and SA.)
I operate my art practice on a number of different levels, most easily explained by stating that I may draw and/or paint for the purposes of mounting an exhibition of my work for public view – a static presentation if you will. In addition, however, I may utilise my artistic skills (drawing/painting/digital art) as part of a live performance of music and dance, in two different ways: firstly by contributing to the ambience or set – either with static or moving imagery – and secondly by being an intrinsic part of the performance itself, painting and drawing as a performer, choreographed and embedded into the narrative and storyline. In the case of Talking Souls my art was utilised in both of the above ways.
I do not set out to teach. I maintain an open mind. Nevertheless, as part of the collaborative process there will always be an extremely constructive exchange of ideas and ‘art forms’. The focus of the Talking Souls performance concerns itself with exploring the rituals that help us to ‘make sense’ of our daily reality – and in this context there has been a very fruitful exchange in terms of the expressive processes which we have all chosen to utilise in exploring the themes surrounding this.
The issue of learning manifests itself from a process of cross-cultural openness and sharing. In terms of expressive art and music and rhythm, the culture of South Africa is, to my eye, perhaps more culturally rooted in the everyday ritual. This can result in the conveyance in performance of expressionistic, immediate, accessible and powerful cultural messages.
Rachel Gadsden was the winner of the National Diversity Awards 2013 Positive Role Model Award for Disability. There were 4,500 nominations for this year's awards.
www.rachelgadsden.com
www.unlimitedglobalalchemy.com
