AWARD-WINNING artist Ibokwe Khoza has just come back from touring Europe, and they are bringing their tour called The Black Circus of the Republic to Mzansi.
The 36-year-old performance artist, who had travelled to Switzerland, Amsterdam and Sweden, told Daily Sun that performing this show told Daily Sun it wasn’t easy because the show was about discrimination of black people by white people.
But now that they are about to perform it at home, they are happy.
“Touring was epic, exhilarating and fun. But also, we were performing in the land of the coloniser and now we’re bringing this work that is about the coloniser. It was weird. However, the work was well received. Honestly, for me, the show is an introspection and it's where I started realising that we’re probably not so different from Africans who were sold to circuses.
“I mean, I look at my life as an artist. I got to a point where I started questioning the festivals I’d be in and the countries I went to. I would always look for who I am with and why they are there. I think about how Africans were sold out in circuses and freak shows because of their bodies. And how the Western world has studied the Black body and still continues today in different ways. So, the Black body has always been something they look down upon. It becomes problematic especially because I realise it still happens even today,” they said.
ALSO READ: Gqeberha: The Empire star’s family woes!
Ibokwe said black people here in Mzansi will get to learn more about where they come from.
“As an artist, I think people shouldn’t expect anything specific from the show. But what I hope to bring is hope. I feel like people have lost that essence of good feeling, the feeling of understanding what it feels like to be in the now. The depression that has taken over us is bad. We have inherited it from the pain and everything that happened in the past. Which means there’s so much to be done for people to heal," they said.
The show will take place on 1 and 2 December in Joburg at the Downstairs Theatre at Wits University, Braamfontein.
“I’m going back to Wits which is where I studied and experienced a lot of problems. So, it’s like a full circle moment,” they said.
