Wezile Mgibe

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Wezile Mgibe’s interdisciplinary practice encompasses performance, visuals and installation as a tool for social change, and exercises a strong movement improvisation technique in doing so. Mgibe has training in contemporary dance, Jazz and Afro fusion, and he possess a musical theatre background. Mgibe is currently in residence at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, as one of the three recipients of the prestigious David Koloane Award, and presents Collecting bodies, as part of the award. “Baxelele Mabahambe” was an instruction coming from Thozama’s Mother after she found out her Lesbian daughter was killed by one of the community members when the public visited her in KwaNoBuhle. In Collecting Bodies we enter into healing rituals that evoke the returning of souls – those who were abducted and assaulted as a result of sexual preferences and personal choices – to their rightful homes. The performance forms part of a series of ongoing works around post-apartheid trauma called In These Streets.