Activism is made to resist, to build and to share awareness and knowledge. Activism is made to implement changes in the collectives and in the society. Take a look at Steve Biko or Winnie and Nelson Mandela, take a look at Fela Kuti, take a look at Martin Luther King or Muhammad Ali, take a look at Franz Fanon or Sarojini Naidu (the only lady standing ahead the Salt March with Gandhi in 1930).
This article is a commentary on the Ridder Thirst LP, a double 12” vinyl record produced by artist and writer, Abri de Swardt. A remarkable project.
The record includes commissioned tracks by artists, student activists, curators, academics, musicians and writers in response to the state of tertiary education at Stellenbosch University amidst the rise of student protests taking place at the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Each of the four sides of the record presents two tracks in dialogue, pairing divergent formats such as judiciary documents, punk music, the lecture, the fable, spoken word poetry and paralinguistic expressions, to foreground listening as political act.
I would say my practice is centered around me trying to understand myself, the world I’m living in, where I’ve come from and how my identity is affected by all the places that I navigate and move through.
In Nirit’s oeuvre, identity and existence are two complex issues, both of which define the being of the Ethiopian-Jews. On the one hand, they are bound to Israel through their religion, and on the other hand affiliated to Ethiopia through their appearance.
Enos Nyamor on the Ethiopian-Israeli artist Nirit Takele
It all started with a show by Austrian artists at the Alliance Française in Nairobi in March 2006. Drawing from their different perspectives, the artists from Vienna (Barbara Husar, Michael Lampert, Alexander Nikolić and Lukas Pusch), and Sam Hopkins, based in Nairobi met with the residents of Mathare, a slum of 500,000 people in Nairobi. In meeting with the residents, the need for an authentic story highlighting the lives and times of the residents was mooted and slowly developed. After numerous interviews, of the different stories from the different artists’ perspectives, a documentary fusing the different stories was developed. It was, in essence, the very first general test for what would be slum tv and therefore sought to very authentically speak to the real-life stories of the residents of Mathare slums. In the words of SLUM TV co-founders, the vision and values continue to drive our narrative because after all – from it did we arise!!