nora chipaumaire | tyrone isaac stuart

NHAKA - ART MAKING, THE ANIMIST BODY AND RADICAL BLACK AFRICAN PRESENCES

‘Nhaka’ (‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’ in the Shona language) is an animist decolonial practice and theory that nora chipaumire has been cultivating for more than a decade. The work and philosophy owe its genealogy to Shona culture and Shona spiritual practices. nora has been decoding, recoding and coding strategies on how to discipline and build the physical body, in hopes of developing an organism that can reflect and produce gestures that expand our understanding of the human and the relationship of the human organism with the natural and spiritual world.

By referring to Nhaka and applying it, participants will be introduced to physical practice, sound, gesture, space, spirit-text, language — but largely, exploring the question why it matters to make art in spite of it all: race, history, empire. In this workshop, participants will be part of a creative and critical ‘thinking lab’, designed to investigate the nature of black bodies and challenge the legacies of colonialism that inequitably distribute the right to life. Working together, how can an exchange of knowledge that exceeds the colonial values of our grandparents be provoked?

In addition to thinking about race and colonial history, this workshop will ask fundamental questions about art and its purpose. What is art? Why do we make art? Participants can expect to explore such questions in a vibrant exchange that engages with their individual ideas, intellectual experiences and their artistic projects.

The lab will be held in English | For professional dance practitioners | Ticket + course cover both days

nora chipaumaire

was born in 1965 in what was then Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). She is a product of colonial education for black Africans – known as ‘Group B Schooling’ – and is committed to acquiring and sharing knowledge outside the prescribed parameters

tyrone isaac stuart

tyroneisaacstuart is a London-born and based multidisciplinary artist whose works oscillate between dance, music, and visual art. He’s been working with nora chipaumire since 2018.