CULTURE: BADILISHA POETRY EXCHANGE

Background and Context to Badilisha and the Africa Centre

For a range of historical, political and economic reasons, many of the important collections and productions of African art today are located or performed outside of Africa. As a result, Africans living on the continent have limited access to their own artistic heritage and the work of contemporary practitioners. Based in South Africa, the Africa Centre was conceived as both a physical entity and an ongoing philosophical journey that aims to redress these imbalances.

The poetic voices from Africa and its Diaspora are no exception to this reality. New voices in Pan-African poetry have historically gained their global exposure and documentation through foreign publications and academic research. These
narrow channels have limited the plethora of African writers, poets, and academics from being read and heard throughout the world.

The lack of publications and recordings has meant that most young African poets and writers are primarily influenced by the work of literary icons from the Global North through what they have been taught in school, read about, seen and heard. Their knowledge of African authors and poets is limited, preventing the inspiration and influence vital to their growth, development, self-confidence and sense of place.

The issues are not confined however to simply the lack of access and outlets. Equally important are what Pan-African’s have to say. The contribution Pan-African poets and writers have made to social transformation throughout history is immeasurable. The poetic medium provides an extraordinary tool to define, expose and fundamentally shape our perceptions of the worlds we occupy. Bringing these Pan-African voices beyond their localities can make a vital contribution to both Africa and the rest of the world.

The Radio and Event Platforms

The Badilisha Poetry X-Change project plays out its vision through Badilisha Radio. The project has been created to encourage and present:

Platforms for the exposure and growth of unheard voices;
Opportunities for established and aspirant poets to engage with each other and their work for mutual benefit through networking and skills transfer;
Diverse genres of poetic expression including performance and multi-media;
Access to wider market places utilising these media; and
Spaces for discussion and debate, as a means to explore and mature the poetic form as a tool for social activism.

Badilisha Poetry X-Change continues to grow in its fulfilment of these objectives and is proud to be a unique international poetry project based and produced on the African continent.

The main information sections on this site has been translated from English into French/Portuguese. Some sections of the website are being constantly uploaded, and therefore the information on the poets, the introduction to the poems remain in English, and the poems themselves remain in their original language. The podcasts are introduced in English.

Ingrid Masondo

Curator

ingridm@africacentre.net

Masondo was born and (mostly bred) in Soweto, and has worked in the creative industries in a variety of institutions and capacities for more than a decade.

In the music sector, she has coordinated and managed a range of projects and productions, including artist and live event management, production and tour management, as well as programming. On a retreat from the music industry, she went on to study photography at the renowned Market Photo Workshop in Newtown - Johannesburg. Between 2002 and 2007, while completing some courses there, Masondo subsequently became very involved in the activities and programmes of the institution - as photographer, project manager, curriculum manager, and curator, amongst others. Although she admits to being a ‘reluctant’ photographer, her photographic work has been featured in various exhibitions and publications in Southern Africa and abroad.

She is currently completing her studies in Public and Visual History, while continuing to explore her personal photography projects, particularly on the human body and form. Apart from music and photography, Masondo declares she’s also passionate about poetry, dance, reading, fragrances, travel and dreaming. Masondo is also a member of the SPACE collective (Smart Partnerships in Art & Creative Enterprises).

Malika Ndlovu

Badilisha Radio Guest Presenter

malikan@africacentre.net

Malika Ndlovu is a poet, playwright, performer, arts project manager and mother of three sons, with a wide range of experience in the Arts and Arts Management arena. Malika is a founder-member of Cape Town-based women writers' collective WEAVE, co-editor of their multi-genre anthology WEAVE’s Ink @ Boiling Point. Malika has had four poetry collections published, namely Born in Africa But, Womb to World: A Labour of Love,Truth is both Spirit and Flesh and Invisible Earthquake: a Woman’s Journal through Stillbirth a poetic memoir published by new South African Women's press, Modjaji Books. Her published plays include the award-winning drama A Coloured Place and Sister Breyani.

Between 2007-2010 Malika was co-curator of the Africa Centre’s Badilisha Poetry X-Change. She is now a guest presenter for BadilishaPoetry.com. As an independent artist, Malika operates under the brand New Moon Ventures and is dedicated to creating indigenous, multi-media and collaborative works in line with her personal motto "healing through creativity." Visit www.malika.co.za.

Mbali Vilakazi

Badilisha Radio Guest Presenter

mbalentle@gmail.com

Emerging voice, Mbali Vilakazi is a writer, poet, performer and vocalist, who describes herself as ‘a child of the city by the sea, who came into being under the watchful eye of a silent mountain’ and traces her beginnings as 'a patient journey through and within the heart of the city into herself’. She contextualises herself as a soul activist with the dream of a youth that rises to assume both its relevance and place. She has performed on several platforms and is compiling her first anthology.

Mimi Cherono Ng’ok

Badilisha Poetry Researcher

mimin@africacentre.net

Born 1983, Mimi Cherono Ng’ok is a Kenyan photographer, based between Cape Town and Nairobi. In 2006 she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town with her graduate exhibition documenting experiences of African immigrants within South Africa. With support from the Edward Ruiz photography mentorship award Mimi Cheron Ng’ok completed a photographic series on African immigrants in South Africa and had a solo exhibition at the Market Photo Workshop gallery in Johannesburg. She has exhibited in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Maputo, Tarifa, Nairobi and Berlin. Currently, she works in Cape Town, continuing her project on African immigrants