Weaving a tapestry of Black femmehood in Edmonton, Canada

This seminar series brings together artists, scholars, researchers and organizers from South Africa, Mexico, U.S., Iran, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Botswana, Peru and Sweden, to share the interdisciplinary, aesthetic and transcultural nature of Black Study. 

Lebogang Disele-Pitso – SKH’s first post-doctoral researcher

Presentation: “Weaving a tapestry of Black femmehood in Edmonton, Canada”

This seminar presentation reflects on two productions, Ogboingba Tries to Change her Fate and Breaking Ground as part of developing a decolonial feminist performance praxis. The two productions were created using devised approaches to explore Blackness in Edmonton, Alberta. This reflection posits this mode of creation as process of making “joy in the cracks” to build community and assert Black identity and history. By focusing on the specificity of the cultural backgrounds of the creator-performers, the productions highlight and celebrate the diversity of African, Caribbean, Black (ACB) communities in Edmonton as part of building equity.

Lebo Disele is a theatre-maker with a focus in movement, acting, directing, and dramaturgy. She recently played Nomkhubulwane and other characters in Tololwa Mollel’s Anthem of Life (Theatre Prospero). She also co-created and performed in Ogboingba tries to change her fate at the Jabulani Arts Festival (Ribbon rouge Foundation). Other performance credits include The Wolves (Maggie Tree/Citadel), The Space Between (NextFest 2021, Expanse Festival 2022), “Radical Imagination” in Brandon Wint’s Freedom Journal: Antidotes to Violence as Care (2022); All That Binds Us (Azimuth Theatre, 2020) and What (Black) Life Requires (Expanse Festival, 2018). Lebo is excited to share this new iteration of Breaking Ground.
 

Read more about the research project: FutureBrownSpace

Read more about the Seminar serie: A Season of Black study II