I recently had the pleasure of viewing “Fragmented” when it was displayed as part of “Bodily Being”, curated by Natasha Becker.
“Bodily Being” explores the intersection of personal, public and political personas in the art of women engaged with social politics in and around contemporary South Africa.
“Fragmented” is a truly mesmerizing piece that combines dance, poetry music and visual arts and uses Cape Town, South Africa as it’s backdrop. Cape Town, however is more than a background, it’s also a silent participant and the catalyst for the actions and emotions portrayed in the piece.
According to City Breath, which displayed the piece in 2010:
“In Cape Town, a city divided along race and class lines, two women can’t quite meet and can’t quite let go. One gay, one straight, one black, one coloured, the spaces they inhabit connect them, and yet become the thing that separates them from each other. “Fragments” is a dance poem about the physical and psychological identity of women in the city. They dance in urban spaces marked by masculine architecture that denies the organic curves of their bodies. They venture into marginal areas in which they are subject to intimidation or violation, areas marked by gang graffitti where only men walk safely. Their silhouettes become windows into the cityscape, in a film that dreams of a place where, in a line from the hushed internal monologue of the poem, “I forget your sex and your skin colour”.