UKU’ZINZA: an invocation from the Nguni people that speaks to being grounded, being calm.  Stillness is a mechanism for survival, a strategy for imagination, and an ability and persistence.  In a world losing its breath, where breathlessness pervades, we witness the tremors in our bodies and the depths we must dive to sustain life. This exhibition explores Breath and  Breathing through states of duress and ongoing extractions, using Rehearsal as a mode of  Improvised philosophies. 

Breath: Breathing is a fundamental act: taking air into the lungs and expelling it, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide. Breath manifests in various forms: puff, pant, gasp, wheeze, blow,  sigh, impart, imbue, transfuse, murmur, whisper, utter. Breathing is about continuing, persisting, insisting, remaining, holding, being present, and having a place. How have our breath been disturbed, disrupted and dislocated? How have we sustained ourselves throughout these interruptions? 

Breathing through States of Duress: We breathe through the duress of histories of colonialism, enslavement, apartheid, wars and ongoing genocides, wounded by its impacts and suffocating under its weight. Yet, we Insist, on finding ways to Improvise our breath, our Aliveness, and our existence. 

Respiration: Breathing in states of duress and harm, ukuphefumla ngenxeba – to breathe through the wound. How our lungs enact somatic breathing by tracing the vascular systems of survival, cultural recovery, hope, courage, and strength in the quest to stay in the rhythm of our breath and thus life. Ukuphefumla – to breathe, umphefumlo – the spirit, attends to a place of altered and interrupted destiny. The compositions of how to breathe in breathlessness are embodied in toyi-toyi, the southern African dance used in political protests or in voguing movements used in queer culture – the life that pulses in exaltation below our feet, opening a portal to Aliveness. This practice of breathing in situ, being in ritual with oneself, is a profound expression of insistence. 

Rehearsal: A rehearsal is a session of exercise, a drill, a dry run, or a practice in preparation for a ceremony. It involves repetition to align, figuring out interpretation, mapping pathways, and creating contingency plans. It is an attempt or experiment to reveal something about the world in the near future time. 

Improvisation, Jazz and the Black Tradition: Improvisation serves as a compass—composing, arranging, and executing without preparation. It involves off-the-cuff creativity, imagination, and skill mastery. It’s about creating rhythms and frequencies, composing notes from the haikus of our existence. Jazz, as a Black tradition of improvisation, is birthed from ancient traditions of wailing. This reappears through horn instruments that require a deep breath, mimicking the throat as a vocal cord. Jazz embodies the mode of rehearsal as improvised philosophies, crafting compositions on how to breathe in breathlessness where even wailing is a form of breathing!