Evoking the presence of an absent individual, the ongoing work Elegy calls together a group of female vocal performers who collectively enact a ritual of mourning. Responding to situations of extreme violence perpetrated against women, as well as trans and non-binary people, Elegy performances recall the identity of individuals whose subjectivities have been fundamentally violated – and who are as such all too easily consigned to a generic, all-encompassing victimhood. The performance on 11 February 2017 commemorated Noluvo ('Vovo') Swelindawo, an openly lesbian woman who was abducted and murdered in 2016 in Driftsands, Khayelitsha.
About Gabrielle Goliath
Gabrielle Goliath is a multidisciplinary artist known for her conceptually distilled and sensitive negotiations of complex social concerns, particularly in relation to situations of gendered and sexualised violence. Goliath has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions.
Watch an excerpt of the performance
Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga
'State of Emergency: Inkulumo-Mpendulwano (Dialogue) of Emergent Art When Ukukhuluma (Talking) is Not Enough'
When the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, when it becomes too strong for song, you dance.
Unattributed musical theatre proverb
Msimanga’s essay appeared in the Institute for Creative Arts publication Acts of Transgression and discusses Goliath’s Elegy as well as dancer and choreographer Mamela Nyamza’s De-Apart-Hate.
