Fragmented

Cape Town
Co-director / Poet / Choreographer: Khanyisile Mbongwa
Co-director / Camera / editor: James Tayler
Performers: Zenande Mankayi, Nicole Olsen
4'53’’
2009

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. "Fragmented" 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".

PICTURES (The National Gallery)

by Khanyisile Mbongwa

I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME
IMAGES THAT LIE RIDICULOUSLY HANGING ON WALLS ENDLESSLY
EMERGING WITH CERTAIN SOULS TRANCEEDING INTO THE TIMELESS WITH NO BOUNDARIES BEYOND JUST BEING A MERE PAINTING ON MY WALL
THESE PAINTINGS OF ROMANTIC CHILDHOOD CONCEIVE NOTHING BUT ONLY CAPTURE THE POSSIBILITY OF ME AND YOU
AND I WONDER IF THEY DESCRIBE WHAT IS TRUE OR ARE THEY JUST AN INDICATION OF THE FAILURE WE DO

I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME
IMAGES INNOCENTLY NAKED BUT FRAMED IN THE MIND OF SEXUALITY FRUSTRATED BEINGS THAT CONCEPTUALIZE THEIR INNOCENCE AS A FRAGMENT OF THEIR DESIRES
THAT TRANSPIRES TO BE HOGGING THE SOCIETY ROBBING IT OF ITS HUMBLE PRESENTS
TURNING ME AND YOU INTO A PRECINCT OF PREY VULTURES AWAITING NERVOUSLY TO BE FRAMED FOR A NEGATIVE IMAGE TO CAPTURE WHAT THEY DREAM ON ON WHITE WALLS
WHILST THE WITH RUSTY PAINT DRIPDRIPPINGS ON THE SIDES TELLING THE TRUE STORY OF WHAT WAS

I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME
THESE IMAGES YOU SEE MIGHT DEFINE BUT DON’T CONFINE THE STRUCTURES YOU SEE DAILY - THAT SMILE, A LIE WITH HUGS, THAT QUESTION WHY THE LINE SPLITTING REALITY, WHAT JUSTICE I ASK, WHEN TRUTH IS LIES EDITED TO DISCREDIT THE PEDESTAL BESTOWED UPON ME
THIS JURYWOULD BE SERVED BY QUESTIONING ITS AUTHORITY

I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME
THIS ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNDERSTOOD WITHIN ME AS MY LIPS ROAM FREELY,, MY MIND RESTS EASILY BUT MY HEART, PONDERS THIS REALITY
OF THESE UNSPOKEN WORDS THAT ONLY MY EYES WITHIN THE PICTURE SEE

I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME
EARS OPEN UP TO THE WONDERS OF THE STORIES FORETOLD
THEN LOST IN BETWEEN THE LINES THE STORY HOLDS
DEPICT THE TRUTH AS A LIE GETTING OLD
WHAT SOULS HAVE BEEN SOLD
WHAT SOULS HAVE BEEN SOLD

I SPEAK
ONLY IN THE PICTURES
I SPEAK ONLY IN THE PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BLIND TO THE KIND
EYES IN ME
PICTURES THAT SEE
AND I SPEAK AND I SPEAK
THE TRUTH AND LIES YOU SEE
PICTURES IN ME, PICTURES YOU SEE
I SAID I SPEAK ONLY IN PICTURES THAT SEE THE EYES IN ME
BUT ARE BLIND TO THE KIND IN ME