ABOUT THE EVENT

THE ARCHITECTURE OF BLACKNESS

​

The Architecture of Blackness is a lifelong research and development. It investigates the idea of blackness, an idea that encompasses vast variety, a structure everything exists.

If you are not white, male and straight, you are black. If you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual, those who feel left out and those struggling with issues of placement, you are black.

We all have the same problems; blackness is a concept of not belonging, of failing to meet a certain standard imagined by societal ideals.

Everything that does not fit into the Empire’s gaze is black, so if you don’t belong anywhere and don’t own anything you are also black. Blackness is posing the possibility of difference. How and who we are.

The way we organize and express ourselves. To be black is to constantly move and shift, and to have a lived body.

“The Architecture of Blackness” is Jerahunis first artist book and is accompanied by 2hours and 28mins worth of sound. 

Jerahuni is in motion developing movement gestures/videography that will also accompany the book. I am using the book as the back bone of the creation and development of sound, movement gestures and as a manual to create pedagogy for Jena practise.

JENA PRACTISE

​

Jena practise is a pregnant space full of possibilities, a space of being and becoming, of non-arrival, not ending and not stopping. A space of moreness, attentiveness to oneself and others.

An expanded understanding of the impact of black life, the importance of the black body at every stage of life, and relationships between body and physical and emotional wellness. A space without policing self and others. A way to explore the body without any judgement of its abilities and disabilities.

JERAHUNI

​

"I do art to honor my ancestors; my grandfather, grandmother and those who passed away in the struggle and from the struggle, thanking them for looking after me, after us and their sacrifice for me to get in back my body, my land and my AUTHORITY.

I am a Zimbabwean born and bred artist. I am identified as ‘SoKo’ which is my totem; the great white Baboon which is oriented as a king chief-man in Shona culture with the responsibility to preserve, teach and spread word. SoKo/Shoko is translated as ‘‘word’’ in English. l am word, l carry word and my body is word. My being is deeply entangled and invested with my totem.

I am an animist and I use its technology to unpack my Black African presence. I use humor in order to reach a wide range of audiences and people perceive my work as fearless, sophisticated, and witty. I strive to be fearless in how I approach the material; aiming for a space that is both sophisticated and witty.

I am moved by the mindset of exploring the body itself using “jena practice” without any judgement of our bodies, their abilities and disabilities. I believe that physical expressions give outlet to spiritual and emotional undercurrents that are entirely ignored in other dance forms."