• 03 Athenkosi Kwinana | A life in South Africa with Albinism

  • May 2 2024
  • Length: 19 mins
  • Podcast

03 Athenkosi Kwinana | A life in South Africa with Albinism cover art

03 Athenkosi Kwinana | A life in South Africa with Albinism

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  • Summary

  • Imaginings as a replacement for pain.

    Athenkosi Kwinana is an African woman from the Eastern Cape who lives with Albinism. She makes large detailed self portraits. She invited me to listen to an ASMR video. I had never heard of this, so I was curious to explore. However my first attempt failed as I am hard of hearing and I couldn't understand anything the women from Kenya in the video was telling. I looked elsewhere, to words and images, to try to find explanations about what was going on. I read ASMR is about the sound effect in the body of hearing a whisper. This sensation I could explore and I tried again and I experienced pleasant waves of feelings in my body, inside my spine. This effect lasted till the moment I met Athenkosi for our conversation. On my way to the studio, our conversation place, I encounter yellow tape and a police car. I have to make a detour. I think about yellow tape and the possibility of a murdered body. I think of Athenkosi who must live with a constant fear of violent attacks on her own white body. In South Africa an African person with a white skin still encounters beliefs that her body can be an object to be 'acquired' for superstitious beliefs.

    The stories she told settled in my mind and become images. The remains of our conversation is the story I heard her tell me.

    The story about a girl born in the Eastern Cape in Mthatha, the district where Nelson Mandela also grew up in. She has a white skin and yellow hair. Her culture is Xhosa. Detailed storytelling is a defining part of her culture. She has bad eye sight, she starts to draw, she does imagining games with her mother. She learns about Salvador Dali in high school. She is inspired by Frantz Fanon, Diane Victor, Zanele Muholi. She travels to Cuba, Johannesburg. She is a visual artist and the making of art is healing for her. She wants to reimagine how the albinic body is seen in South Africa. Follow Athenkosi Kwinana on Instagram · Athenkosi Kwinana is represented by Berman Contemporary · The text of this recording including portrait on my website · Visit Christi Sa's website · Christi Sa on Instagram · Connect with Christi on LinkedIn
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