:her(e), otherwise

MAYELANA…

I:her(e), otherwise ukuhlungwa kwezethulo kuncike ekuqophisaneni, kugqame imiyalelo emayelana nokumiswa kwezakhiwo njengewebhu eyindawo kanye nequkethe isimo samandla. Imiyalelo, eyakhiwe yazimela ngokwemgomo yayo, yagqamisa indlela yokwakha ukubaluleka okuzogcina ukwakhiwa kwesakhiwo esingalingani, yaqxila ekuqondiseni izigwegwe kulo mkhakha wokumiswa kwezakhiwo.

Ngokwe mise-en-abime, saay/yaas* - abacubungili basezwenikazi lase-Afrika abane – baphakamisa eyabo imilayelo eyashiqilelwa emqulwini oka-Saison Africa2020. Lapho kundlalwe imiqondo eveza inguquko yezinto baphendula ngokusungula inkundla yokuxhumana njengesizinda (inkundla yomtapo yolwazi) nokuhlonzwa kwemikhiqizo ukuze bakwazi ukuhlanganyela nokusizana. Idlanzana elibambisene, elinye nelinye lizakhele uhlelo lwayo lokulekelelana, iheha abantu abanezindlela ezingcono zokuqoqa ulwazi kanye nokubambisana ekwakhiweni izindlela ezintsha zokumiswa kwezakhiwo nokuqoqa ulwazi esidlangalaleni. Yize kusetshenzwa ngezindlela ezahlukene kulomkhakha kanye nemigomo eyakhelwe lokho, kwenziwe futhi kwethulwe.

Abangathumela izimpendulo makube isibhuda sasezwenikazi lase-Afrika namaphethelo, abanekhono kanye nolwazi lokucubungula, ngokomlando makube abantu ababengabandakanyiwe ekuqhakambiseni nokuthuthukisa ulwazi futhi bakwazi ukusungula izindlela ezizoguqula imikhiqizo. Kusunguleke uxhaxha lwezindlela ezintsha zokwenza izindawo/ukuhlungwa/nokusebenza ngokubambisana.

ISIMEMO

“Imicabango, engameli thina, kodwa eyacatshwanga abamhlophe ngabamnyama. Kuyizinkomba ezazigqame kwabamhlophe zedluliselwa kwabamnyama, kwakheka isithombe esinamandla esagqama kwabamnyama kwaba isithombe esinamandla futhi sabanezinhloso ezithile. Yize noma kunjalo kwakungabalulekanga kithi” - Grada Kilomba.

Bangani kanye nesibambisene nabo kulomkhakha,

Ngenkathi eqokelwa ukuhlaziya ngamafuphi umsebenzi weSaison Africa 2020, u-saay/yaas wavukwa ugqozi ngamasu asetshenziswa ukugqamisa ubuzwekazi baseAfrika namaphethelo kanye nezindlela okwakugqanyiswe ngazo, ubunzulu, kanye nobuchule okuqukethwe, ngenkathi ethula imicabango eyayinika izinga eliphezulu, kanalemicabango ebikade ikhona, engaguquki, kanye neqhakambisa ubuzwekazi baseAfrika, “…bakwazi ukucacisela laba abangabanga nenhlanhla yokuthola ulwazi ukuze bazi”. u-Saay/yaas babamba imiboniso yokumiswa kwezakhiwo (architecture) “ezaziwayo”, kwadaleka umgudu omile wokukhangisa obalulekile nonemikhawulo ebekelwe isilinganiso, ngenkathi ephendula, kwasungulwa indlela yokuxhumana eyaziwa nge-her(e), otherwise.

Njengesandiso, uma kungenjalo, “siguqulwe noma sifaneleke ukuba isiphawulo”, “igqamise ubudlelwane phakathi kwendawo, isikhathi, isimo, indlela, izizathu, izinga, njalo njalo.” Ukusetshenziswa kwalegama emqulwini othi her(e), otherwise, yafundeka njengobulili besifazane, bendawo, uma kunjalo, iyinkomba yobudlelwane obuhlangahlangene, benkathi kanye nendawo, yakhelwa ukuze ibekanjalo futhi yakhe lomkhakha njengowesifazane wase-Afrika/nasezwenikazi lonke, elinomkhakha obuswa abesilisa, abamhlophe, abadla izambane likapondo futhi nababuswa impucuko yezizwe emkhakheni wokumiswa kwezakhiwo.

her(e), otherwise yinkundla ephilayo, equkethe imibono eguquka njalo, okuyisizinda esimumethe ulwazi olubalulekile olundluliswe ngobukhulu ubuchule lobu ukuhlela izindlela zemibuzo eminingi nangezindlela zokuqonda kanye nokwenza ukumiswa kwezakhiwo ukuze kube nokuxhumana ngaso sonke isikhathi kwakheke ubudlelwane, ukucobelana ngolwazi, izimo kanye nobuhlakani obumayelana nezwekazi lase-Afrika. Le webhu izobhekisisa isidingo esibalulekile sokuqoqa nokwamukela, ukucobelana ngolwazi kanye nokukhuliswa komphakhathi kwabantu besifazane abamnyama abazibandakanya nalomkhakha ngazo zonke izindlela, kulendawo yokusebenza futhi ekubuyiseni ukuzithemba ebantwini kulomkhakha.

Simema amaciko asungule izindlela zawo “zokukhangisa” ngokuziqambela eyabo imisebenzi, imicabango, egqamisa ubufakazi, ekhangayo Kanye nengakhangi, ethokozisa umqondo (ebonwayo, ezwakalayo noma ebhalwayo), ephothulwe, eqediwe nengaqediwe noma amaphrojekthi ayiphupho (imifanekiso mqondo), imibuzo, imicu/izitatimendi noma eqophisanayo yangabekelwa migomo namibandela elindeleke ukulandelwa. Lemikhiqizo ingathunyelwa ngokuzidalula okanye ithunyelwe ngokuzifihla ungazidaluli. Ungazethula njengendawo yokusebenza, ababambisene noma uzimele wedwa. Ukuze kube yimpumelelo, sikunxusa ukuba udlulise isimemo nakwabanye ezwenikazi lase-Afrika namaphethelo, ukuze nabo bakwazi ukwakha izikhangiso zabo bazithumele, ngaleyondlela siyophumelela ekukhuliseni lo mkhakha, amaciko akwazi ukucabanga kanye nabasebenzi bokumiswa kwezakhiwo abaxhumene ngazo zonke izindlela ekumisweni kwezakhiwo kanye nezindlela zokwenza izindawo futhi abantu bazibone bafanelekile ukuba kulomkhakha.

Saay/yaas -abujapraiaparisjohannesburg

Sindi, Anahory, Abengowe, Yehouessi / Yehouessi, Abengowe, Anahory, Sindi.

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This platform responds to the urgent need to gather an open, interactive, and expanding community of black women engaged in the broadest possible range of self-determined acts and operations within the disciplines of architecture and urban design, and within the discourse of all spatial practices.

Amohela

Memo

Bienvenu*e

Une invitation

Karibu

Mwaliko

Welcome

An invitation

Kaabo

Isiniwepe

Ndewo

Ka ditsela tse ding

Wamukelekile

Isimemo

Sannu da zuwa

Gayyata

Amohela

Memo

Bienvenu*e

Une invitation

Karibu

Mwaliko

Welcome

An invitation

Kaabo

Isiniwepe

Ndewo

Ka ditsela tse ding

Wamukelekile

Isimemo

Sannu da zuwa

Gayyata

Who are we

Anna Abengowe | Nigeria, England | architect, pedagogue, designer, expositor, traveler, searcher, voice-finder, curious, interested, joker, aunty

Anna Nnenna Abengowe was appointed Deputy Director and Academic Lead at the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA), University of Johannesburg in 2022. She holds an M Arch from Princeton University School of Architecture. She pursues the development of new areas and platforms of pedagogy, research, and practice that are current and transnationally relevant to the built environment of architecture, urbanity, and related spatial practices on the African continent. She is a cofounder of the saay/yaas curatorial collective and creative co-director of the he(r)e, otherwise digital platform (2021). She is the co-recipient of a 2022 Graham Foundation Grant. She has been published in Architectural Guide: Sub-Saharan Africa (DOM 2021) and E-Flux (2022). She is a design associate at the Institute for Creative Repair (ICR), an advisory contributor at matri-archi, and an academic advisor at the African Futures Institute (AFI). She resides in Johannesburg.

Patti Anahory | Cabo Verde, São Tomé e Principe, Brooklyn | architect, independent curator, collaborator, commentator, observer, designer, mother…

Patti Anahory is an architect whose work spans building design, art, education, and curatorial research-based practices. She holds a Master’s in Architecture from Princeton University and a professional architecture degree from the Boston Architectural College.

She is interested in interrogating predominant narratives of identity and belonging across spatial practices, particularly from an African island perspective, and is committed to creating independent, multidisciplinary, collaborative platforms and spaces for ideation, experimentation, documentation, dissemination, and research on African and Diaspora spatial processes.

Anahory co-founded Storia na Lugar, a storytelling and counter-narrative practice, and is the co-creator of the experimental architectural and curatorial platform her(e), otherwise. She serves as an Academic Advisor at the African Futures Institute and was a Visiting Professor at Columbia University (2022–23). She co-authored the book Panorama da Arquitetura Habitacional em Cabo Verde (2022) and is featured in 100 Women: Architects in Practice (2024).

Mawena Yehouessi | Benin, Togo, Senegal, France | researcher, practitioner, curator, writer/translator, collusionist, avatar, lover, sister, and child

Born in 1990 in Cotonou (Benin), Mawena Yehouessi is an art curator and searcher/ practitioner in Arts and philosophy (PhD fellow @ Villa Arson / Université Côte d’Azur).

Founder of the Black(s) to the Future collective, she lives and works between Nice and Paris (France). Also trained in cultural projects management and contemporary dance, she belongs to this generation of unclassifiable or downgraded?-beings whose practices & jobs are a mash-up of slashes. In particular interested in alter-futurisms and poïethics, she also develops an exploratory, prospective, and collusion/collage art practice through her avatar M.Y.

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