"You are born here, and yet you can’t speak one vernacular language is an issue for me. You’ve had the chance, I mean you are surrounded by people, are you telling me that as a white person you are honestly not going to make that effort. I know how to speak English, I wasn’t born around people who speak English, and I was born around people who speak isiXhosa, isiZulu. Yet I know how to speak seSotho, which is totally different from my own language, and you are telling me it’s difficult to speak one. So I’m just not buying it. I’m not interested. I title my work in a language that resonates with the work. It is also to exclude, because I know you can’t speak it, and I know that most of the audience coming in need a translation, which forces you to engage with the work even further. So it’s also a conscious decision – it might be a bad strategy, but at this point in time I don’t really care – I’m going to continue doing it.""
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Women artistsPeople from JohannesburgInstallation artistsArtists from South AfricaWomen from South Africa
Original Language: English
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Buhlebezwe Siwani
Buhlebezwe Siwani (born in 1987 in Johannesburg) is a multidisciplinary artist known for her work in performance art, installations, and photographic stills.Buhlebezwe Siwani was raised in Johannesburg, and has lived in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal. Siwani completed her BAFA (Hons) at the Wits School of Arts in Johannesburg in 2011 and her MFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Arts in 2015 where she graduated cum laude. Siwani works predominantly in the medium of performance and installation
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