This Poetry Minute is by acclaimed poet, performer and project manager Mutinta Bbenkele Simelane; with video art by Neo Phage who is an artist, designer and illustrator.

The text was originally written for the Global Citizens Festival. In conversations about the work, Mutinta talked me through her intention for the text to express the essence of womanhood in an accessible way for the unconventional platform where it was first performed. Deliberately moving away from the depth come abstractions that are often associated with this form of writing - to use simple language and messaging.

The poem has no title. It’s silent, unnamed entry is apt given the path it takes us on.

‘Mutinta's poem is straightforward and blunt in its representation of the black woman's experience. She's deliberate and intentional in her delivery. But it is only through being a black woman that you understand the layers camouflaged underneath the bluntness. It was this layering that I wanted to visually represent. Through collage and mixed media, the viewer comes to see how "Woman...Is a collision of fire and feeling"’ - Neo.

Neo and Mutinta’s process of finding a common pulse - a shared language, has embedded itself in every frame of the video. Each from their own context to meet a mutual end.

‘This process stretches creatives in such a necessary and profound way. We spend so much time fantasizing and dreaming about the mediums through which our work will find relevance. Handing my intention over to Neo, who speaks through a different medium, was a trust fall that happened several times over. I could have never anticipated the images that my words inspired her to bring forward. I could have never imagined that the complexity of Being Woman could be in some way captured. We are validated and seen through this body of work’ - Mutinta.

Created by | Mutinta Bbenkele Simelane
Video Art by | Neo Phage

A Poetry Minute is curated by Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu