Echoes of a Silenced Girl challenges black masculinity and its effects on the South African female body
JOBURG — A story about fighting even when all the odds are stacked against you, about finding that inner strength to continue.
The OTA Project in partnership with The Wombman Movement presents: Echoes of a Silenced Girl, live at The Hive Johannesburg on 27 October 2017 and again on 10 November 2017 at Emakayani Studios above the Wits Art Museum.
Produced by Tutu Zondo and co-directed by Nandi Nhlapho, this play was inspired by the events that took place after the death of Karabo Mokoena, who was assaulted by her boyfriend and ended up losing her life earlier this year.
Read: #RIPKarabo: Karabo was a gentle soul
“After her story made its way onto social media we saw thousands of women take to different social media platforms to share similar experiences of the harassment and violence they had encountered at the hands of their lovers, brothers, friends and fathers – we saw women finally speak out about it and find the strength and bravery to make their stories heard,” said the producer, Tutu Zondo.
Once something else happened in the news, Zondo said, it seemed as though people forgot about the hashtags and stories, people moved on as if the daily torment of women was a thing of the past. “This is where our frustration began. Conversations cannot just stop – for change to happen people need to constantly be engaging and speaking, looking for a way forward.
“Further frustration set in when more stories would surface and we saw that we (our lives and experiences) were reduced to a simple catchy hashtag – this couldn’t be it, something more was needed.”
This production was created to further the conversation, to make sure the voices of South African women are not just reduced to a statistic or a hashtag but that they are being heard.
Read: #RIPKarabo: 27-year-old boyfriend arrested in connection with #KaraboMokoena’s death
“This story is about two young women. It’s about growing up and navigating a world that doesn’t seem to want you to win, a world that keeps pushing you back up,” Zondo explained. “It’s a story about fighting even when all the odds are stacked against you, about finding that inner strength to continue. It’s a message of carrying on, but it’s also a strong message about how we need to change.”
The production will be followed by a panel discussion around black masculinity and its effects on the South African female body.
“Echoes of A Silenced Girl won’t change the world or the way black men treat women, but it reminds us and the audience that we matter and we will talk about it.”
