Siviwe james
Researcher /// Archivist
Arts Practitioner
Wamkelekile
Artist
Biography
Researcher, arts practitioner, and archivist James' works speaks through visual and sonic archaeology, as reconstructions of place and meaning. James’ practice inserts fragments of time in the voids of history, creating (k)new imaginaries as landscapes of knowledge of the lives and worlds of Xhosa people, working with both personal and public audio-visual archival materials and everyday interviews.
Podcasting
UN/FOLDING_RE/FOLDING_FOLDED:
Imiphindo kwaXhosa, 2023
What does it mean for us to fashion ourselves/our identities in material culture? How does dress come to inscribe a sense of value, the status of one 'becoming' another?
UN/FOLDING_RE/FOLDING_FOLDED: Imiphindo kwaXhosa is a curious polyvocal sonic intervention that explores dress sensibilities kwaXhosa; how do Xhosa fashions come to inform/encourage/affirm one's place in community, their roles and responsibilities to others as they work/share/live as a part of a collective, produced by Siviwe James in close collaboration with Sihle Sogaula and Bongani Tau. Each of the show’s episodes offers listeners a way to ‘rediscover the Ordinary’, as they are introduced to abahlali bakuGatyana (Willowvale) in the Eastern Cape. By making this somewhat forgotten and yet very much alive town, the central site for the first season of the podcast’s enquiries, audiences are offered an intimate perspective on dress and the sensibilities that are upheld and continue to uphold the attitudes of the community found here.
We trace threads of history, culture, language and fashion through various forms of material culture kwaXhosa like iqhiya, umbhaco nefaskoti. These everyday objects invite us into co-authored stories with the residents of this lush remote site, detailing not only the relationship between isinxibo nesihlonipho kwaXhosa, but also guiding us into ‘coming to know’ idolophu yakuGatyana.
Production team:
Executive Producer - Bongani Tau
Curator - Siviwe James
Content Advisor - Sihle Sogaula
Graphic Designers - 2DOTS Space Agency
Video and sound editing - Siviwe James
Text by Siviwe James
Xhosa advisor - Ms Nobuhle James
UN/FOLDING_RE/FOLDING_FOLDED is nestled under THE FOLD – a creative and collaborative research project led by the African Fashion Research Institute in partnership with Creative Nestlings Foundation and Art Meets for the New Narratives Programme 2023
"Imiphindo kwaXhosa offers an intimate engagement with not just the material culture (such as iqhiya) but also the wearers, the unspoken languages/sounds of the community, turning language into a multisensory experience.
It is feminine and embodied, inserting these so-called non-fashion voices into the fashion cannon "
Podcast abstract
‘bodies that make, bodies that consume’
State of Fashion Biennial
2022, Arnhem, Netherlands
A fashion installation was commissioned by State of Fashion. The final body of work was presented in the Fashion as Encounters exhibition co-curated by NOT____ENOUGH Collective.
As a part of the co-creation team that dealt with the theme of Exercising Compassion, a material and sonic presentation of the theme was conceptualized and presented.
My roles in the project were that of;
Researcher, Fashion Maker, Sonic Artist, Visual Artist
Exercising Compassion team members; Siviwe James, Santiago Útima, Widi Asari and Riyadhus Shalihin
Artwork
133 piece garment installation with 2 stand speaker soundscaping arrangement (12minute mixed sound arrangement that includes the voices of garment workers from Indonesia, South Africa and São Paulo)
Chos’chosi
Design Future Labs
2022, Cape Town, South Africa
A Creative economy project, hosted by Electric South, Twyg and Crossover Labs and supported by the British Council #SouthernAfricaArts
As a part of the residency program, myself and Sihle Sogaula conceptualized and materilized an AR 3D animated app that tells immersive storytelling experience using augmented reality to bring to life hidden histories and the untold. The independent app, developed by Sisanda Tech (software team), mimics a seated figure that grapples with ideas of fashioning, mending, and the making of Xhosa histories.
Role: Visual Artist/Visual Sampling, Co-Thinker, Sonic Artist
A co-creation work between Siviwe James & Sihle Sogaula
Presented at Fakugesi
Conferences & Symposiums
*
04
05
06
Conferences & Symposiums (online )
07 The Digital Multilogue of Fashion Education, 2021
08 LCF Cultural and Historical Studies Digital Symposium, 2021
*
07
08
Ubuhle ngaphaya kwameva
9min8, video work
Visual and sonic sampling, editing and producing of archive material.
Reel Credits
Creative Material Credits:
Voicing of Mam Winnie Madikizela-Mandela - In her Own Words
Brenda Fassie: I'm not a Bad Girl,
Director Chris Austin, Production BBC Television, Release 1997
Counter Intelligence, Thebe Magugu, Spring/Summer 2021, Directed by Kristin Moolman, Styled by Ibrahim Kamara, Premiered Sep 29, 2020
The Return: A short film by Sampa The Great
Directed by Sanjay da Silva, Produced by Sanjay da Silva, Carl Pires and Miranda Aznarut, 2020
La Maison Noir, Petite Noir x RedBull, October 2018
Siviwe James-Laurie and Christo Laurie: Vowel Renewal Ceremony, February 2018
Research Work
The Archiving and Remaking of Memory Project (A.R.M), 2023
By cutting, splicing and layering images, texts, sounds and video, I am able to re-member myself to the past, visiting with memories that might not have been listened to before, or ones that wish to be heard back from, in new and different ways.
The Archiving and Remaking of Memory Project (A.R.M); a method of sifting through personal trauma to find alternate ways of healing through dysfunctional - broken - fractured memories. Through the many revisions of work ARM presents itself as a method of making, of thinking with and through time. It becomes an exercise of reflecting with the past offering it new perspectives and new opportunities to be heard from, allowing new conversations to be had with it. ARM allows us to explore how memory-work comes to enable an alternative relationship to the archive, positioning it as a site for giving new purpose to violent histories and traumatised memories, while creating healing for present-day victims and survivors.
KEYWORDS
Restoration - Resurrection - Returning; Healing - Wounding; Archives; Remnants; Memory-work
Selected Video work
Ubuhle ngaphaya kwameva
9min8, video work
Visual and sonic sampling, editing and producing of archive material.
10
11
Published works/Published writings
*
