LEBO MASHILE
a poet, performer, actress, theatre maker, former TV presenter, recording artist, speaker and mother. eclectic, ancient, modern, culturally rooted, responsive, influenced by various parts of the world and futuristic. every day I am challenged and inspired in a myriad of ways. Even after nearly 20 years, I feel like I’m still a student the lack of protection mechanisms in the arts for artists and our labour. a crash course in understanding some of the most expansive and exciting creative minds in the world. It’s exhausting, exhilarating and very rewarding seeing how many African designers use history and culture – beyond colonialism and its resulting horrors – as a well of inspiration to reimagine the present and the future. connect, challenge, mirror, provoke, heal, share, express and learn. by Janet Mock. Björk, Moonchild Sanelly and Maxwell. a lover of mayonnaise. to teach the true history of this country in schools so that every child has an understanding of what happened to us. bungee-jumping and eating shisa nyama in Soweto, visiting The Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill, watching a play at The Market Theatre in Newtown and enjoying a night of twerking at Liquid Blue in Melville. think I had to make people okay with who I am. Now I know that people-pleasing is draining, and that boundaries are healthy.
