SEEING THE DARK

SEEING THE DARK REFLECTIONS FROM A BLACK CREATIVE

By Dione Joseph.

He uri ahau no Caribbean, France, Ireland, India I whanau mai ahau i te taha o te awa o New Delhi I tipu ake au i e taha o te awa o Tāmakai Makaurau Ko Te Puaha o Waikato tōku kāinga noho Ko au te kaiwhakahaere o Black Creatives Aotearoa Ko Dione Joseph Kouratoras tōku ingoa

I am a mixed-race woman who has been making art for as long as I can remember. I am not alone. There are so many incredible artists from our African/Afro-Caribbean community who have been making art for decades. Our community has been here since the 60s in mass numbers. From scholarship students to small migrations and the mark has been indelible. Rugby players to mayors, hip-hop artists to hairdressers. But who has been paying attention? The rise of Black Lives Matter in an era when everyone was glued to their screen drew the world’s attention to acts of atrocities that have been perpetuated and still continue to be against the Black body. The streets across Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin as well as so many other centres filled with people ready to march, individuals willing to show their personal and collective grief and those committed to demonstrating what true allyship could mean in a world where a mother's son takes his last breath at the crush of a knee.

ARTISTS ARE WARRIORS BUT WE ARE ALSO HEALERS

But then what? Anti-racism groups were established but where was the funding to continue the work? Collectives were formed but their presence was barely decipherable. Other communities came together in the moment to show solidarity and then what? Antiblackness is real and alive in Aotearoa. The fact that even in 2022 we have to continue to justify why the n word is unacceptable is exhausting. On and on, the systems and processes that have facilitated and perpetuated violence have not been held to account. Not just in the United States, here in Aotearoa, Blackness became trendy and people jumped on the bandwagon. Let’s get someone from our team to educate others about what happened! Let’s get a speaker! Let’s get a dancer! Let’s programme a play about police brutality! Let’s keep the cycle locked in violence because there is no place or space for Black joy or Black excellence – trauma porn after all is extremely profitable. Apparently so are golliwogs and the commitment to keep childhood heirlooms. Our community of Black artists (myself included) are tired of hiding. In fact, in this world of performance making and performing belonging, we have had to step in and step up onto the stage - sometimes having to build it ourselves. When I began Black Creatives Aotearoa in 2018 it was through a deep desire to see African and Afro-Caribbean folks and all our diaspora kin represented in the arts – and on a personal level to create community to distance the overwhelming loneliness I felt as a theatremaker in this industry. However, the myth that we are not here is as deep as it is pervasive. Recently Mama Wanjiku (Wanjiku Kiarie Sanderson, former Keskidee Arts Centre member) shared the touring history for her show Black Woman. A celebration of African diaspora playwrights devised and performed by Kiarie and directed by Martyn Sanderson the show toured from 1983-85 and received rave reviews from audiences and critics. She also spent seven years developing In Transit (a Pacific-African

collaboration written by Sanderson as a tribute to her husband Martyn and directed by Justine Simei-Barton) which came to the stage in 2017. Today, we are blessed to see the cohort of playwrights, actors, and directors slowly evolving and expanding. Stanley Makuwe, an award-winning playwright has now made the Adam NZ Play Award shortlist twice, his play Black Lover co-presented by Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Arts Festival (2020), Teremoana Rapley, First Lady of Hip-hop in Aotearoa, had her show Daughter of a Housegirl (2021) sell out at Kia Mau in Wellington; and over the last three years BCA’s Playwrights Lab has nurtured playwrights supporting them with a variety of industry support and resource. Let’s say their names: Alvie McKree, Munashe Tapfuya, Ayo Beckley Adesanya, Estelle Chout, Grace Bentley, Simba Matshe, Jazz dos Santos, Vira Grace Paky, Lynnette Harris, Keagan Carr Fransch, Alex de Vries, Tawanda Manyimo and Kauthar Eckstein. Estelle’s play Po’ Boys n Oysters also made the 2021 Adam Award shortlist and her development play The Eternal Queers was staged as part of Wellington Pride. In addition, there is a fabulous and growing community of Black actors including Toi Whakaari-trained Grace Bentley, Batanai Mashingaidze, Tawanda Manyimo as well as other trained/in-training actors including Graham Vincent, Sandra Zvenyika, Otis Donovan Herring, Quentin DeAngelo Warren, Jenn Onyeiwu, Adorate Mizero, Keven Souza and the list goes on (noting many playwrights are also fabulous actors too). Every day I am humbled and excited by how much we have achieved and how far we are growing, changing and thriving. Some of us came here as seeds and saplings that were transplanted and others have been here long enough to bear new generations. Fruit of our own, of this soil and strengthening the connections to this land.

WE ARE GROWING, CHANGING AND THRIVING

In the midst of this all the artists, excavating within themselves to find the resources to share story, to share joy amidst tears, heart bliss with heart ache, challenge the expectations of trauma and defy the limitations set by others as we helicopter our way through the glass ceilings. Artists are warriors but we are also healers. Black artists have been a minority for a long time but things are changing not just because numbers are rising but because the narrative is shifting - there is a different story that we are now telling, in our own words, on our own terms. The theatre is one of the many places where we will continue to share our stories. We have the talent. We have the skills. We have our people. But we have not always paid enough attention to ourselves. Before we return to normal and indulge in the huge influx of events and celebrations that are promised, let's remember that long before social distancing was a thing our communities of colour were already isolated. Let’s not go back to normal. Let’s pay attention. In different ways and make an effort to do different things, in ways that are, well, different.

PREVIOUS PAGE: Woman of Citrus by Grace BentleyTsibuah, Basement Theatre, 2019. Image: Ankita Singh.