I’ve researched, written and edited pieces on an array of subjects – from school closures in Cape Town and the impoverished infrastructure of schools across the country, to the transgressive works of renowned South African performance artist, Steven Cohen.
Shortlisted for the 2020 National Institute for the Humanities & Social Sciences (NIHSS) book award for Best Non-Fiction – Edited Volume, Acts of Transgression is a ground-breaking collection of critical essays in which 15 writers explore the interdisciplinary and radically transgressive field of contemporary live art in South Africa – an experimental performative art form, which until the early 2000s was known as ‘performance art.’
Acts of Transgression came about, in part, in response to an academic vacuum: before its publication, there was no book dedicated to live art in South Africa. This meant that the study of interdisciplinary art tended to rely disproportionately on Euro-American texts and discussions, and that the depth and complexity of South African live art works existed as fleeting moments in time, lost after the moment of their happening.
Acts of Transgression has begun the critical work of filling this gap in the academy by developing a body of theory against which to read interdisciplinary performance, and a discourse for critiquing it.
The book’s in-depth analyses of more than 25 artists are accompanied by a striking visual record of over 60 photographs.
