nora chipaumire – 'The body is not mute'

This is the first time I'm working with this kind of material

I'm trying to get this stony hard texture of the wall and then on top of this we'll layer lichen

I'm really happy to be learning new kind of ways

Now I can plaster my house if I should build a house

But yeah, all the processes are essential

All processes are physical

They require human breath so they're the same to me

It's really quite lovely

And really it's all a dance

I mean look at all these humans

The hand, the effort

That's the dance, that's the movement, that's the gesture, that's the life work, the body in motion that I find quite glorious

I'm 60 years old

I am born and raised in Zimbabwe but I am a human and belong to the planet

My region, which is the Eastern Highlands is full of balancing rocks

Beyond the way they sit and kind of sing, they swing

I've always been blown away by the physics of it and the golden-kissed colour with frequently a beautiful lichen

The beauty and the statement they make about time, longevity, stability in precarity, is what is really exciting to me about these granite formations

In gadzi's room you see the hand, you see how humans have touched this paper, this wood

Many people who will come to museums don't always have the privilege to see the effort that goes behind what you see

I want people to understand this is labour

I wanted warmth

I wanted the room to be inviting

There's a quietness

There's an invitation to kind of just be

As if you've walked into nature and you're just surrounded by these rocks and you can just kind of sit down... take a breath

The body to me is not mute

Bodies make sounds

You shift your arm that's a vibration

That's what sound is, vibration

Anything you do is moving something

[singing] Everywhere we go, everywhere we go, everywhere we go, people want to know

Humans multiply the energy that is already there because the human will absorb and expand on the energy

This hosanna moment to join the breath of the rocks and to really whistle it out to Mars

And those humans are tasked with adding to the sonic score more

[singing] This one is a special one for the Black girl

Special dedication

This one is a special one for the Black girl

I hope what will happen will be magic, you know, that we’ll bring a sacred vibration to already sacred environment

The artist will embody the character of gadzi and gently take us elsewhere

The destination would remain unknown but the joy of the journey would be what we all experience