#SoulCare: Radical Happiness

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"Joy is an act of resistance" is a slogan that is gaining traction. Can happiness be a form of activism? Is there such a thing as restful resistance? And why is self-care so important? These questions constituted the foundation of this concluding program of the first, online part of the Winternachten International Literature Festival 2021 - a warm bath of radical inspiration.

"It's up to us": this theme emerges from the work of photographer Tyler Mitchell, whose summer 2019 exhibit I Can Make You Feel Good at Amsterdam's FOAM photography museum was a sensitive ode to a "black utopia". Mitchell photographed young black people looking relaxed, sensitive and proud in idyllic settings. It was a beacon of hope for how things could look and a sharp contrast to dominant media images of black people that are usually associated with strife, pain and violence.

Mitchell's work was one source of inspiration for programmer Fleur Jeras, as was the poetry of the South African poet and performer Koleka Putuma - especially her poem Black Joy from the volume Collective Amnesia. Poet Alfred Schaffer, who translated Putuma's poetry into Dutch for Terras magazine, wrote the following in the magazine Groene Amsterdammer: "You could say that Putuma in looking for a way out of the impasse with Collective Amnesia; she must escape the expectations of both the white and black public. Love could be an escape route."

A fragment of the poem Black Joy by Koleka Putuma, from her collection Collective Amnesia:

But
isn’t funny?
That when they ask about black childhood,
all they are interested in is our pain,
as if the joy-parts were accidental.

I write love poems, too,
but
you only want to see my mouth torn open in protest,
as if my mouth were a wound
with pus and gangrene
for joy.

Journalist Hassnae Bouazza discussed this poem with Putuma via a video connection from Capetown. We also brought you Putuma's work in other forms: poet Radna Fabias read Dutch translations of Putuma's work, while singer-songwriter Bahghi and dancer Gil Gomes Leal presented new works inspired by Black Joy.

Read three poems by Koleka Putuma here.

In addition, poet Jens Meijen and writer-podcaster Munganyende Hélène Christelle gave practical examples about how to create peace of mind and reflected on activism, a state of happiness, and the future.



More background:

Bahghi
website
Soundcloud

Hassnae Bouazza
website

Munganyende Hélène Christelle
website
Instagram
Podcast Fufu & Dadels

Radna Fabias
Video: Radna Fabia recites her poem Roestplaats on DichterBij (VPRO) 

Gil Gomes Leal
website:  Ayahuasca performance by Gil Gomes Leal & ISH Dance Collective

Jens Meijen
Facebook
Short story Kaddisj, published in Hard//hoofd

Koleka Putuma
website
instagram
Video: Koleka Putuma reads from Collective Amnesia on the Capetown-Muizenburg train


Information

Date and time Sunday 17 January 2021 from 20:30 to 21:45 hrs
Location Online

Line-up

Radna Fabias

(Curaçao, 1983) won all major poetry awards in The Netherlands and Belgium for her 2018 poetry debut Habitus. This startling, existentialist collection deals with Curaçao, feeling at home, and her role as a (black) woman, immigrant and outsider. She studied Writing for Performance at the Utrecht School of the Arts. Fabias' work is characterized by variety, both in terms of content and style. De Groene Amsterdammer magazine commented in 2018: "Fabias dares to utilize every nook and cranny of poetry as an art form; some poems are short and lyrical, others narrative and long, sometimes they are clear and accessible and then hermetic and experimental." Habitus has been published in France, Italy, Germany, Argentina and the USA. Fabias also translated poetry collections by British poet Warsan Shire and Nobel Prize winner Louise Glück into Dutch.
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Koleka Putuma

(South Africa, 1993) is a poet, performer and theatre artist. She stormed onto the South African literary scene with her debut collection Collective Amnesia (2017), which became an immediate bestseller. Putuma is seen as an important young voice in South African poetry. She belongs to a generation without memories of apartheid, but which still deals with its consequences and repercussions on a daily basis. As a result, her work probes themes such as race, homophobia, womxnhood, and the workings of power structures in relationships, religion and politics. Her poetry is daring and inventive, not only in structure and language but also in form - sometimes it consists of only one line. She is the founder and director of Manyano Media, an organization that produces and promotes the work and stories of queer black artists and queer life.
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Jens Meijen

(Belgium, 1996) completed a Master's degree in Western Literature, Literary Sciences and European Studies at the Catholic University Leuven. He is a journalist, critic and columnist for Flemish publications, the editor of Greenpeace Belgium, and an editor with the literary magazine dw b (Dietsche Warande & Belfort). He was also the (first) Young Flemish Poet Laureate. His poems have appeared in De Revisor, deFusie, Hard//hoofd and Deus ex Machina. Xenomorf (2019), his debut collection, passionately opposes the demise of Earth through pollution, increased production and maximum profits with a great deal of linguistic pleasure; it was awareded the C. Buddingh Poetry Prize. His debut novel De lichtjaren (The Light Years) was published in 2021.
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Munganyende Hélène Christelle

(Rwanda, 1993) is a writer, societal critic and co-host of the podcast Fufu & Dadels. The program discusses critical life questions about issues such as feminism and gender roles, intercultural sisterhood and fuckboys, and traditions and sexuality. She grew up in Kigali and Eindhoven and studied political science in Brussels. She writes about feminism and the political emancipation of migrant millennials in publications such as Vogue, Vileine and OneWorld. Together with other women of colour, Christelle founded IamSHERO. This foundation aims to show young Dutch women that everyone has opportunities. She wrote the following about her debut novel Vreemd fruit (Strange Fruit), published in 2021: "I strive to give a voice to young women growing up with the same complex migration history as mine. Young people who must learn to move between displacement and homecoming."
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Hassnae Bouazza

(Morocco, 1973) is a journalist, columnist, translator, researcher and producer. She publishes in various media (including Dutch national daily newspaper NRC and women's magazine Linda); runs her own online magazine for culture lovers, Aicha Qandisha. She compiled a story collection about Arab women, Achter de sluier (Behind the Veil, 1999); 2013 saw the publication of her book Arabieren kijken (Looking at Arabs), about "ordinary" people in the Arab world. She made TV programs for various broadcasters, including the documentary series Seks en de Zonde (Sex and Sin). Together with Michelin-starred chef Soenil Bahadoer, she wrote the culinary books Spicy Chef (2020) and Streetfood (2022). She published two further books in 2022: Een koffer vol citroenen (A Suitcase Full of Lemons), a requiem for and portrait of her mother, and Arbeidsmigranten in Nederland (Migrant Labourers in the Netherlands).
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Bahghi

is a vocalist and singer of soul, jazz and pop songs. Together with bassist Vincent Arp, she released her 2019 debut EP Sunshine's Got the Blues, featuring songs about "letting go of what you think you need to be and trusting that everything will be fine if you stay connected to the core of life: love".
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Gil Gomes Leal

(1991) is choreographer and dancer. He followed dance studies at the ROC in Utrecht and was named 2013 world champion of experimental dance at the French Juste Debout competition. In 2016 he founded the dance company Amenti in Rotterdam, where he leads movement workshops and performs. He's been a member of the ISH Dance Collective since 2015. His debut performance Ayahuasca premiered in 2019.
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