Johannesburg artist Anthea Moys is a collaborator on Quiet Emergency. Laetitia Pople finds out what is integral to her work.
Drawing on the talents of possibly one of the most diverse groups of participants ever involved in a public art event in Cape Town, Quiet Emergency is staged as an interactive ritual. The Lwandle theatre group, IKAPA dance company, the Central City Improvement District street sweepers, security guards, as well as puppeteers, sangomas, the Hanover Street Band and independent actors, are all involved. “And, says collaborator Anthea Moys, “there is a lady who is very fluent in sign language. It has been an amazing experience working with everyone”. Not that the collaborative process hasn’t been challenging and an education.
“As most of my work involves some kind of playful intervention in the public domain, I see my role as the ‘playful interrupter’ in Quiet Emergency. And we all feel that these small interventions and interruptions are as important as the ‘spotlighted’ pieces.”
She regards Quiet Emergency as a celebration of the human spirit.
“In amongst all this chaotic diversity, beauty is celebrated in this work. It is about binding people together through the chaos and highlighting their human rights and rites.”
Play is essential to Moy’s work. She sees it as a necessary tool in transformation.
“We live in a very chaotic and often unstable world. I believe that play is one of our greatest tools to learn how to negotiate our space in this world. It is about accepting the chaos and the change and going with it. Play is about action between people; what we can do together. I am interested in how play readily involves others, and there is usually no right or wrong. It is also about risk, and it is when taking a risk and ‘leaping into the void’ that we really feel most alive.”
– Laetitia Pople writes for Die Burger.
