george adje
lou drago
marum
thawra
Every summer it has become somewhat a tradition for many creatures of all kinds to migrate to Ferropolis for three days of (homo-)heterotopia at Whole Festival. We couldn’t be happier to be invited again to join this beautiful chaos of bodies and minds coming together for 3 days.
With such a plethora of offerings, there’s no one way to do Whole. For the many of us whose last year has been marked by intense grief, we held our loved ones closer, danced hard, and fought for our shared values even harder. We remembered our queer and trans kin now in the ancestor realm, and vowed to continue our work in their honour. New friendships were forged, solidifying solidarity through a shared vision of liberation. On the last day we landed on a beautifully lit temple of ambient for a sonic seance that will be remembered as one where you bewitched us with poems, stories and chants, while so many proudly wore their tears, keffiyehs, fists and dreams.
We started our 6 hour sonic journey with a soothing opening vocal meditation hosted by Singen3000 choir leader George Adje tuning our collective voice to receive the frequencies and words offered after. Our sets were interspersed with powerful and personal readings organised by Thawra, with Enana, Hussein, Tayo, Nicolas Shatleh and Zaina. Mmakgosi transformed the space through their body’s language and presence, until we held a closing procession to João Carinho’s floral altar honouring our lost loved ones.
Thank you to Keira for your support and organising expertise, and to Billy Ruth and Nes for tenderly caring for the space and our guests. Thank you Whole Festival for your trust and for allowing us to hold this space for grief among celebration. We loved weaving the sonic threads that embraced us that afternoon into evening, through the warm sun and shining moon, as the festival came to a close.
love, lou and marum