free to roam with Ziza and Mwenza Blell
Making visible what is so often unseen....
Free to Roam with D6 artist in residence Ziza in conversation with Mwenza Blell, academic researcher, writer, artist and community organiser, was a powerful, affirming exploration of how colonial legacies continue to shape institutions, perception and everyday resistance.
Ziza has been developing Free to Roam through residencies with D6 in Newcastle, the Museo Egizio in Italy and Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights as part of Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues. The international programme supports sustained artistic research and close collaboration with local communities, museums and archives, enabling new narratives to emerge across borders and contexts.
In collaboration with Gateshead's International Festival of Theatre (GIFT), Ziza was back in their hometown of Gateshead to share this new body of work. The event began with an invitation to participants to take their shoes off and put on one of the many mismatched pairs laid out. Walking - often unevenly and clumsily - in these new shoes, participants were asked to go into pairs and ask each other questions displayed on a screen - some questions were lighthearted and others probing and more challenging, creating a tension and imbalance.
Free to Roam with D6 artist in residence Ziza in conversation with Mwenza Blell, academic researcher, writer, artist and community organiser, was a powerful, affirming exploration of how colonial legacies continue to shape institutions, perception and everyday resistance.
Ziza has been developing Free to Roam through residencies with D6 in Newcastle, the Museo Egizio in Italy and Chile’s Museum of Memory and Human Rights as part of Contested Desires: Constructive Dialogues. The international programme supports sustained artistic research and close collaboration with local communities, museums and archives, enabling new narratives to emerge across borders and contexts.
In collaboration with Gateshead's International Festival of Theatre (GIFT), Ziza was back in their hometown of Gateshead to share this new body of work. The event began with an invitation to participants to take their shoes off and put on one of the many mismatched pairs laid out. Walking - often unevenly and clumsily - in these new shoes, participants were asked to go into pairs and ask each other questions displayed on a screen - some questions were lighthearted and others probing and more challenging, creating a tension and imbalance.
This led to a conversation between Ziza and Mwenza, reflecting on doubleness - the tension of living between identities, cultures and expectations. Ziza spoke about creating hybrid ‘third’ spaces through embodied performance where traditions and futures meet. For Mwenza, this doubleness revealed how violence enacted overseas by colonisers was always deeply connected to what was happening in Europe, and how evidence of suffering is used to justify difference and dehumanisation.
Moving between lived experience, theory and creative practice, the conversation asked urgent questions about freedom, belonging and resistance - is it ever possible to truly be in someone else’s shoes? And what does it mean to be free within systems structured by deep asymmetries?
Thank you so much to Ziza and Mwenza for making visible what is so often unseen; to our amazing audience and their rich insightful questions. And to GIFT for this collaboration with D6.
Moving between lived experience, theory and creative practice, the conversation asked urgent questions about freedom, belonging and resistance - is it ever possible to truly be in someone else’s shoes? And what does it mean to be free within systems structured by deep asymmetries?
Thank you so much to Ziza and Mwenza for making visible what is so often unseen; to our amazing audience and their rich insightful questions. And to GIFT for this collaboration with D6.
Contested Desires is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. In the UK, we are grateful for the support of Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and Community Foundation North East and Newcastle City Council's the Culture Investment Fund.
Find out more about Ziza's Contested Desires journey here.
Images: Von Fox Promotions
Find out more about Ziza's Contested Desires journey here.
Images: Von Fox Promotions
