Performance Art Piece EXHIBIT S: ODE TO SAARTJIE BAARTMAN BY A BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN for Alexander Upstairs Theatre

EXHIBIT S: ODE TO SAARTJIE BAARTMAN BY A BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN is a poetic performance piece inspired by misrepresentation, art and the story of a young woman. Born exactly 200 years before Thola Antamu in 1789, who has created this piece of performance art, Baartman was a khoikhoi woman from the Eastern Cape. Following the 30-minute performance of EXHIBIT S, there will be a Q&A session in the Alexander Bar Theatre and Café Upstairs Theatre, where the piece is being performed this December.

"She lived to be only 24, after a life of seemingly never-ending struggle and lies," says Antamu, who will perform EXHIBIT S. "Like me she was also orphaned as a child. She was bought as a showpiece by an Englishman and smuggled to England never to set foot on her home soil again. She was supposedly well treated, paid, housed and respected by her 'owners.' This is her story fused with mine and told through, speech, skin, and movement."

Antamu is a professional dancer, singer and actress specialising in poetry and movement as a mode of creating exhibitionist theatre. After graduating from The Cape Academy of Performing Arts, Antamu subsequently travelled internationally and was comissioned to create and perform her piece MY CONFESSIONS at JW3 in London. She also trained and performed with the Artful Badger immersive theatre company in FLOOD at London's feted The Vaults Festival. In her powerful new solo production, EXHIBIT S: ODE TO SAARTJIE BAARTMAN BY A BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN, Antamu uses a culmination of her extensive training and techniques, South African history, everyday news, femininity and blackness to evoke pertinent conversations and empower women.

EXHIBIT S: ODE TO SAARTJIE BAARTMAN BY A BLACK SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN will be performed from 15 - 17 December at 7pm. Tickets, costing R60 - R70, can be booked at the Alexander Bar website or at the bar itself. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the bar anytime during regular opening hours, on Mondays - Saturdays from 11am to 1am. For telephone bookings and enquiries, call 021 300 1652.

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