Chimurenga presented Of Wounds, of Hands – a word/sound documentary by the Insurrections Ensemble – live on PASS, 08 July 2021, 6pm.

During the Spring of 1941, Suzanne Roussi, Aimé Césaire and Rene Menil hosted a walk in the Absalon forest in Martinique, with many of the “degenerate” artists from Europe who’d made it out on the last ship from Marseilles escaping Nazi power. There were Wilfredo Lam, Andre Breton, Andre Masson, Anna Seghers, who shared a passage with Victor Serge and Claude Levi Strauss as well. That anti-fascist moment involved the spirits of negritude, afro-cubism, surrealism, social and socialist realism.

Of Wounds, of Hands is a commemoration of that moment, crafted from their diaries, accounts and poems.

Featuring the following composers, oralists and performers:

Vivek Narayanan, Dennis Hirson, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Thabo Bopape, Rhoda Isaacs, Purav Goswami, Astrid von Kotze, Morné Steyn. Reza Khota, Kathyayini Dash, Ronan Skillen, Dean Henning, Sumangala Damodaran, Sazi Dlamini and Ari Sitas

Listen to the word/sound documentary below: