Lindiwe Matshikiza is a semi-nomadic multidirectional artist originally from Johannesburg, currently based in Marseille. She has a background in theatre-making and a special focus on exploratory performance, writing and directing. Her projects are largely process-driven, intuitive, collaborative, and often take on more than one form over time. In recent years, Lindiwe has been a fellow of The Camargo Foundation (France), Vila Sul (Brazil) and Institute for Creative Arts (SA). She is co-founder of multidisciplinary project hub, Motherbox, together with artists, João Renato Orecchia Zúñiga and Mmakgosi Kgabi. Her directorial debut as a filmmaker, One Take Grace (2021), was a creative documentary made in collaboration with Mothiba Grace Bapela over ten years, for which they won the IDFA Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution (2021), BlackStar Best Feature Documentary (2022), and the Grand Prize, International Feature at RIDM (2022). She has since been trying to figure out how to sustain a full, free and flexible artistic life alongside parenting and other adult responsibilities.

Title: DUMB RAT YOU PUT THE DIE IN DIASPORA

Description: A (nearly) hour-long sonic mix from girl blue AKA Lindiwe Matshikiza AKA DRUNK BRIDE AKA The Secret Life of Plants in response to a brief from Naledi Chai / Fly Machine Sessions / Loving Parents / Mama Zeph...

Hey Sis,

You asked me where does Hate live in my mind and work and gave me a most excellent brief filled with prompts to go looking into past project files. What a gift to be able to make a love letter to Hate, that big blast of energy, most familiar to me when turned inwards. That crazy loud voice that threatens to extinguish, that gathers up all my shame and insecurities and sprays them back at me. It’s a force and a leveller. And, also, great fuel for poetry. For some time now, I’ve been working with [thinking about, failing to avoid...] interruption, noise, chaos. Artist Amina Ross hit on something major for me when they said Turbulence. You’ve caught me coming off a few years of creative and personal (same thing) turbulence and offered such a great way to process some of it.

The mix contains snippets from plays, films, audio projects, interviews, artist conversations, residency notes, some music, and some words from artists I heavily revere. Some of the records used are from Other People’s Collections, a project I started while travelling and thus out of reach of my own record collection, the state I have now been in for over two years. This mix is also a bridge between here (Mars) and there (JHB). Thank you for this brief: Your outstretched palm with yet another gem inside. Thanks for the invitation to go looking back through the hard drives to remember projects from other lives –finished/unfinished/unnamed/undefined - over a general span of fifteen years, which also means break-ups, make-ups, two kids, a pandemic and some epic voyages.

• L

• XXX

Image credit: Noah Cohen

Credits for DUMB RAT

From albums:

1. My Father/Dialog – Nina Simone THE VERY BEST OF NINA SIMONE, 1967-1972: SUGAR IN MY BOWL (1998)

2. Long Time Gal - Louise Bennet YES M’DEAR – MISS LOU LIVE (1983)

3. Theme – Moondog MOONDOG (1969)

4. Lord of Lords – Alice Coltrane LORD OF LORDS (1972)

5. D’un Feu Secret – Cécile McLorin Salvant MÉLUSINE (2023)

6. Ra Comm 8 – Jairus Sharif WATER & TOOLS (2022)

7. Phuck U Symphony - Millie Jackson LIVE AND UNCENSORED (1979)

From films/video:

1. A Visit From Space (dir. Zlatko Grgic, 1964)

2. Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (dir. Sophie Fiennes, 2017)

3. Interview with Yvonne Vera (Eric Beauchemin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UDUFEMJvVQ

From past/unfinished projects and ongoing conversations:

1. ‘Namesclappingconversationssecrets’ from A Very Strong Present, workshop with Hillbrow Theatre Project and Lézard Dramatique (2013)

2. From Desert by Lindiwe Matshikiza: ‘Jackals 2’, ‘JM Tape 2 (periods)’ & ‘Nomades du Niger 6’, compositions by João Renato Orecchia Zúñiga (The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Season 3 (2018)

3. ‘Out of Control’ from the sound design of Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman (dir. Lindiwe Matshikiza), Market Theatre Laboratory (2005)

4. ‘keeppushingforward’ & ‘Joburg snap’ performed by Orakle Ngoy for Katleho / Atteindre, collaborative process and experimental short film produced by Market Theatre Laboratory and Institut Français Afrique du Sud (2021)

5. ‘Face yo shit’ voiced by Elsa M’bala aka AMET in Artist Mother in Africa (conversation series) (2020- )

6. Extracts from INVISIBLE FISH (working title) performed by Tara Jerome-Bernabé and Folasade Sangowawa, ongoing collaboration with Flora Parrott (2018- )

7. ‘quiet sea/sudden swirls/monster’ from my many mouths by MMMcollective (2020) - - Extract from sound project with Aio Frei & João Orecchia for Jazz Chur Jazz Podcast (2022)

8. The Donkey Child overture, first staged at The Hillbrow Theatre (2014) - ‘arm of fire’ etc from series of conversations with Una Aya Osato, recorded by João Orecchia & Palesa Shongwe in Johannesburg (

9. ‘I Lost…’ with João Renato Orecchia Zùñiga, commissioned by Jessica Huber & Michelle Ettlin for I lost**, Theaterspektakel Zürich (2020)

10. Clothed To The Land Worn By The Sea - Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Three: river run thee (2015)