
A safe place for contested space
A preview of JOMBA! @ DAG by Julia Wilson
Since its inception, JOMBA! has been a festival that provides space for the critical arts, not only inviting international guests to its stage, but also providing an accessible platform to talented local artists.
Three such artists, Lorin Sookool, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama, as awardees of grants from the Durban Art Gallery (DAG), are returning to the festival this year with work to turn heads.
Zinhle Nzama and Jabu Siphika, long-standing members of Durban’s darling Flatfoot Dance Company, will be showing their collaborative work, “Locked,” which examines contemporary life for black African women, and generational shifts in behaviour and learning, while engaging with the #MeToo movement. Their journey into notions of black femininity, and how it is performed in both public and private spheres, is not to be missed.
Also on at JOMBA! @ DAG is Lorin Sookool’s work, “The Moon and Her Bloom.” Lorin’s work has been a feature of the festival as part of various companies through the years, and also as an independent choreographer and performer.
Asked why she keeps returning, Lorin finds that she feels “held by the platform even, with my shifting forms of dance. JOMBA! has been there, an entry into, and now a support of, these complex things we try to speak through our bodies.”
Lorin’s work this year centres around intimacy, sexuality and the distinct link with spirituality.
“With every new generation comes a heightened consciousness and an increased desire to expose the lies and abuses our fellow humans create and pursue,” she said. “Many of us are aware of modern-day exploited, perverted or even throw-away approaches to sex in the media, and in general, I think. So it was simply my intention to shine a light on the beauty of it.”
For these powerful women, JOMBA! is a loaded and precious space, in a time where the critical arts are largely unfunded and seldom provided with the exposure that they deserve. My hat goes off to them, and to the festival itself, for the consistent commitment to artists and their art. And as always, my heart is full in the knowledge that Lliane Loots, festival director, is unfailing in her drive to continue to build this platform.
A luta continua!
JOMBA! @ DAG takes place at 18.00, 7 Sept. at the Durban Art Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.

