MRRT & Courage (Film)

Wandie Mesatywa's film, MRRT & Courage, first shown in 2021 was specially commissioned for the pan-African LGBTQ+ event, Pride Afrique.

Mesatywa’s artworks are an exploration of her own identity as a woman. It aims at an understanding of her place as a woman and femininity in the culture she is born into. Trying to understand what it is to be beautiful in her own culture? What it is that constitutes beauty as a young lesbian Xhosa woman.

Mesatywa’s artworks are disclosure and not exhibitionism. It relies on trust whilst embarking on an intimate journey with the viewers. Her works instinctively ask the audience to question what they are presented with. However, instead of a purging of the past, her work is closer to an objective exploration of her identity in order to meet her true self, her inner identity.

Part of this journey to the self is acknowledging tragic experiences and disregarding the fallacy of forgetting. Mesatywa believes that one never really forgets but rather we suppress memory or the act of remembering. The viewer is presented with points of reference which facilitate narrative, which is a form of remembering on the author’s part as well as disclosure.

Wandie Mesatywa’s work aims to pave a path for her audience to be inspired and have the courage to tell their own stories of remembrance, trauma, and survival. Her work also acts as proof of her existence. It is a brave act of asserting that she is present, in all her form.