Zulu Sign Language
Above: Kasiem Walters performing Zulu Sign Language at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center
February marked the opportunity to travel to Blacksburg, VA with my collaborator Kasiem Walters in order to work through a new piece at Virginia Tech’s Moss Arts Center.
A project I’ve been developing over the past 6 years, Zulu Sign Language, considers the complex hybrid of politics and movement within sign language.The work originates from Thamsanqa Jantjie, the ‘fake’ sign language interpreter who performed at the Nelson Mandela Memorial service and unintentionally shed light on corruption in South Africa and the disenfranchisement of the deaf community.
The jibberish signing was loosely titled Zulu Sign Language by the former president, Jacob Zuma. When confronted with his administration’s handling of the hiring of Jantjie, President Zuma took the insult a step further and then coined the fake signs as ‘Zulu-Sign Language’. Since then, I've been on a journey to understand what Black nationalism looks like in the body, through the tradition of sign. Kasiem, a truly gifted performer, is helping realize the work with power and integrity.
Video documentation of a studio performance of the piece is forthcoming.
Pinder, Walters and audio engineer Josh Spelman-Hall workshopping the performance backstage