‘The complexity and contradictory existence of mankind is what gives me a hard-on about being alive. This is what my work is about,” says Angolan artist Nástio Mosquito.
A filmmaker, performance poet, actor and visual artist, Mosquito — who will be performing at the Poetry Africa Festival in Durban next week — is a provocative mix of humanist, sex and political consciousness. Imagine drag queen Rupaul mainlining Franz Fanon and Dambudzo Marechera, then disseminating that high to anybody who cares.
Mosquito (full name António Nástio da Silva Mosquito), says he is comfortable in the various media. Like other explorers of gender he is given to occasional cross-dressing. “I’m more demanding with my performance side,” he says. “It is in this medium that, I think, no one can fuck with me. It is here that I can learn the most and give the most.”
The piece he will perform at Poetry Africa is called DZzzz and reflects his personal journey: “It is about me growing as an artist. For a long time I was a communicator first and an artist second. That has changed with this project. You have my existence on a very basic level, in poetry, music, humour, sexual tension. DZzzz is the first step in my change from a communicator to an artist.”
The work is steeped in sexual imagery. He says the musical accompaniment will provide the audience and himself with “a fantastic bed on which to produce, hopefully, magic moments”.
This penchant is also easily identifiable in his work, like Fuck Africa, a performance piece set to dub music: “We’re gonna grab Afrika/ We’re gonna make it spread, and we’re going to fuck it in the ass,” he intones. Later he says, “Black on Black porn / I hate it”.
According to Mosquito, the issues he interrogates revolve around two aspects of life: food and sex.
“This is all I talk about. Food equals family, home comfort, love, pleasure. Sex equals power, men versus women (in my case, most of the time), lust, death, emotions,” he says.
Mosquito says his motivation for writing poetry is “survival”. “Survival of my spirit, my soul and my flesh. I write about everything … not necessarily because I find diversity of subjects the only way to really be true to my existence, but because my existence is based on people; and people are one of the craziest, most diverse, animals of the universe.”
From Angola’s southern province of Huambo, Mosquito “studied television, theatre, radio and cinema production and for a while earned my living as a TV director, writer and presenter”.
His television work in Angola included youth and development programmes, working as a continuity presenter on Angolan Public Television and documentaries such as Já Lá Vão 15! , about one of the oldest cultural associations in Angola.
Disillusionment with television work led him to live performance and various video projects around the world, but it was the interest of Angolan curator Fernando Alvim and noted collector Sindika Dokolo that Mosquito credits with to adding vital impetus to his trajectory as an artist.
On the subject of the continent, Mosquito appears to have little time for the airy ideas of “African renaissance”. For him, the renaissance is on the streets and in human beings: “Where the fuck has [Mbeki] been communicating this renaissance?” he asks.
Then he answers the question himself: “I’m the fucking renaissance! The internet connection that is allowing our communication is the fucking renaissance. I just do not give a fuck about these big concepts.
“When I can get a visa at the airport, on the same day like an American or European, we can talk about that again.”
The details
Nástio Mosquito performs at the 12th Poetry Africa Fesival on October 1. The festival, hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts, runs daily at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from September 29 to October 4 with daily poetry showcases at 7.30pm.
Participating poets include Kole Ade-Odutola (Nigeria), !Bushwomen
(South Africa), Gary Cummiskey (South Africa), Nassuf Djailani (Mayotte), Carlos Gomez (United States), Megan Hall (South Africa), Jitsvinger (South Africa), Anton Krueger (South Africa), Thomas Mapfumo (Zimbabwe), Rogerio Manjate (Mozambique), Ntsiki Mazwai (South Africa), Bantu Mwaura (Kenya), Mxolisi Nyezwa (South Africa) and Marjolijn van Heemstra (The Netherlands).
For more information contact 031 260 2506, email [email protected] or visit www.ukzn.ac.za/cca.