Albert Ibokwe Khoza – Performance Art
Performance Art is described as visual art with an added dramatic performance In the world of performance art is what the general public consider as ‘High Art”. High art by definition is Art that only people of a certain level of intellect or financial status in society can consume. It is a very niche oriented form of art. An example that best describes this, ballet is high art whereas breakdancing is contemporary art Some forms of high art can be closely linked to contemporary and accessible forms of art. Performance art is arguably the most complex form of high art there is. It doesn’t necessarily require content creation, the rehearsal and creation and craftsmanship of high art is as unorthodox as it gets. Performance art can range from a person dancing with objects reciting a monologue to them throwing paint on a wall, it can go from a person mutilating themselves or even burning objects. Some even define performance art as the closest thing to a spiritual ritual being performed in front of people. It is a combination of different art forms put together as a visual art piece displayed with a dramatic performance.
Marina Abramovich is a Serbian- jewish artist born in 1946. Marina Abramovich is said to be the godmother of performance art. Marina Abramovich has been a performance artist for over 40 years. She combines body art, shock art, dance choreography, art film and endurance art. Marina says she aims to push the emotional, physical and mental boundaries with her art performances. She challenges her audiences and involves them in her pieces.
In one of her legendary performances , she invited the audiences to either strip her, hit her, spit in her face, insult her, throw food at her or anything to humiliate her. During this performance she stood absolutely still and maintained the exact same expression for 3 hours. In another performance she was in a line with hundreds of people she had met in her entire life and she sat at a table where all of them sat across and she stared deeply into their eyes for an unspecified amount of time. In this performance the audience was to guess what role those people played in her life. The most profound part of this performance was when a man came and sat across from her and he sat he stared into her eyes and she began to shed tears and the man came and shed tears as well and he stood up and walked away. This man happened to be her ex boyfriend with whom she had been in a long term relationship and they broke up. Marina can even be seen in the Jay-Z music video for his song “picasso baby” in 2013. Marina’s art is heralded for its mystical effect it has in captivating audiences. It is described as a once in a lifetime experience. However because of gripping the art there are also many rumours surrounding her spirituality. Many people say she is a Satanist or that she is heavily involved in dark cults with powerful people.
Now Moving to South Africa performance art has a life of its own in the form of Albert “Ibokwe” Khoza. Albert is a South African actor, performance artist, dancer and a homosexual flamboyant spiritual healer (Sangoma). He rose to public prominence for his role in the hit local drama series “Blood Psalms”.
Albert is famous for pushing the boundaries of his acting as he has played both male and female Characters in his films. He is a prominent actor who has also appeared in another series called Smokes and Mirrors.
When it comes to performance art Albert has his own brand of entertainment. Being a gay sangoma is seen by many cultural extremists as a true rebellion against the status quo. But that’s exactly what Albert is going for. After studying theatre in his younger years he grew a love for performances and even went to study theatre at Witwatersrand. He always argued and said that the learning material was too eurocentric and did not align with him as a person, so he has brought that energy into his performances and it has been truly impactful after having a thriving career for ten years.
Albert incorporates theatre acting, traditional healing dances and theatrics, body art, costumes, shock art, music into his performances. The combination of his practice as a sangoma, brings his performance a spiritual mystique to his spectacle, the message in his performances make him make himself completely expendable to bring out true authenticity to his in every scene he showcases. Being an androgynous performer also allows for there to be a drag-queen, ball-room visual appeal but that accompanied with his other attributes makes his displays all the more perplexing, and breath-taking. In one of his performances he mixes a monologue with spiritual chants, in a flamboyant out he proceeds to also defecate on stage using his faeces as a prop. Albert leaves his fans feeling, stunned, shocked, disgusted, enlightened, angry, sympathetic, shocked, bewildered, ambivalent and most of all entertained.
Now like Marina, Albert has naturally had his fair share of criticism, probably even more so being in Africa. There are some conspiracies of dark art and demonic worship because of the fact that he has these grandiose displays that align with his spirituality and sexuality. Naturally conservatives would have a witch hunt for such a unique performer. You can not teach people to appreciate the experience that Albert is. If there is one thing about Albert’s work is that it embodies, offends, challenges and redesigns the very fabric of society itself in so many dimensions. In his 35 years he has received best actor awards for his theatre plays, he has even won the New York City Bessie Award in 2023 just to name a few.
In an ailing industry like theatre and with a niche brand of entertainment like performance art Albert has made a decent life for himself with his work. He is a living character that couldnt be conjured up in the depths of our imagination. Albert is more than a human, he is an experience.
