Rhoda Davids Abel

Images by Philip Frowein

 ‘Neon Bush Girl Society’ is a collaboration of
Dandara Modesto, Latefa Wiersch, and Rhoda Davids Abel.


The three Swiss-based artists developed a speculative narrative from text, sound, and performative objects that draw on their respective ‘fragmented’ biographies as well as the cultural and colonial histories of different indigenous African, Brazilian, Asian, and Afro-diasporic populations.

A unifying motif is gestures of turning back and looking back, which stands for longing and for mourning the loss and displacement of, and definitions of - homeland and heritage. Contemplating inner landscapes of identity and culture and confronting contradicting outer landscapes of belonging everywhere and nowhere at once.

These can be found, for example, in the legend of the war-affected Nama people in southern Africa: the myth says that the fugitives turned into hybrid beings between tree and human. This is the origin of the Afrikaans name "Halfmens" for a plant whose silhouette was reminiscent of human figures. Based on this, the hybrid play figures for the performance were created, which seem to merge with the bodies of the actors.

Gestures of stillness and the vulnerability of bodies and the erasure of names and personhood are considered, drawing from the biblical story of the nameless wife of Lot who became a pillar of salt.

Working with deconstructed ‘body’ pieces that are connecting, puzzle together, and grow and re-emerge in a new and unexpected nature.
Confronting and challenging perspectives of territory of the body, of personhood, who writes history, and what is considered relevant and worthy of inclusion in space.

Enmeshing contrasting definitions of time in the use of sound and song – considering past, present and future, what does it mean to grow by considering soil and land, drawing on a meditative and contemplative play with the lifecycles of the synchronized emergence of periodical cicadas. The performance includes text fragments from the poem "Coloured Identity 1950", which is also set to music as a sound element.

Tracing the flow and ebb of natural elements, of the taking back of power considering the legend of Medusa and the links to freedom and transformation.