"Whenever I encounter racial prejudice, I always put on my black consciousness." Something to that effect! Like an item one can don at convenient moments, Biko and his black consciousness in politics have the effect of a dispensable object.

“Have you ever sat, in the centre of a parting glass – Did the pieces cut your soul or just the flesh, I need to know how people have survived this war before.

This is how black tax begins … It doesn’t start when you are much older and have a job, with endless siblings to support and ageing parents who have no pension whom you must look after. No, it already begins to eat at you at the mall when your father tells you the sneakers you want are too expensive to buy.

“The APLA Day anniversary is one of the most memorable in the annual Africanist calendar. On this day we honour the fallen heroes of the Struggle, including the many Poqo combatants who were hanged by the settler regime. It is a great tragedy that many of the veterans who served and sacrificed for freedom are today socially and economically indigent.

The 2019 edition pays homage to the spirit of spaces, projects, platforms, and patrons that play a vital role in supporting artists and curators who would otherwise have no access to the art world or opportunities to critically reflect on their practices and changes within the larger cultural landscape.

The event will also honour South African photojournalist, Shiraaz Mohamed, who was kidnapped in Syria and kept in jail against his will since January 2017. October marks 1 000 days since Mohamed has been held under captivity. Mohamed is one of South Africa’s most respected photojournalists, community media practitioners and Market Photo Workshop alumnus.

At the peak of her fame in the early 1800s, Saartjie Baartman became a reference point for abolishionists, fashion designers, and political satirists alike. Her remains were dissected and put on display at the French National Museum for 150 years, and in 2002, Saartjie Baartman was finally returned to the land of her birth, the Gamtoos River Valley in the Eastern Cape.

The world stopped turning for many of us last past week. We abandoned our daily posts to rage against the patriarchy and the violence we experience. It was profound, something has cracked open that should lead to a greater shift. We are surfacing at the bottom of the iceberg, making the invisible visible. It is our trauma as much as it is the trauma of the recent victims.