AK: thank you for your latest round of answers. I feel we are getting somewhere. I don't know where, but somewhere. Here are three new questions.
Last night I saw a new work at your place in Yeoville. Here the dynamic of the writing has changed. It has been foregrounded, so to speak, and now covers an entire panel, becomes the focus of attention in itself. Obviously, without a grasp of the Zulu language, I am unable to comment on what the text is "about". But the visual impact of the work, its operation as a painting, as "fine art" was simply incredible. I was stunned by the piece. It seemed to be an actualization (for me) of the potential lying in wait in the earlier, more book bound pieces. I would greatly appreciate if you would comment at length about this new work, how it came about, what the text's "meaning" involves; whether the "content" of the text is of primary concern to you - how language functions to exclude/include the audience; and whether this piece signals a new direction in your practice.
TK: i remember one day improvising on what nowdayz iz called spokenword (as though there a nonspoken) it occurred to me that in essence it's not in di volumes we read but in the heart that truth can be grasped - however that is an ultimate annihilation of ma being in this schizophrenic world - this very eluding reality keeps informing of a lot of visual elements in ma surroundings half of what i do iz consciously executed and half of it iz unconsciously arrived at - i wud assume that foreplan your day aprior the next dawn only to realise it unfolding with an attention demanding sunset if not a disrupting storm. the curves on our mental sojourning are at times inspiring and at other times daunting... itz lak this i always wonder if i wonder at ma madness. the text that is what i'm poisoned with - words are like hope wrestling with despair yet it can't be said who will overcome because once our prayers are answered there will be no point in sustaining this existence. it's the blues, the words maybe apparent to the native speaker yet the essence as obscure reality is in our times - i can't arrive at being at ease when someone else hears ma prayers - about a new direction i'm not certain yet i must say everyday is genesis.
AK: You seem to work a lot with objects that have a debris-like quality. This choice of found materials upon which to work gives the pieces and extraordinary sense of "datedeness" in that they already - new as they are - have the feel of an ancient object from an abandoned culture. To what extent is this parallel level of meaning operating in the work consciously, as a thought-out device, or merely the result of pecuniary demands; a by-product, as it were, of your lack of funds?
TK: i guess there iz a morbid nostalgia that i'm sunk in, the loss of innocence, a sense of betrayal of black aesthetics and identity for the more contrived modern and refined vulgarity in which ma generation (maself included) are paying homage to - language instead of evolving becoming an expression of the degenerate - remotely as i stand from the contemporary mainstream hobbies that are referred to as culture - i can't help being affected it's so noizi one can't breath the air of informed thoughtz without being radical even at the expense of happiness...
AK: I need to ask you about the spelling. You have a system which clearly rejects certain conventions of official written English. I really want to know why. And do you believe the use of this system outweighs the off-putting distance you put between your message and the reader? Or is this Brechtian distancing device the very point? And what IS the point?
TK: there's a profound resentment of the english language at times, it's very imposed when one actually assesses how much damage has been done to the world by this colonial means of communication - one can't help but by being as one can be - i have an attitude towards english i can't fully embrace its dictates - being the remnants of its plague upon ma culture i can only say like i transform the meaning of books as visual objects. i certainly do the same to the written form of english an idea that is inspired by free jazz – a way of dyveting luking awey from the prescribed parten more especially when the meaning behind the text is void of feeling.
