For Duduzile Mathonsi, a trip to her homeland and the everyday experience of taking the bus reaffirmed her roots and gave renewed clarity to her experiences living in Norway; involving blackness, white privilege, personal healing and how “joy as an act of resistance” can resonate with others in the diaspora.

‘You Better Say Our Names: The Podcast’ is the first collaboration in the OCA project ‘You Better Say Our Names. Working towards pluricultural futures’. It is a co-curation between OCA and the digital platform YPPĒ on a series of recordings and a trilogy of personal stories with textual and performative contributions by Duduzile Mathonsi, Minna Salami, and Yaa Addae. Read the texts on yppe.no

In this, the first episode, we present Duduzile Mathonsi’s story Healing Continued, from which we found the inspiration for the title of the series; and discus its significance between Itzel Esquivel from OCA and Ro Averin from Rafiki Art Initiatives, which houses YPPĒ. The sound intro of the episodes is a contribution called “Knirk” by musician Victoria Nunes Finstad.

Hosted by Itzel Esquivel and Ro Averin. Produced by Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), 2023. Music contribution by Victoria Nunes Finstad