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The visual essay “An Archive of Feelings” by Dr. Thokozani Mahlambi that was created during his artist residency has been published on YouTube.

During his artist residency as Cluster Fellow at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies from October 2022 through May 2023 Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi created a visual essay entitled “An Archive of Feelings”. Shot in Bayreuth, the approach is informed by the idea of memory as explained by Ann Cvetkovich (2003) in her book The Archive of Feelings, where she discusses the stories shared by those in the LGBT+ community of the USA during the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mhlambi’s project uses the visual as testimony of presence, through filmic movement across different landscapes and sites in the city of Bayreuth. By using the visual iconography of the city to convey the story, the artist tells an interior story with reminiscences of home, creating a story of being unfamiliar, but also a story of forging connections in a human city. Through the dialogue between the visual and sonic, the story becomes not so much a story about Bayreuth, but a story about Mhlambi as a seeker, navigating the sites and landscapes and the human interconnections which foreground the experience of being here. And as a composer walking in the town where Richard Wagner once walked, Mhlambi stylizes himself in the creative vision of Wagner, whilst at the same time, transcending it.

In late fall the film was successfully launched both in Johannesburg (Sophiatown Arts Academy) and in Bayreuth (Germany). The film may be watched online here:

Film “An Archive of Feelings”
Director: Dr Thokozani Mhlambi
Camera: Jens Wagner
Dance: Samanea Kaarfalt
Music: “New Sensation of Life” – composed and recorded by Dr Thokozani Mhlambi (Copyright: Afro Digital Natives – 2023)

Supported by:
Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University of Bayreuth
Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies
Iwalewahaus
Richard-Wagner-Museum
Ballettschule Bayreuth