The Theatre of Beauty examines the connections between plant medicine, history, memory, and storytelling. The project draws on research on psychedelic and indigenous medicine practices and how they have been used to heal individuals, communities, and generational traumas.

[Imvuselelo] is the first iteration of the Theatre of Beauty project. This iteration is presented in the form of an installation encompassing film, performance, found footage, and sound. Each part will be accompanied by written and recorded text.

In this iteration, we find a mushroom at groove. A mushroom vogue dipping past the teepees of psilocybin ceremonies, past the graves of Dimbaza. It is Bautista under the grip of The Undertaker. At a crusade, transfixed by the hem of Benny Hinn’s tailored suit. We hear the whistle as a meditation, as a chorus, as it is passed from mouth to mouth. Any wisp of memory is evidence: Ricky Lake, Jam Alley, Vegeta. [It’s not inside; it’s on top]. Our bodies, from and back into the land. [Freedom is coming tomorrow]. After tears is after tears. Our collective afflictions share a root recorded in the mycelial network.

What are the ruptures that have not been soothed? Or maybe, where are the ruptures that have not been soothed?

In the Theatre of Beauty, Koleka Putuma draws on processes and methodologies of collaborative making and experimental engagement with materials, text, image, performance, sound, and impulse. The project is an invitation to engage with the mind, memory, history, and the ways that plant medicines are catalysts for reconfiguring identities and practices of healing and being.