Haman Mpadire

• Fellow 2023
• artist, performance maker and dance teacher from Uganda
• cooperating partner: Nora Chipaumire (NYC, USA / Harare, Zimbabwe)

Haman Mpadire
Nora Chipaumire

Haman Mpadire is an artist, performance maker and dance teacher born in Eastern Uganda, originally from Busoga tribe. He graduated with a diploma in contemporary dance from École des Sables and Master's degree in Choreography from CCN - Paul Valery University, Montpellier (France). He holds a danceWEB scholarship and is a laureate of the Visa for Creation program at the French Institute in Paris. His artistic practices involve the body as a medium that embodies entities that are not seen but their presence is felt in space. Furthermore, Haman explores animistic notions of ancient Busoga kingdom and beyond + complex relationships between identity, visibility and colonialism towards black African bodies. We are unapologetically stepping into the black future with ancestral joy'.

In the context of the fellowship, Haman will follow the work of Zimbabwe born and NYC based artist Nora Chipaumire. Chipaumire’s work has been challenging and embracing stereotypes of Africa and the black performing body, art and aesthetics. Haman is interested in learning about Chipaumire’s thinking method, her understanding of the animist body practices, as well as her process of creating a large-scale production. During his stay with Chipaumire, Haman will be shadowing her work nhaka, a cartography of the animist body practices, and will as well take part in the creation process of her new work Nehande, an opera that investigates the legend of a powerful spirit, venerated by the Shona people.

"Haman is a young emerging artists whose strong, brave and singular way to express themselves has particularly impressed us. Haman’s cooperation with Nora Chipaumire in Zimbabwe is a unique opportunity for them to expand their research on animism and the decolonization of the black body. We are convinced this will be a wonderful collaboration and an important South-South exchange between two dance artists."
- Jury Statement