Indigene is no stranger to the love of word, having fallen in love with poetry from her formative years when she found refuge and therapy in writing and the expression it afforded her. Her writing spans across the universal themes of love, existential angst, divine bliss, esoteric consciousness, social challenges, sexuality, and feminism.
In 2005, Indigene began performing her poetry in Tshwane. She launched and hosted regular poetry and Hip Hop sessions at “Cherry Jam” in Hatfield which was a customary meeting place for like-minded music lovers and spoken word enthusiasts.
Indigene moved to back Johannesburg and joined the poetry collective “Likwid Tongue” in 2006 which hosted weekly poetry shows and writing workshops at various venues in Johannesburg, while collecting clothing for charity. She performed at the international poetry festival “Urban Voices” in 2007 alongside Sarah Jones and Steve Coleman where she distributed her EP “Nymphomaniac” featuring 3 poems accompanied by music that sought to create awareness around female sexuality.
In 2008 Indigene produced, directed, performed at and hosted a fundraising event called “Black Widow” for POWA at the Baseline in Newtown that weaved together theatre/drama, comedy, poetry, jazz, vocalists, beat boxers, DJ’s and pure funk!
In 2010 Indigene’s poetry was published in an international yoga and meditation journal “Constant Remembrance” published by Sahaj Marg and distributed worldwide.
Her work is also featured on www.cntrlaltsex.co.za, “a voluntary sex positive organisation whose mission is to normalise alternative sexuality and provide informed spaces for people to talk positively and openly about sex”.
Her poetry featured alongside Tumi Molekane and Flo in an insert produced for MTV Base commemorating Youth Day.
Her work “Visions Implode” is featured at the closing of a documentary produced by Khalo Matabane commemorating Women’s Day.
She is currently editing her book “Chasing Infinity” to be published in 2016.
She has performed her poetry on various mass media platforms such as Y-fm, Kaya fm, the Citizen, Soweto TV, MTV Base and 3 Talk with Noeleen on SABC 3.
She is now the Director of Trillionaire Ess, a social entrepreneurship company that develops socially conscious ventures in the areas of ICT, Art & Culture, Communications, Strategy, Research and Multimedia Content Development.
Her poem, “I do what”, appears in The #Coinage Book One. Of it, she says “it was written about someone have strong feelings for despite many attempts not to; an unrequited love. What it depicts is two people propelled into a post-wedding scenario when they have essentially only sparingly interacted in an intimate setting prior to this encounter. So where one would imagine, because the two are married, they would know each other well, the poem explores a lot of seemingly small gestures: eye contact, breathing, and gentle touching, more indicative of the awkward embraces of strangers. The poem speaks of love as a choiceless surrender which is an important aspect of what it communicates. So often we dictate to love, or try to, by demarcating where and how it ought to find expression, but I find that love happens to you, it is not a conscious decision that one elects.
