Qondiswa James is a cultural worker living in Cape Town, South Africa. She is an award-winning theatre-maker, performance artist, film and theatre performer, instillation artist, writer, arts facilitator and activist. She is currently studying her Masters in Live Art, Interdisciplinary and Public Art at the Institute of Creative Arts. Her work engages the socio-political imagination towards mobilizing transgression.
Qondiswa has directed theatre works including A Faint Patch of Light (nominated for Best New Director and Best Actor, Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards 2019 and winner of a 2019 Standard Bank Ovation Award). She staged two new original plays A Howl in Makhanda (Cape Town School’s Festival 2020), and Ndinxaniwe at the National Arts Festival 2021. In November 2019 she participated in Infecting the City Public Art Festival with her intervention, Jailbed. She was a curator of the Malibongwe Women in Theatre Festival (2020). Her onscreen appearances include High Fantasy (DIFF 2018 Best South African Film Award, Artistic Bravery Award), and Letters from the Continent (Holland Festival 2021). Her debut installation work was part of Spier Light Art Festival 2019/2020. She is currently working as a curator on the online stop-GBV+F campaign, Body of Evidence.
