On Stage Design Indaba 2014: Athi-Patra Ruga

Athi-Patra Ruga introduces the audience to a fictional place called Azania, a mythical construct of his own imagination that has played a central role in his work. “Azania stretches from the Horn of Africa down to the Cape Agulhas. It’s a constitutional monarchy with a versatile queen. The entire population is made up of females,” says Ruga. He created the myth of Azania through performance, highlighting the many different disciplines of performance present in this imaginative world.

Athi-Patra Ruga is a performance artist who explores the border-zones between fashion, performance and contemporary art. Ruga explores notions of utopia and dystopia through multiple media, such as performance, video, textiles and print.