Angela Thandizwe Mthembu

Just as, the eye shared by the three sisters of fate used to engage with destiny, when the heel of her hand rests on a page, her words become weaving Goddesses, spinning stories that resemble her life through the tales of others. Angela Thandizwe Mthembu on page, and Angelyric on stage is a South African born expressionist, painting her truth to awaken feelings that convey emotional meaning rather than physical experience. It is through evocative poetry that she creates protest art that offers an alternative to traditional forms of conformity. Her words desire to direct social and political transformation. After being awarded the bronze prize in the Carfax writing competition of 2015 for her creative essay titled ‘city of happy folk,’ in the same year Mthembu co-found Johannesburg based, multidisciplinary Art collective PG_13 with its focus being the culmination of poetry and music. TOGETHER they ASPIRE to tell tales of humanity that resonate deeply with the ethnicity of sounds from the cradle of mankind. They are a melting pot of history and understanding looking to spark a new narrative. The renegades, rule breaker, radical yet robust expressionists, breaking boundaries of thought in aims to create a global echo that the masses can relate to. Angela Thandizwe Mthembu has written countless artist and venue profiles and Amazwi we Sizwe is her first Anthology which uses words as a tapestry to determine South Africa's fortune. A fortune that learns from the breakdown of social order. She describes it as the loom that helps her tell a few stories of her people, attempting to rewrite her nation’s fate. As a performance artist, she has found herself on various South African stages like the Joburg, Rockwood, and Soweto theatre, Port Elizabeth Opera house, Grahamstown Art Festival, Fete De La Musique and Smoking Dragon New Year’s Eve Festival, together with her band, she made it to the finals of the first ever Afropunk Africa battle of the bands. Her poetry has managed to find its way into prominent venues such as, Zwartkop Nature reserve, Eyethu Lifestyle Centre, Alliance Francaise of Johannesburg, African beer emporium, Rumors Rock city, Botaki Ba Afrika, 27 Boxes, Scary Canary, Bassline AGOG Gallery, Carfax, and the SABC. In 2020, Mthembu was invited by the African Union to be part of a campaign called Africa Educates her. Though this virtual festival, the African Union shed light on how the girl child’s education was impacted by the effects of Covid 19 and how they aim to assist by putting her back in school. Under the banner of poetry, she found herself in the top 50 artists selected by the Imbewu Arts Festival, supported by the Department of sports, art and culture. She has done virtual performances with Giving poetry wings, a collaboration by Radioactive Blog that fuses fine art with spoken word and Pick-me-up Poetry, that aims to create conversions around poetry. Poetic Thursdays hosted by Soweto Theatreand a Heritage celebration presented by Nike South Africa.
In attempts to combat her fear...