During Afrovibes Festival, there will be a one-time screening of two video films by South African artist Thania Petersen: Kassaram and Jawap.
Kassaram (2020) – The word Kassaram is taken from an old Malay word meaning ‘a big mess’ or ‘things being out of place’. Thania Petersen‘s animated film looks at the artistic strategies historically used by European colonizers to demarcate hierarchies of diverse communities in South Africa.

Jawap (2025) – Jawap translates as an invitation to sing and praise together. Thania Petersen writes: ‘My journey toward liberation began by tracing the migration of Sufi music—sound as memory, sound as freedom. I was drawn to this music as a living archive, a force that transcends borders, where time dissolves and community becomes the only compass. After five years of deep listening and traveling I realized that this music isn’t tethered to linear time. We place immense weight on the past to free us, asking our ancestors to carry us. But what if the very technologies that guided them were not of the past, but of what is yet to come’?
Jawap puts the question: What are we being called to remember? Inside its repetition and resonance, lies not only memory, but a future waiting to be heard. Thania Petersen: ‘For me, this is the essence of sonic liberation’.
Between the two film screenings, there will be a conversation between Afrovibes artistic director Jay Pather and Thania Petersen about her work.