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The Giver of Names | soundmap | Response Time

John Greyson & David Wall

Cut Throat

Walper Terrace Hotel | 1 King Street West in Kitchener

On facing video monitors, singers portray deceased South African AIDS activists: Gugu Dlamini, a single mother from KwaMashu township who was
stoned to death for going public with her HIV diagnosis; Christopher Moraka, a Nyanga PWA who lobbied Pfizer for affordable drugs; Nkosi Johnson, a 12-year-old PWA who fought for the right to attend school; and Simon Nkoli, the continent's first publicly identified black gay PWA. Their necks are tattooed with the scores they're singing, endless loops without beginning or end.

From the video opera Fig Trees, first presented at Oakville Art
Galleries, 2003.

Music: David Wall, Words/Video: John Greyson