Holding Ground is a solo performance that weaves together storytelling, song, and quilt-making in an intimate exploration of home, memory, and connection across distance. Rooted in the artist’s South African–German heritage, the work reflects on life between languages, geographies, and generations.
At its heart is a patchwork of modern-day “love letters”—WhatsApp messages, voice notes, music links, and photos—transformed into quilted squares. The quilt becomes a soft archive of care: an attempt to hold what is often fleeting or intangible and to wrap oneself in connection.
The piece draws on personal narrative and research into the visual poetics of Blaudruck/Isishweshwe and Southern African beadwork love letters, tracing how textiles have moved through German–South African trade histories into personal meaning-making. These materials—alongside memories passed down from the artist’s late grandmother at the sewing machine—shape a work that is both deeply personal and widely resonant.
Audience members are gently invited to assist in the live act of quilting—passing a pin, holding the light—becoming part of this collective practice of “holding ground” together.
For anyone who has loved across distance or longed to bridge cultural and familial divides, Holding Ground offers a tender space of reflection, resonance, and repair.
"Our children live in the most deprived ward in London and their parents cannot afford to pay for the classes and activities many more privileged children enjoy after school and at the weekends. A free-to-access youth group run by a local theatre in a professional setting is an incredible opportunity."
Local school teacher
