Phatha Phatha: For Miriam Makeba and Dorothy Masuku

A photograph shows Miriam Makeba being welcomed by Dorothy Masuku on her arrival in Nairobi in 1962, capturing a wonderful energy and rapport between these two iconic African women, songwriters, singers and comrades, both forced into exile. In the photograph, the outline of their combined silhouettes is heart-shaped, a motif repeated in their profiles with outstretched arms. Dorothy Masuku and Miriam Makeba both had written songs titled Phahta Phatha (or Pata Pata), and this, combined with the photograph, served as inspiration for this double portrait. Patha Patha is a sensual urban dance, meaning to ‘touch-touch’, and I thought to fuse the meaning of the song with that moment fixed in the photograph. Their Phatha Phatha extends beyond the physical, and seems to touch each other’s emotions.