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shx mami wata & the pxssywitch hunt

Written, Directed and Performed by Dr. d'bi.young anitafrika

In the tradition of fearless Jamaican storytelling that confronts the violence of homophobia, colonialism, and sexual repression, shx mami wata & the pxssywitch hunt enters into conversation with the world of Marlon James's novel The Disappearers. Where James explores the lives of queer men navigating violence and survival in 1980s Jamaica, anitafrika turns our attention to the lives, desires, and struggles of queer people in contemporary Xaymaca.

This provocative monodrama follows four childhood friends whose lives span a spectrum of gender and sexual identities: niki, a pansexual non-binary womxn; michael, a closeted gay man navigating his faith within the church; everdon-everdeen, a trans womxn; and kizzy, a closeted lesbian. Bound by childhood friendship, love, secrets, and shared histories, the four must renegotiate their relationships with themselves and one another under the shadow of Jamaica's colonial-era buggery laws and the enduring violence of religious fundamentalism, misogyny, and homophobia.

At the centre is niki, growing up between the church, the burlesque pole, and womxn's thighs. Raised in a society where gender and sexuality are tightly policed, niki must negotiate the distance between who they are, who they love, and who the world demands they become.

But niki is not the only one carrying secrets. Michael wrestles with the contradictions between his faith and his sexuality. Everdon-everdeen confronts a world determined to deny her womanhood. And kizzy struggles with the silence surrounding her desire. As their lives unfold, the four friends reveal the painful cost of concealment, the contradictions of belonging, and the ways people learn to hide themselves in order to survive.

Rooted in Jamaican language, dub poetry, and embodied storytelling, shx mami wata & the pxssywitch hunt confronts the colonial and religious policing of Black bodies while insisting on the erotic as a site of personhood, resistance, and possibility.

This is a story about friendship and betrayal, desire and shame, faith and freedom. About the violence of being made invisible. And the courage it takes to become fully seen.