This week on The Storymakers Institute, say hello to Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe - a Rwandan-British composer and multidisciplinary storyteller working between Naarm/Melbourne, and Rwanda.
In her work, Stéphanie explores the “construction and archiving of culture through transcription into experiential narratives”, working across installation, theatrical realms and radio where she’s the host of Passenger and Lunchtime Concert on ABC Classic in Australia. Discover more here.
This is a real ripper of an (extended) yarn, as we talk cocktails, the systems we work in, and the art of responsible storymaking.
“The structures and the megaliths above change you from being a community oriented and responsible storyteller into a fappy vapid content maker… because it takes… time and energy for you to do all the right work, and they don’t want to pay for it.” - Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe
Some cool takeaways from Stéphanie + Joel’s conversation below.
“I know there are, in these days and times, a lot of ways that people identify a lot of allyships that they like to put to the front when they're talking about themselves. But I think it's my responsibility in the lineage that I come from, as a storyteller from my clan, to learn about all around me and be as respectful as I can in weaving together story that reflects these interconnections - and that follows through to my art.” - Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe
In modern times, having a storyteller position in one's ethnic group or tribal group or community doesn't always flow so well, so a natural outlet in Western Terms is “art”. In Rwandan terms, we don't really have a word for art - that's not a concept, but growing up around the world I've picked up art skills and training and have realised that that's the way that I can speak about what I do with language that's more universally understood. - - Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe
“People are catching up, generations are catching up to realise, hang on, I can't trust all of this stuff that's coming at me. It might be packaged beautifully, it might look really nice on the Instagrams and the tiktoks and all the things, but… is this real?” - Stéphanie Kabanyana Kanyandekwe
