Kaulana Williams
She/Her | Writer, Performing Artist & Theatre Maker
“This incubator is important and special because it creates an empowering, supportive, and inspiring space for marginalized writers, where we are allowed to try without fear of failure. If you aren't even given the opportunity to try and fail and improve, then you can never master a new skill. The QWI helped me to take a chance on myself trying out something new, unfamiliar and intimidating. For me, this is exactly what I needed to launch my screenwriting career.”
My name is Candice Lynn Williams, but my chosen name is Kaulana Williams. I am a coloured performing artist and theatre maker from Cape Town. I hold an MA in Theatre Studies from Stellenbosch University and a BA (Hons) in Drama from the University of Cape Town.
My practice has always been concerned with coloured identity within the specific historical and social context of the Cape; particularly from the lens of a woman. I have used my writing and my performing to explore my own ancestry and the impact that history has had on my life and my art. I have also evolved to include exploring themes of violence and trauma on the psyche and on the body; particularly as it manifests in South Africa’s epidemic of gender-based violence.
The focus of my Master’s research was on how South African theatre has engaged with South Africa’s crime epidemic. I continue to explore and interrogate this in my art work.
Currently working on a series about a queer influencer who rediscovers herself while trying to reinvent herself; a short film about a coloured man who is falsely accused and punished by the Apartheid system; and short film about a young coloured girl attending a newly integrated "white school" post-apartheid
My practice has always been concerned with coloured identity within the specific historical and social context of the Cape; particularly from the lens of a woman. I have used my writing and my performing to explore my own ancestry and the impact that history has had on my life and my art. I have also evolved to include exploring themes of violence and trauma on the psyche and on the body; particularly as it manifests in South Africa’s epidemic of gender-based violence.
The focus of my Master’s research was on how South African theatre has engaged with South Africa’s crime epidemic. I continue to explore and interrogate this in my art work.
Currently working on a series about a queer influencer who rediscovers herself while trying to reinvent herself; a short film about a coloured man who is falsely accused and punished by the Apartheid system; and short film about a young coloured girl attending a newly integrated "white school" post-apartheid