KABEL
KABEL is a creative collaboration between brothers Anthony Matsena and Kel Matsena. First born out of a residency at Mission Gallery, KABEL explores conflict, its causes and consequences. Collaborating with visual artists, film and sound practitioners, choreographers/directors Anthony and Kel led further research and development in 2023/2024, with the aim of working towards a later multi-disciplinary public production.
This research and development phase follows on from short residencies undertaken by Anthony and Kel at Mission Gallery in 2021. These residencies had been programmed to further expand Anthony and Kel’s creative explorations and to invite other practitioners to meet with them. This experience proved to be an important step in their creative process. Despite running their own production company, Anthony and Kel had not previously had the opportunity to work creatively as a pair. Discussions with other practitioners during this time highlighted how cross-discipline work could open new avenues of research.
Being choreographers, writers and directors, Anthony and Kel worked collaboratively with visual artists Melissa Rodrigues and Sue Williams, with sound artist Beth Lewis, with photographer Laurentina Miksys, with later development taking place with videographer Alex Hermon in September 2024. This collaborative way of working allowed for further developmental work with real creative ambition; with the intention to co-create and develop a later production comprising installation and performance.
Residency 1 | Residency 2 | Residency 3
Mission Gallery, Anthony and Kel aim to create a multi-dimensional exhibition and production, following on from their research and development phase with the associated artists.
The KABEL exhibition will include aspects of performance and installation, to include artwork by the associated artists and filmed performance by Anthony and Kel. The aim is that the exhibition will to tour various venues in Wales.
Anthony & Kel Matsena
Anthony Matsena
Anthony is a BAFTA-winning Zimbabwean-born and Welsh-raised director, writer, performer and choreographer, working internationally across dance, theatre, film and site-specific performance. He co-founded Matsena Productions with his brother Kel in 2017 to explore cultural, race, change, and belonging themes, reflecting on his Afrocentric upbringing and Eurocentric schooling.
Anthony’s breakthrough came as a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate in 2018, where he created works for the Lilian Baylis Studio Theatre and the main stage. His recent commissions include projects with Sky Arts, BBC, Korean National Dance Company Wales, Jasmin Vardimon 2, Messums Wiltshire, National Theatre Wales, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Rambert School of Contemporary Dance and CAPA College.
Kel Matsena
Kel is a Zimbabwean/Welsh BAFTA-winning director, movement director, writer and actor. His great understanding of movement heavily influences his form of storytelling. His unique approach to film and theatre-making has placed him at the heart of an upcoming generation of Welsh artists. Kel is also a Co-Artistic Director of award-winning company ‘Matsena Productions’.
He recently movement directed the Off-Broadway transfer of ‘The Hunt’ working with stars like Tobias Menzies and Myanna Buring. He worked with Ffilm Cymru and BBC to develop his most recent short film for the Beacons Development award. He also worked with National Theatre Wales to direct an adaptation of Kafka’s ‘The Trial’ which premiered in Swansea in 2023.
Associated Artists
Sue Williams
Sue Williams is a prominent international artist with a recognised body of work and an exhibition history of both solo and group shows on five continents. Her autoethnographic practice, whether drawing or text, articulates the complexities of human relationships in a contemporary cultural context – whether visual or textual she demonstrates a vulnerability which invariably elicits an effective response. Williams continues to challenge and explore new concepts and multi-disciplinary art forms offering a direct response to the complex world of human frailty, drawing the viewer into a world of provocative sexual and emotional politics.
Williams is Professor of Fine Art in Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and is one of Wales’ leading contemporary female artists.
Laurentina Miksys
Laurentina is a portrait photographer originally from Lithuania.
Her work is associated with the constant creation of new forms, the mutual penetration of the past and the present.It explores various levels of reality: the reality of who or what is described by the image and the reality of experience and feeling; whether the subject’s, the viewers, or her own. Laurentina’s images have a special lyricism and sensibility, an optimistic gaze of man and life.
Alex Hermon
Alex Hermon is a Freelance Filmmaker who’s been working in the industry for the past 7 years on a wide variety of projects for Events, Online Brands, TV and Film. In 2020, Alex founded ‘LX Visuals’ a Multi-Award Winning, independent video production company based in the South East of England. Driven by ambition and a strong passion for storytelling, the team at LXV specialises in bringing your vision to life and creating unique visual experiences.
Beth Lewis
Beth is a composer and sound artist who creates immersive audio experiences across a variety of disciplines including live theatre, XR installations and concert performance. Beth sees sound as an essential element in shaping the audience journey, and is interested in creating auditory experiences to alter perception while driving narrative. Utilising a range of software, including 3D graphics, game engines, DAWs, and score notation, my work brings a fresh collaborative approach while blurring lines between installation, XR experiences, and live theatre.
Beth has collaborated with artists and organisations including National Dance Company Wales, Matsena Productions, Sky Arts and the Korean Contemporary National Dance Company. Her work has been performed across the globe from Sadlers Well’s to Seoul Arts Centre. It has been broadcast by Sky Arts and S4C.
Melissa Rodrigues
Melissa Milanca Balencante Rodrigues is a Swansea-based fine artist. Born in Guinea Bissau, Rodrigues lived in Portugal until 2016.
Rodrigues graduated in Fine Art from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in July 2019. Her work is presented in a variety of mediums, such as painting, photography, installation, and sculpture.
By exploring themes of displacement, belonging, and cultural identity, and general aspects concerning the movement of people across the world, Rodrigues’ work considers one's upbringings in diasporic communities, a reality of which she herself is a product of. Thus, her research is deeply focused in finding connections between the portrayal of the ethnic body in history and how this can influence one’s sense of self and self-worth.
If you would like to hear more about the project, please contact:
Rhian Wyn Stone | Gallery Director, Mission Gallery
rhian@missiongallery.co.uk | 01792 652016
