In a collaborative performance, Pule kaJanolintji interacts with IsiBheqe/Ditema, an indigenous writing system for Southern Bantu languages. Conceptualised in conversation with indigenous scripts across the continent, IsiBheqe proposes a practical tool through which questions of decolonisation may be engaged and pursued. The incremental, collaborative, and experimental development of the system prompts a diverse range of supporting inquiries – from research into technological innovations and adaptations to critical questions around the histories and hegemonies of language, speech, writing and sound in Southern Africa.

IsiBheqe functions as a syllabary, with each character or grapheme denoting an individual syllable. Using triangles of different orientations to designate vowels, additional shapes and lines converge inside and around these to indicate consonants. The form of the system is iconic rather than arbitrary, with design features observing longstanding visual, semiotic traditions within South Africa, as well as the physical mechanics of speech.