vangile gantsho

red cotton

vangile gantsho is a South African-born a poet and a healer. She is dedicated to creating and/or supporting spaces which encourage (black feminine) healing. Most of the poems in red cotton were written in 2016 as part of her MA thesis from the University Currently Known as Rhodes, and 2017, when she first accepted her spiritual calling.

red cotton is an exploration of what it means to be black, queer, and woman in modern-day South Africa. gantsho interrogates being non-conformist in both a traditional-cultural-religious upbringing and a more liberal yet equally-oppressive urban socialisation. This poetry novella questions what women are taught about their bodies and the feminine sexual space, while also addressing the mother-daughter relationship as the first and most constant reference of womanhood. The collection moves fluidly between the erotic, the uncomfortable and grotesque. What is painful and what is beautiful? What is remembered and what is longed-for?

June 2018

red cotton by vangile gantsho

Titles

Where and what to buy – Catalogue and bookshops

Busisiwe Mahlangu – Surviving Loss

Sarah Godsell – Liquid Bones

vangile gantshored cotton

danai mupotsa – feeling and ugly

various poets – Yesterdays and Imagining Realities:
An Anthology of South African Poetry

Book - red cotton for webred cotton

Vangi Gantsho off shoulder for internet
vangile gantsho