Ijakadi the Wrestle Works in Progress

Themes of colourism, prejudice, discrimination, identity, rejection, emotional trauma, bullying and internalised shame. Open Works Festival presents a work in progress performance of Ijakadi (The Wrestle). Ijakadi (The Wrestle) is an intimate and thought-provoking performance exploring what it means to grow up carrying other people’s ideas about your worth.Blending spoken word, movement, live African percussion and visual storytelling, Julius takes audiences on a journey through colourism, identity, masculinity and belonging. Moving between personal memory and shared experience, the work examines how prejudice takes root within us and what it takes to unlearn it. Honest, moving and deeply human, Ijakadi speaks to anyone who has ever felt unseen, misunderstood or forced to wrestle with who they are.