Philile Nkabinde

Philile Nkabinde is a South African performance artist and writer. At her artistic core, she uses her intuitive curiosity to write, sing and offer stories that seek to affirm the quiet art of being as it relates to the indigenous human experience. As a performance artist, published poet and music journalist, Nkabinde’s work reveals the inner wor(l)ds of being, breathing and believing in relation to remembering our innermost selves.

Based primarily in Johannesburg, Philile’s poetic offerings take form by way of text as well as by weaving together poetry, music and movement improvisation. The spaces that have invited Philile to offer her musical poetry performances include JIAS (Johannesburg Institute of Advanced/ African Studies), Constitution Hill in partnership with Among the Lilies and Reel to Reality Film Festival in partnership with The Forge, to name a few.

Nkabinde has had four of her poems published in the anthology ‘Woven with Brown Thread’, edited by Upile Chisala, and supported by The Centre for the Less Good Idea. She also leads sound journeys that are accompanied by poetic meditations for her audiences. Philile was selected to be a mentor for the 2023 SprinNG Writing Fellowship in partnership with Botsotso - a collaboration between Nigerian, Ghanaian and South African writers.