My Nemesis

My Nemesis
My Nemesis
Manizja Koehestani & Fiene Zasada
22.04.26 — 22.04.26

My Nemesis

22.04.26

In My Nemesis, two female artists collide: as friends and rivals, they use beauty, trauma, and the body to survive in an art world that is constantly in a state of judgment.

​​Meet Katarzyna Kozyra, a blond and provocative multidisciplinary artist known for her raw works that challenge the portrayal of marginalized bodies. She believes in giving a voice to the silenced, using her art to amplify those often overlooked. Born in Poland and raised in Amsterdam, she discovered her Jewish roots later in life, embodying a complex, multifaceted cultural identity that fuels her fearless and electrifying art.

Meet Banasha Suleimankheil, a feminist performance artist in exile. Born in Afghanistan but raised in the Netherlands, she has grappled with a profound identity crisis. Her art can be described as self-referential, as it primarily explores her personal experiences of female suffering. She confronts the male gaze by presenting her body on her own terms, transforming her vagina into both a weapon and a canvas.

In My Nemesis, we see Katarzyna and Banasha, two Young Girls trapped in a woman artist's body and oeuvre. Best friends, but lifelong enemies. Both of them are restless and unhappy. Their lives are a constant competition. Who is the most traumatized artist? Who is the most fuckable? To be successful, they exploit their beauty, sexuality, ethnicity, trauma’s and bodies. “The young girl would be the being that no longer has any intimacy with themselves except as value and whose every activity and every detail is directed to self valorization.”

Practical info

Duration

1u15 min

Language
EnglishLanguage level:
Subtitles
Dutch

Smoking/vaping on stage.

The performance includes references to sexual violence.

The performance contains strong language/swearing.

This performance includes themes of bodily abjection.

The performance includes references to suicide.

They saw the play and said:

  • The tone of the performance is both tragic and comic, razor-sharp and absurd.

    Theaterkrant, Read the article
  • Doubts about how to represent female identity - whether in terms of gender or sex - are palpable, lucid, and at times deeply affecting. The personal is political, of course, but this comes at a painful cost, with women bearing the brunt of it. The (existential) insecurity of some outspoken cis men pales in comparison to the centuries of humiliation endured by those who do not fit within this framework. This is laid bare, with striking clarity, in the confrontational dialogue of 'My Nemesis', which culminates in a bizarre sacrificial ritual.

    Pzazz (BE), Read the article

Credits

With and by

Manizja Kouhestani & Fiene Zasada

Final direction

Abigail Gypens

Scenography

Emmo Onghena

Music

Jan de Tremerie

Technical

Kas Wellens 

Mentor

Luanda Casella & Frederik Le Roy

Thanks to

Martha Balthazar, Bardia Mohammad, Simon de Winne, Jan Steen, Eva Louf, Maria de Cort, Guust Sambaer, Anaïs Maes, Astrid Vansteenkiste, KASK DRAMA, CAMPO Victoria, LaGeste, De Kazematten, kunstencentrum BUDA, Minard, NTGent & Trefpunt