What’s normal anyway? As a society, we create notions of what’s acceptable and expected. But people are far more complex than these confining limits. Defying the status quo, Asanda Mataku, Tara Notcutt, and Modiba Rabothata are embracing their individuality and redefining the norm.
Asanda Mataku always had her heart set on becoming a model. With unapologetic confidence and fierce determination, she entered a beauty contest and took second place. “As soon as I walked out the door, people were laughing at my weight,” Mataku says. But no criticism could keep Mataku down. She founded Thick Munchies The Legacy, a social media page connecting women who celebrate each other for who they are. They organise photoshoots where they show off their shapes and sizes, championing body positivity. “Self-love is for thick girls too,” Mataku says.
Empowering women to take centre stage, director Tara Notcutt is ushering in a new era of theatre. Since the dawn of the dramatic arts in ancient Greece, women were restricted from participating. “Women in theatre is still so uncommon, both on stage and off,” Notcutt says. This only stoked the passionate flames within her heart. “I wanted to flip the tables and let women be in the majority,” she says. Notcutt directed her version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew with an all-female cast – inverting the conventions of the playwright’s time. With her production, she became the youngest person to direct at the Maynardville Open-Air Theatre, and the fifth female director in the venue’s 60-year history. Shining the spotlight on women, Notcutt is ensuring their voices are heard.
As a metal musician, Modiba Rabothata is making noise and drowning out stereotypes. Growing up in Soweto, hip-hop and kwaito were the reigning rhythms. But Rabothata preferred the rugged melodies of black metal, forming the band Demogoroth Satanum. “We play music which is currently associated with white people,” Rabothata says. Despite the questioning stares his band received, he never shredded his zeal. “The music you play expresses who you are,” he says. “We don’t see colour, we see metalheads.” While his band’s fame has grown, Rabothata sees their success not in popularity, but in the musicians they’ve inspired to play their own way.
Mataku, Notcutt, and Rabothata’s commitment to living without constraint has laid the groundwork for others to celebrate who they are. Flouting the limitations set before us, we can all thrive. “It’s about liberation,” Rabothata says. “Being free as a person.”
