Keren Setton and Sitaara Stodel have had a desire to address themes related to self-love, sisterhood, sharing knowledge and playfulness. Having met while studying Fine Art at Michaelis School of Fine Art at UCT, their friendship has formed organically. Feeling frustrated with the everyday 9 to 5 life and searching for a creative outlet, they spoke to each other about making potions as children and their fascination with the idea of the witch. Their interest in witches is related to how they view them as powerful women who have been persecuted and labeled as evil. “Actually she [a witch] is in touch with herself and the world,” Keren explains. Their playful relationship, interest in witches and mutual love for bulgar wheat combined to form the collective Bulgar Witchez.
Unsure of whether to describe their work as an art practice given that studying art left them unsure of the art world and where they see themselves in it, their collective is a mixture of performance, healing and playful experimentation. The digital manifestations of this mixture are shared on Instagram and are informed by astrology, rituals, plants, tarot cards and online culture. “Bulgar Witchez is about being fun and creative. And a lot about self-love and personal growth. We are both still young and trying to figure out what kind of art we want to make,” Sitaara explains. Their “spells” are made up of whatever would be needed to tackle a problem or provide encouragement. “It’s like magic for yourself,” Sitaara explains. Some of the spells they create are based on what they are going through in their own lives, and others are based on spell requests.
“We have an aesthetic that we try to stick to,” Keren explains, “but we are constantly trying to push Instagram into something interesting. We consume so much imagery that we also wanted to make the imagery that we wanted to see”. The Bulgar Witchez have recently starting experimenting with creating gifs, and hope to get their YouTube channel going soon.
Be sure to check them out on Instagram, and feel free to send through a spell request.