Listening to Images: Onesimo Bam’s Progression VI at RMB Latitudes

Progression VI by Onesimo Bam forms part of an ongoing meditation on body, movement and belonging, where the boundaries between fashion, performance, and everyday life begin to soften and dissolve. The presentations emerge as fashion-led interventions across public spaces.

Presented at Shepstone Gardens as part of the RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Progression VI took the form of a living tableau, bringing fashion, performance, and embodied presence. Drawing inspiration from Tina Campt’s Listening to Images, the work considers what might emerge when we move beyond simply looking and begin listening to images instead – attending to their quieter frequencies of feeling, memory, and presence.

Bodies become living portraits, holding gestures, relation, and atmosphere in ways that exceed the visual. This was made possible through the presence of artists and creative practitioners whose individual practices informed the performance itself. They did not simply animate the garments; they infused them with presence, transforming the image into something felt as much as seen.