Elisabeth Mtasa

Elisabeth Tawanda Taruvinga Mtasa is a Viennese born and bred interdisciplinary artist, also known under their DJ alias A$$ATA.M, currently studying Conceptual Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Starting the creative process in 2014 as a free journalist at Fresh - Black Austrian Lifestyle Magazine, paved the artists interests and forthcoming works in the Black community in Vienna.  Going from producing Fashion shows, being a tour dj, rapper back up, to assisting and co-organizing art projects, events and a music festival. They enjoy the different facets in the art field but as music is something that never left the artists, it started to be a guiding tool for storytelling in their creations.  Their works revolves around blackness, queerness, activism and occupying spaces.  In 2017 they co-founded the first all-black femme DJ/MC collective Bad&Boujee with Enyonam Tetteh-Klu.  creating safer inclusive parties in the nightlife, especially for black queer people in Vienna. 

Expressing emotions of every kind is vital to every individual, but is not allowed to everyone due to societal guidelines such as racism, sexism, micro aggressions, shaming and other forms. A big attention is also on how someone was brought up, for people that grew up in homes of domestic violence, often turn to suppress these feelings cause of trauma and fear of hurting someone, not only physical but verbally as well. This rage room is supposed to be a free place created by for black queer flinta+. The stigma of being an angry black woman often makes one feel like their emotions are either invalid or too much. Society has an inhuman way of letting anger issues happen, we are taught that it is only okay to express anger to an extend from childhood, growing up and being told that as older one gets, they are not allowed to rage. But the problem then is, there are no alternatives offered to express anger without harming someone physically or verbally. 

The anger room is not about not hurting someone, because eventually we will hurt someone in our lives, even a loved one and denying it.

It is important learning how to be accountable when we hurt someone and learn not to be ashamed of it. The rage room space will be a space, someone can turn to if they need to, with no explanation why they want to enter, and just release whatever they need in that moment with support that will be provided at the place.