LOCAL poet and rapper, Gabriel Plaatjies, from Hankey, plans to release his first self-published anthology about his life experiences, which he hopes will uplift the youth in his community, who have shown great interest in the art industry.
After matriculating in 2007, Plaatjies was unsure about what he wanted to study.
In 2009, he learnt about StageWorld Theatre School in Port Elizabeth and he decided to audition for the school as a poet.
Despite not knowing much about poetry, Plaatjies proceeded to use his life experiences to write his first poem, titled What Went Wrong, which he recited at his audition.
After his performance he was accepted into the school, which was his gateway into the world of arts and, in 2012, he obtained his diploma in performance arts.
“After writing my first poem, I quickly realised that I wanted to pursue a career as a poet.”
Once he gained more insight about poetry and the art industry, he began writing a variety of poems about his life, on themes such as depression, love and family.
“All the poems that I have written are about my life because I can only write about what I know and what I have experienced,” he said.
“Poetry captures a moment, a feeling and an experience. Poetry allows me to share my insight on specific topics and it enables me to work through all my feelings.”
He shared his poetry on his Facebook page ’Inbox Poetry by Gabriel’, but, for the past two years, he has continued to work on his first anthology, which he plans to complete by June this year.
The poems which are featured in the anthology, titled Inbox Poetry by Gabriel, will focus on Plaatjies’ thoughts and experiences, which he hopes will provide readers with insight about a variety of themes and topics.
Apart from writing poems, Plaatjies is also a trained actor and has gained a lot of experience as a rapper.
“Even though I enjoy acting and rapping, I am most proud of my poetry. Publishing my work would be a great accomplishment.”
Since the start of his career as a poet and rapper, Plaatjies has performed at the National Arts Festival in 2010, the Northern Arts Festival in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in 2015 and 2016, and at the Suidoosterfees in Cape Town last year.
His hard work has seen him win two talent competitions, namely, the Rap Jou Plek competition by Rymklets Republiek in 2014, together with his rap partner, Jeswayne Nantoe, and, in 2018, he won the Mayoral Talent Competition at the JBay Makiti.
However, the highlight of his career was performing at the Jakes Gerwel Commemoration, in November last year, in Cape Town.
Despite continuously working towards taking his career to new heights, he said he remained focused on developing young people’s talents in his community.
In 2010, Plaatjies, together with his father, Clifton Plaatjies, established the Hankey Performance Art Development which focused on developing young people for a career in the arts industry.
“I love being in a position to be able to help artists in smaller communities, like mine. I want to equip them with knowledge, professionalism and the various skills they need,” said Plaatjies.
In addition to helping young people through his development programme, his hope is to establish a management company for artists to further help young people in his community succeed in the arts industry.
