Locus, with S.A.Adair
Working within textile artist Sally Adair and musician Richard Johnson, ANCA Gallery Dickson, June 14&15, 2018.
How Rainforests Talk (2019-21)
A multisensory project on the way ecosystems develop, communicate and sustain themselves. In development with the Australian National Botanic Gardens, to coincide with the opening of their new greenhouse Conservatory, part of the ANBG 50th anniversary celebrations in early 2020. The Conservatory will represent three rainforest ecosystems--two from Kakadu; one from Christmas Island. The [...]
Fine judgments of our souls…
Week Two! and we have rehearsed with our three generous musicians, Ben Drury, Richard Johnson, Jess Green and Michael Misa. Pastor Peter Kuot is deciding which of his stories of South Sudanese agricultural life to tell. School students from Marist College are coming to workshops this weekend, and our performers Chris and Robin--wickedly funny--have [...]
Compassion Plays begins!
Anthems and Angels: The Compassion Plays: A performance event about longing, loss, and the resilience of people in exile. Developed from years of research in and amongst community. There will be live music, singing, dance, intercultural storytelling, and a share community feast!
The Compassion Plays
So...we are about to embark on Anthems and Angels,Mark II: the Compassion Plays. The project theme is the condition of exile and the experience of refugees. The performance structure is the medieval 'passion play', which invites its audience to travel through different ‘story stations’ and interact with and help shape the performance. Each show [...]
Rest as engagement, not retreat..
I lay in my bath, at the end of a long-road day, feeling sore and tired, glad to be held by the water. I came to an understanding that what feels restful is often not about feeling 'in retreat'. I feel the support of water across all my limbs, my lower back, my upper back, [...]
“Let’s Act Out”
A client talked about how embarrassed he had been about his recent behaviour. A trained facilitator, he was about to embark on a great Odyssee and he feared his ego had got the better of him in the last few months. "There I was, acting out..." he complained [about himself]. I promised him I [...]
equivalence (finale)
So, what did I observe, as I sat in the 'spectator space' as an outsider to a long, slow process of education into tradition... I watched my friend pause (cautiously, nervously, in her act of pouring tea, sweat forming on her upper lip, her eyes sliding towards her teacher, asking all at once for [...]
equivalence and tea
My flatmate had been studying Tea Ceremony for 10 years. I went with her to one of her lessons. On the way, we visited a tea ceremony shop, where she needed to purchase something essential to her learning. I was put well in my place by the shop owner. I observed the beauty of [...]
revisiting ‘equivalence”
I visited Japan in 1996. I experienced a country of delicacy and madness, an intersection of 'old' and 'new' time, Crowds swarmed through crowded train stations; suited commuters seemed shamed by the 'floating world' of tramps and kicked them as they passed. Chain-smoking was popular but so too were small packages of pickles bought [...]