EXPLAIN NORMAL
“Somewhere in our history we were told that this is wrong, but this is right. That self doubt is something that everyone feels. That we all get a little sad sometimes. That one day we’ll die.”
Explain Normal is a new dance theatre work currently in creative development, directed by participatory artist Daniele Constance. It is an artistic collaboration between the performance artists of Aha Ensemble who identify with disability (South East Queensland) and artists from Phluxus2 Dance Collective (Brisbane).
Combining live and pre recorded audio, movement and verbatim; Explain Normal explores how this collective of artists define perceptions of normalcy, through the lens of diverse experiences. This exciting new work explores the juxtaposition of the artists, their bodies and identities; experimenting together to develop a shared movement language and collaborative practice across a rich and diverse range of personal performance histories.
The team have been experimenting for the last twelve months, with Explain Normal evolving through two creative development periods at Metro Arts in 2018. It is set to premier with a full performance season at Metro Arts in 2019.
Director: Daniele Constance
Choreographer: Nerida Matthaei
Performing Artists from Aha Ensemble: Allycia Staples, Megan Louise West, Rebecca Dostal, Ruby Donohoe, Mitchell Runcie, Kayah Guenther
Performing Artists from Phluxus2 Dance Collective: Charles Ball, Nadia Milford
Lighting Design: Keith Clark
Sound Design: Joseph Burgess
This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
This is a selection of photographs created for Ruby Donohoe’s “An Act of Intimacy”. You can find more details on her website.
“A one-on-one participatory performance about our capacity for intimacy.
Borrowing from immersive theatre practices, participants are led to an installation space through a series of letters, site-specific prompts and audioscape. On meeting, both artist and participant step into transparent head-to-toe bodysuits. In this simultaneous state of proximity and separation, participants are invited to propose an act of connection to undertake- anything from cutting one another’s hair to napping to sitting in silence. The encounter and the pursuit of intimacy- in all its elusivity and many forms- is documented by a before-and-after portrait of the two.
Covid-19 undeniably dispels the myth of the sovereignty of the self - our interconnection is increasingly beyond doubt- and yet our survival also relies on isolation. Mirroring the paradox of simultaneous radical intimacy and radical alienation, the work invites us to reimagine the porous divide between connection and separation. “
This page features a few examples of documentation work through video and photography.
As a photographer, much of my work is interpreting contexts and trying to extract the most beautiful images. Beautiful images are as true as every other but, you need to ask yourself every single time, what’s the full story. This time, my photos are held up against my own observations, interpretations in writing of this country I’ve had the pleasure to be sharing. The beautiful images and the truth behind them, the full story in two distinct languages, one valuing beauty above all else and the other upholding logic and sense above us all.
"See bands you’ve never heard of playing alongside international cult heroes. See rising stars and national treasures. Witness wild, late-night cabarets featuring a cast of living wonders performing beneath the hallowed canvas of the Bedouin Club. Experience storytelling from one of the world’s most celebrated radio producers set on the stage of a tiny wooden bar overlooking a forested mountain range. Get lost on the dance floor as the hours grow small and DJs play just the song you wished you could remember. Feast on delicious Tasmanian produce from a crew of local food stalls and drink Tasmanian wine, whisky and ales or try our very own Lone Star Cider pressed and hand bottled on site, just for PANAMA. For three short nights, be amongst just 1400 people to experience an event like no other.
We are PANAMA."
New York City, the place that seems familiar on your first visit.
It’s one of the most iconic urban landscapes in the world, home of every superhero movie and extraterrestrial event; a city so televised that the sights, sounds, smells (not so much but still) and textures are predictable and welcomed.
I had high hopes for New York and I blew it. What is a street photographer’s dream became a missed opportunity. Be it for the new camera that I still was not used to, the iconic images that lead you in a wild goose chase or just the general sense of awe.
Perhaps as a lesson, perhaps as an unconscious way of making me return to this beautiful city, this is the collection of salvageable images, the one’s that besides all those setbacks made to “print“.
Hazy, understated, energetic.
Much like his own music, the artwork was intended to be singular, easily recognisable and as deeply metaphorical as his songs. In these we showcase an underlying identity and the space Vatsun sets himself in. Stripped of any props, the elements are just light and colour, mixed just right, to create a subtle, silhouette, dense space.
This is the album artwork for Imaterial by Vatsun.
People. More than any landmark, site or sound, people are the identity of a place. This is even more apparent in Japan, the deep wrinkled faces of the elderly contrast with the gadget filled hands of the young.
I've always dreamt of visiting Japan and, after one month, these are the photographs that document the places and people that I've crossed paths with.
An ongoing project, a study of the lower spectrums of light, invisible to human eyes but no less present. If reality is based on perception, these exemples are as accurate as classic landscape photographs, a focus on a reserved spectrum of light, infra-red.
This study is based on a specific type of film, Kodak Aerochrome.
False-color reversal film, high dimensional stability for vegetation surveys, camouflage detection and earth resources.
KODAK AEROCHROME III Infrared Film 1443 (DISCONTINUED) is an infrared-sensitive, false-color reversal film featuring medium resolving power and fine grain.
(TLDR - Film that reacts to the infra-red spectrum of light emitted by vegetation, portraying plant green as “red” and non-living green as “grey“, it was used by the Air Force to detected enemies in jungle camouflage scenarios.)
A friend, his love for music and the combined desire of creating something innovative and unique.
This is how the artwork for CNN´s debut EP came to be, blurring the lines between man and machine.
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"Welcome to City Number Nine.
This first EP marks the first steps into this city of neon lights, frenzied movement and wishful thinking.
In "At First Sight", electronic ambients drift amidst upbeat rhythms, with arms reaching both the past and the future."
Have a listen on Soundcloud.
What comes from hours on bullet trains? The ideas of Sugimoto floating around your head? An insatiable thirst for photography? The result is a different take on railways. With long exposures, the railways loose all of their detail and gain fluidity, gain dimension and the weight of more information in a single frame. The outlook on reality is defined by the speed on which you´re traveling.
Money. Capital. Currency. We all bow down to it.
But not art. And specially not van Gogh, a remarkable artist who only sold one painting during his lifetime. Look at him now.
Created during a visit to the overcrowded and exploited Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, this short series reflects on the ways we make art available to the public, the pros and cons and what, inevitably, should be respected.
The study of the bond between shades of light and chlorophyll.
My friend Vatsun asked me to create some visuals for his album Mão Esquerda (Left Hand) and this is the final result of our combined efforts.
3D Model, 3D Printing, Silver Paint, Lighting.
https://vatsun.bandcamp.com
