SACRED: Homelands Festival 2016 – Friday

Events run from 6pm. Day tickets £15/£12.50 concessions.

GROUP OFFER: 6 tickets can be purchased for the price of 5 both online and via telephone.

>> Go to Saturday

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6pm (duration 4 hours)

performance

Parabox
Josephine Garcia Jowett (Philippines/New Zealand)

As a child, Jojo's family house burnt to the ground while corrupt firefighters looked on, and only a week later their temporary housing was destroyed by a typhoon. She says “While peeling cardboard boxes piece by piece, I remember seeing my parents picking up our lives every time we experienced disaster. One day I saw the picture of my life in my installation and I cried because I was not able to accomplish my dream. I promised myself that I would continue to look after my parents when they get older, but they died too soon. My artwork is like a scar, a reminder of my past.”

Parabox also plays on the Philippine tradition of Balikbayan boxes ('balik' means 'return' and bayan 'home'). These cardboard boxes are stocked with essential supplies like food and clothing, which are sent to families in the Philippines from relatives who have emigrated and work overseas.

Josephine Jowett is a licensed naval architect and marine engineer, trained in University of Cebu, Philippines. She also has a Bachelor's in Visual Arts from Wellington Institute of Technology, and has been exhibiting in New Zealand since 2007. In 2010 she was presented with the Filipino Achiever Award by the Philippines Charge de 'Affaires.           

supported by Creative New Zealand

theperformancearcade.com

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6pm (duration 4 hours)

performance
 
Following the Crow’s Heart
Zierle & Carter (UK) 

Performed on consecutive days (Thursday 24 & today), two facets of the same exploration open up a visual dialogue with the audience, which moves from personal ritualised actions to an unpremeditated material led exploration, catalysed by key questions on sense of belonging and the externalisation of inner landscapes that speak of acts that walk us from the opposite of belonging back to a place of home.

The audience is invited to help transform the space into a shrine that reflects people’s inner modes of being, housing their personal thoughts on notions of home and sense of belonging.

Following the Crow’s Heart moves on from the highly ritualised grounds of Thursday’s performance – Charred to the Bone – Where is Home now? to reflect on what occurred the previous night, holding at its core the thought contributions offered by the audience. The audience is guided to enter in small numbers and the inner landscape externalised becomes the place for intimate encounters and revelations.

Beginning prior to their collaboration, Zierle & Carter’s ongoing research on Sense of Belonging stems from initial explorations in Canada by Alexandra Zierle in 2005. Travelling on her own to remote areas, Alexandra interviewed a myriad of people including First Nation Elders, South East Asian refugees, and Canadian ranchers. Further interviews took place in Argentina, Chile, UK, Cyprus, Italy, Germany and Australia. From this multi-faceted kaleidoscope of personal experiences, definitions and beliefs, an ever-expanding collection of materials and symbolic objects has grown, coming to imbue and embody both the terrain of belonging and its opposite state.

Interdisciplinary, multi-sensory and site and context responsive, over the last decade, Zierle & Carter’s practice spans performance and live art, socially engaged practice, video, sound, installation, and photography. Their work has been widely exhibited internationally throughout Europe, Canada, United States, South America, Australia, in Asia and Africa.

zierlecarterliveart.com

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6.30pm (duration 2 hours)

performance
 
Stitching up the sea
Latai Taumoepeau (Tonga/Australia)

“Oceania is vast, Oceania is expanding, Oceania is hospitable and generous, Oceania is humanity rising from the depths of brine and regions of fire deeper still, Oceania is us. We are the sea, we are the ocean…” 
– Epeli Hau’ofa

Stitching up the sea is a durational performance ritual and meditation, exploring the fragility and vulnerability of people, the physical environment and intangible cultural heritage of the Moana.

She is surrounded by a wall of white sacks filled with empty glass bottles, stacked up on top of a white tarpaulin. She is wearing brick sandals on her feet and an ‘ike (Tongan mallet) usually used to beat mulberry bark into large ceremonial cloth called tapa or ngatu. Glass waste material sourced locally is smashed into a mass of glistening shards.

Stitching up the sea, is a cyclical continuum of tauhi vā, the holistic practice of maintaining space through social relationships, and faivā, the practice of time-and-space through relational obligation in performance.

Commissioned by Blacktown Arts Centre, Sydney, funded by Australia Council of the Arts.

Latai Taumoepeau’s 2016 UK appearances are co-presented by SACRED:Homelands Festival and SPILL Festival of Performance.

Facebook: facebook.com/latai.artist/

Vimeo: vimeo.com/lataitaumoepeau

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8.45pm

Illustrated Homelands talk by the co-founder of the Berlin company, Bart Baele. Introduced by Francis Alexander.

sacredhomelandsfestival.wordpress.com

Supported by Arts Council England.