Delia Brett and 'Sadhu' under the white canopy ( mountain or white cloud)
@EDAM, spring 2021
Introducing a collaborative project which started in late 2020.
Dialogues between Alex Lazaridis, an artistic director of Fight With A Stick and Delia Brett, a dancer/producer started much earlier when we first met and they were introduced to my short animation 'Eyes Water Fire" (2016)*.
Alex proposed to create a performance that is a collaboration among performers, sound, light and my art works. For about 4 months since January of 2021, I created art works in much bigger scale than usual. Those are of significant symbols in the video: Blue ( migrating ) legs, eyes ( of witnessing and praying), butter lamps as paper boats, a felted figure as a self immolating person( a revived old work) and a huge paper lantern (snowly mountain). During our experimental sessions, performers, Delia Bret and Diego Romeo, moved among/with the art works while sound and light were experimented by James Maxwell and Parjad Sharifi.
It has been such a profound experience to work with a wonderful group of artists with deep sensitivities and insights. It is amazing to see how one short video can be deepened and expanded in multi-dimensions with many creative hands and eyes.
Attached are some photos from the experimental sessions and of art works created.
Because of the pandemic circumstance and my other commitments, the performance will not be in public till early next year.
I do hope that it can be shown under a relatively normal circumstance next year and many of you can come to see it. I will keep you posted here and on social media.
The below is the excerpt of the description from the website of Fight With A Stick. Website link is below.
"Migration
A personal sacrifice for the good of all. A surrender of body, self, and mind. Feel this burning moment. Migration is a transdisciplinary collaboration with visual artist Tomoyo Ihaya and is based on her work Eyes Water Fire. The project continues Fight With a Stick's collaborative explorations with other-than-human materialities.
The development phase began in November 2020 and ended in May 2021. Full production has been delayed due to the pandemic but we are hoping to bring the show to live audiences in late 2021 or early 2022.
Workshop collaborators: Tomoyo Ihaya (visual artist), Alex Lazaridis (director), Delia Brett (choreographer-performer), James Maxwell (sound design), Parjad Sharifi (light and projection design), Taiga Chiba (carpentry), Sooyeon Goo (assistant to Tomoyo), Mona Lisa Ali (video animation), Diego Romero (performer). Special thanks to EDAM dance."
*Eyes Water Fire is a short animation in which I tried to express meaning of living, empathic compassion and human dignity that I 'experienced' through painful situations in Tibet such and living with Tibetan friends in exile closely. Although my 'experience' is indirect and I can never feel the same pain that many of them went through, I was moved by something to make this video.
To view "Eyes Water Fire"https://vimeo.com/464653184
Website: Fight With A Stick https://www.fightwithastick.ca/in-development
Trans is being created for a digital video format. It is in early development stages and is planned for release online in late 2021.
