dancework

Dwell: landscape in the figure (WIP)

screen-dance [work-in-progress 2021-22]

concept, choreography and performance: Sue Hawksley; dance artists: Tammy Arjona & Billie Cook; video/photographer: Richard Hodges; composer/sound artist: Jesse Budel.



photos: Richard Hodges
Dwell: landscape in the figure is a screen-dance work focusing on threatened ecological communities in South Australia. The central concern of this work is habitat - space, structure, form, dynamics, diversity etc., - and the potential impacts of its loss. This will be explored through dance, sound, and image deriving from three diverse habitat types - coastal, forest and wetland - with consideration for particular endangered species that live there. This work will challenge the anthropocentric arts tradition of the 'figure in the landscape'; rather, through deep listening and observation of the environments and particular species, the creative approach aims to embody the 'landscape in the figure'. It aims to raise the profile of threatened habitats, highlight the implications of their loss, and the potential for return through natural and assisted recovery processes.

The finished work will be screened at Signal Point Gallery in Goolwa, in the group exhibition Solastalgia - loss and return, curated by Jo Wilmot, as part of SALA festival, August 2022.

✐ WRITING

> DWELL PROJECT BLOG

Hawksley, S. (2021) Landscape in the figure: cultivating presence as nature , Conceição | Conception. Campinas, SP. Vol. 10, no. 00, p. e021009. doi: 10.20396/conce.v10i00.8666681. PDF

We acknowledge that we are meeting, creating and working on the traditional land of the Ngarrindjeri, Kuarna and Peramangk Peoples. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage beliefs and relationship with the land. We pay our respects to the Elders past, present and future.

This project was made possible by the Australian Government's Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.