Dwell: landscape in the figure
2022. screendance work (10 mins).
Dwell: landscape in the figure is a screendance work responding to the urgent issue of habitat loss. It focuses on three endangered ecological communities in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula regions of South Australia - coastal, heathy woodland, and wetland. Their rich biodiversity is evocatively conveyed through haunting visual and sonic footage, and by three dancers who embody the 'landscape in the figure'. Movement, sound and image become increasingly stressed and degraded as the space available to them diminishes, reflecting the precariousness of these unique habitats when encroaching threats swing the ecological balance against them.
Dwell invites contemplative viewing and deep listening. It seeks to cultivate a sense of embodied presence in, and as, nature (landscape in the figure), and in so doing foster appreciation of the part we play in it. Presence as place.
CREDITS
- concept, direction, production: Sue Hawksley.
- choreography, performance: Sue Hawksley, Tammy Arjona & Billie Cook.
- image, montage: Richard Hodges.
- sound design: Jesse Budel.
- special thanks to: Mike Tye; The National Parks and Wildlife Service, a division of the Department for Environment and Water, South Australia; Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board.
- This project was made possible by the Australian Government's Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
- This work was made on the traditional land of the Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna and Peramangk Peoples. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.
SCREENINGS AND PRESENTATIONS
- FlorenceDanceOnScreen Festival - Florence, Italy. May 2023.
- 3rd International Ecoperformance Film Festival - São Paulo, Brazil. June 2023.
- 6th International Dance and Somatic Practices Conference - Coventry University, UK. July 2023.
- Exhibition: Solastalgia: loss and return - Coral Street Art Space, Victor Harbor, SA. August 2023.
- Exhibition: Subject Object Reset - Cadell Street Studios, Goolwa, SA. August 2023.
- DanceLive 2023 Festival - Citymoves Dance Agency, Aberdeen, UK. October 2023.
VIDEO
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. → PDF