CREATION, image by Lexi Laphore
Deborah Kelly & Lex Lindsay with choir captain Kit Spencer, choreographer Saria Green & the CREATION chorale
CREATION: Curated Commission
4:00pm-5:15pm Saturday 13 April – Open Dress Rehearsal
5:15pm-6:00pm Saturday 13 April - Q&A hosted by Fiona Winning
6:00pm-7:15pm Sunday 14 April – Official Performance
Main Hall, Petersham Town Hall
Registration required
CREATION is an artwork in the form of a queer insurrectionary science fiction climate change religion. It is interdisciplinary, evolving and ceremonial. CREATION is expressed across visual arts, music, literature, choreography, performance, and most especially through sustained collaboration.
Over two days, CREATION will fill Petersham Town Hall with the sacred practice of this burgeoning faith... chanting, singing, dancing and parading in resplendent costumes and regalia generated in community workshops. A queer & allied community choir of over 50 inner-westies will gather their collective energies to sing a new world into being.
The performance includes the world premiere, in English and Bundjalung, of our new song, Urgently and Gently, a collaboration between composer Lex Lindsay and multi-disciplinary Bundjalung-Kannakan artist Juundaal Strang-Yettica. This centrepiece of the full concert presentation will be accompanied by large scale projections of new experimental animations.
CREATION’s treasury of collaborating artists includes choir captain Kit Spencer, choreographer Saria Green, soloists Andrew Bukenya, Zaya Barroso, Malaika Mfalme, Tash Rusterholz and Melanie Jha, guest composer Karen Cummings, cellist Mary Rapp, percussionist Byron Mark, animator Helen Bucknall and producer Su Goldfish. Costumes by James L King, Silvano Giordano, Eddie Bosnich, Helen Duckworth, David Cuenca, Deborah Kelly, Kit Spencer, Poppy Tegel, and a host of local participants.
Saturday 13 April
4:00pm Saturday 13 April – Open Dress Rehearsal + Q&A
Register for CREATION Open Dress Rehearsal + Q&A
Sunday 14 April
6:00pm Sunday 14 April – Official Performance
Register for CREATION Official Performance
About Deborah Kelly, Instigator
Deborah is a Melbourne-born, Sydney-based artist of mixed settler ancestry. Her works have been shown around Australia and elsewhere. For over a decade she has been working with friends and strangers in cities around the world to make experiential collaborations emphasising process, community and aesthetic intensity.
About Lex Lindsay, Composer
Lex is a writer, composer and performance artist with a 20-year career as a creative producer, curator and strategy advisor to arts organisations. He has composed music for theatre, dance and film productions and is a regular contributor of music and collage to Deborah Kelly’s collaborative projects.
About Kit Spencer, Performer & Choir Captain
Kit is a musician, artist and teacher, whose work focuses on music making as experimentation, performance-oriented practice, and accessibility.
About Saria Green, Choreographer
Saria is a queer Tanzanian multidisciplinary performer, living and creating on Gadigal land. Saria started singing and dancing from two years old, and found her way to the stage in choirs, musical theatre, and spoken word poetry. Saria believes strongly in the power of performance for protest, healing and storytelling. Outside of her creative endeavours, Saria is a Clinical Psychologies and psychology teacher.
About Fiona Winning, Q&A Host
Fiona Winning has had a diverse career in independent and commercial performing arts across contemporary performance, theatre, dance and festivals. She was Sydney Festival Head of Programming from 2012 to 2017, presenting works by inspirational Australian and international artists in venues across the city. Previously, Fiona worked as a dramaturge and producer in contemporary arts, curating the Australian Theatre Forum in 2011 and co-convening the Bundanon Trust’s annual Siteworks event in 2010-11. From 1999 to 2008, Fiona was Director of Performance Space, a national contemporary arts hub based in Sydney. In this role, she collaborated with artists and communities to conceive and produce events in theatres, galleries and public spaces, as well as developing a range of festival, training and residency programs. She was instrumental in the development of Carriageworks, collaborating with the arts sector, Arts NSW and architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer. Fiona was also a lecturer and co-designer of NIDA’s Master of Fine Arts (Cultural Leadership) course.
CREATION website
Deborah Kelly Instagram
Image Credits
Banner: Legs On The Wall, image by Carlita Sari Photo