dysonindustries

 

 

 

 
There are so many rooms in this work; rooms of earth, water, milk and salt.
From the moment we enter from backstage we are stepping into rooms,
witnessing an evocation of emotion through these elements.

Julia Postle - Real Time

intimate drowning
ice | salt | tears | performance + installation work
 



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This work is about death. Grief
The relationships before
The aftermath - of confusion, violence, isolation
The never ending questions
The devastating loss and paranoia


"Since my wife died, I have spent the last six years treading water - trying to stop myself from drowning. Sometimes I catch myself not breathing. I have to remind myself that I can't live underwater no matter how much I want to."


Grief. Loss. Tears. Fear. Sadness
Water. Milk. Salt. Ice
Falling. Waiting
Submerged. Suffocated. Broken ties
Intention. Lack of focus. Intensity of focus
Fighting. Screaming. Wailing
Blue. White. Black. Blackness

 

The doors open: we walk through a gauze curtain and discover a dark space with a square of light in the middle of the room. As we walk closer to the light, we see a girl writing in charcoal on the floor around a square box filled with milk. She is writing the same thing over and over. The more she writes the more desperate she becomes: I am listening…

We have to keep walking past. She isn’t writing for us. We find our seats

Two people: one slowly breaking the hundreds of fragile strings that tie her to the other. The other is pleading with her to stop:

Please. Please don’t. Please Avril. …Please don’t

One girl facing away from us. She is slowly swimming on the spot without water. Projected next to her are images of her drowning under water. Salt falls in front of her. Behind her. A wall of salt. She is bound to the spot. Underwater and still breathing. Swimming in her own tears. She won’t escape. She wants to stay, but desires nothing

Two people standing in a large square box filled with milk. They start in intimacy. The relationship begins to dissolve before us. One fights to be with/on/behind the other. The other fights her off. The milk is splashed. Why aren't they being careful?

In the darkness there is scrubbing. Someone is scrubbing the floor. The other girl is on her knees trying to erase the original writing. The traces left behind that we have no control over. We only see her for a second, but hear her in the darkness. Scrubbing. It is pointless. You can't erase the past.

 







performance team

performers
avril huddy
jean tally
andrew ness


choreography
clare dyson
lighting design & production management
andrew meadows + mark dyson

photography
clare dyson + mark dyson

premiered in 2003
at the ANU Arts Centre

and toured to
Brisbane Powerhouse in 2003


this work was created and performed in residence at the ANU Arts Centre in canberra during 2002-2003. It was then toured to the brisbane powerhouse, brisbane where it was redeveloped for that space in 2003

this work is 60 minutes with no interval
Audience walk onstage prior to seating to watch the performance

this work is tour ready and travels with 5 company members

please contact the company for more details

supported by Arts ACT, ANU Arts Centre and Brisbane Powerhouse