Nithya Iyer

* UPDATE: We have reached our stretch goal!!!!!!! With 22 hours to go we will be putting extra donations towards paying ourselves an artist fee and presenting H:O:M:E in MElbourne in 2017! If you would like to contribute check out the rewards and snap yourself up something quick!! 

H:O:M:E is an interactive theatre poem, incorporating sound art, storytelling, movement and projection that will be debuting at Crack Theatre festival in Newcastle Sept 29th to Oct 1st, as a part of the T.I.N.A festival. 

Meeting through the crossing paths of Melbourne's underground, we - Devika, Luna and Nithya - have been friends and creative compatriots for nearly 10 years now. Over that time our respective creative mediums have often overlapped, reflected and provoked essential explorations underlying each other's work: What is the state of the world around us? What constitutes our existence? What is the liminal space between these two things?

Whether through the polaroid, landscape or dissected microcosmic photographs from around the world and under your shoe by Devika, the raw, lilting, razor cut lullabies of Luna's poetry,  the force of her shamanic exploration or the embodied narratives and writings of Nithya, we have all toiled through concepts around memory, mind, body and energy and all come to ask, how does this world shape us, and how do we find meaning in a world of constant change?

 Exploring this though art, performance and writing has lead us to collaborate in creating what we have labelled as an interactive theatre poem titled H:O:M:E and we need a little help to bring it into the world!

WHAT IS H:O:M:E?

H:O:M:E is an exploration into the ambient and abstract spaces of theatrical performance. Navigating the depths of memory and geography whilst drenched in rich poetry, sound art, audience interaction, surreal visuals, storytelling and movement, this is a love song to the locations that lurk unseen in our identity, a eulogy to the places gone too soon. 

We are shaped by the landscapes encountered in our lives. Our memories are defined by their location. And so slowly, our sense of self, becomes entwined with where we are and where we have been.

We three artists - one born in Fiji, one in Australia and one in Singapore - ask the question: What are the landscapes that makes us who we are? What happens to our identity when our landscapes change? When we are removed from them, or when they are destroyed? 

H:O:M:E builds a poetic, ambient landscape from fragments of places gone before, inviting the audience to come together to build a new space to belong. Constructed from memory, using personal history, poetry, soundscapes, abstract visuals, physical theatre and audience participation, H:O:M:E is a collective experience where everything you ever needed to feel at ease can be built. And destroyed.

WHY IS H:O:M:E ?

 We as a generation (X, Y and Z) are faced with an increasing divide between the places we live, and the natural world, confronting a sense of perpetual loss of the elemental and organic. In many ways this mirrors the sense of loss we carry within us as we move swiftly, nomadically, in a globalized and consumerised world. We are eager to grow, learn, accumulate, change, and yet we seek a sense of belonging, a sense of solidity in our identity. This is a difficult thing to sense when our histories and memories are so scattered; when identity is fragmented over a series of ever-disappearing places and locations in the past, and we forget the ancestors and forebearers whom rapidly become invisible in the fast-pace of our societies.

 H:O:M:E is an opportunity to regather the lost fragments which makes us who we are and to witness the singular convergence of time, space and place as carried around in the memories of individuals. Using the artists as a vessel, the audience is invited to contribute their presence and memories to the evocation of a suspended no-time space in which we can reach through the past and sit on the beds in our childhood homes, or the cliffsides of our nomadic adventures, all within the confines of a simple room.

WHO ARE WE? 

Devika Bilimoria is a Melbourne based photographer, artist and dancer. She has been captivated by the arts from a very young age and has pursued both dancing and photography as a form of artistic and creative expression. Devika completed both a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and a subsequent Bachelor degree in Fine Art Photography at RMIT, followed by extensive exhibitions in Melbourne and Christchurch, New Zealand. Devika continued with other solo exhibition combining the use of paint with digital photography and Polaroid paper. In 2015 Devika was selected as a Finalist for the Bowness Photography Prize at the Monash Gallery of Art, and the Macquarie Digital Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in the ACT. She also premiered her interactive art installation, MURTI - An Adaptation of An Ancient Ritual, at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, which toured the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 2016. Devika continues to investigate the world of light, gesture and form through photography and visual installation to better understand time, self and perception.

Luna Narama is a Western Australian based poet and multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the impact of physical and cultural landscapes on identity, belonging and the notion of self. Informed by a rich background in theatre, puppetry, design, film, community development, history and philosophy, she is driven by a desire to better understand the physiological, emotional and ethereal relationships between human cultures and the natural world. Her most recent written, animated and audio poetry can be found in Going Down Swinging, Underground Journal, Roar and Black Heart Magazine. A performance intern at Spare Parts Puppet Theatre in 2013, her past work includes large scale roving ceremonial performance and intimate interactive works.

 Nithya Iyer is a Melbourne-based writer and performer engaged in the exploration of embodied performative mediums, cross-cultural dance practices, and creative non-fiction literature. She has trained in the classical Indian dance forms of Bharatanatyam and Odissi under Dr. Chandrabhanu OAM for over 10 years, and performed in a range of feature-length works with the JAIA dance troupe. Her explorations into experimental movement include embodied poetry and experimental/transcendental dance mediums which she has performed in contemporary works and festivals in Melbourne and Sydney. Her writing regularly explores the nexus between the subconscious, existential and physical, meditating on the contemporary human condition and its relationship to primordial states. She also regular contributes to arts and culture magazine Peril.

 AND we have the assistance of award-winning sound designer Amy Hanley!

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?

 
H:O:M:E has been selected for showing at the Crack Theatre Festival in Newcastle, as a part of the This Is Not Art Fesitval (TINA) in from Sept 29th-Oct 1st. Crack is an experimental theatre festival that creates non traditional and inclusive performance spaces through a range of venues troughout Newcastle for one weekend a year.  We will be using this opportunity to develop the work for future performance runs, and will be applying for festivals in different locations in the near future with an eye to also have a showing in Melbourne in early 2017. 

Everything pledged will go towards covering the final costs of mouting H:O:M:E at Crack and compensating our wonderful sound artist for her hard work. Any extra money raised beyond the listed amount will go towards funding future performances of H:O:M:E and covering costs of rehearsal spaces used so far!

1) FLIGHTS: To get us three and our lovely sound designer over to Newcastle for the festival!
Approximately: $1000

2) ACCOMODATION: To get us a bed at the backpackers for the week!
Approximately: $600

3) MATERIALS: For crafting what will be the world of H:O:M:E
Approximately $150

4) SOUND DESIGN: To offer some humble love to our lovely sound designer for her creative genius!
Approximately: $250 (the more we get the more we can pay her!!)

If we make $2000:

This is the minimum we must raise in order to make this project happen at Crack Festival.

The balance of approximatly $1000 is currently coming from our savings. 

If we make $3000 (our stretch goal):

We will be able to cover all costs and won't be out of pocket

If we make $3000+ :

We will be able to pay our selves an artist fee.

We have many challenges with H:O:M:E but are meeting them head on with dedication, enthuiasm and honestly quite a lot of chocolate!

1) Firstly the requirment of extensive time in rehearsal space as we develop work in a new format that explores the cross over between visual art, performative art and abstract experimentation, not to mention one of our artists is based in another state!

How are we overcoming this? Well by asking for your help here with the financial side, and with the rest, a lot of skillful time managment (juggling) and an excellent routine of self care and compassion for each other.

2) Development and payment for professional sound design and lighting assistance due to the complex and multi-disciplinary nature of the show. As the form of the show is dependant on strong ambience we have sought out the help of the lovely and talented Amy Hanley who is building the sound art that will acompany the piece.

3) Delivering a professional standard show outside of our home town with appropriate staffing, materials and props. We are meeting this challenge with excellent planning, a good deal of gumption and a whole lot of team work! It's not flawless but we are getting there!

4) Documentation of the show for future reference material. As we are planning to show H:O:M:E again and again in different locations it is important we have adequate documentation of the process and the show. Luckily one of our creators is Devika, so we have a camera on hand, and take extra time to allow for recording what we are doing and keeping pretty meticulous written record of everything that happens too.