Emotional Marble Memory
Shannon May Powell, Oscar Key Sung, Benjamin Thompson
1–25 Feb 2023
Emotional Marble Memory is a poetry performance and video artwork which studies the history of classical marble sculpture, and the body as kinetic sculpture — a living, breathing subject rather than an object. Exploring themes of gender and sexuality and problematising how the colonial patriarchal gaze has historically perceived the body and gender as a fixed and inanimate object rather than an animate subject, and how this gaze extends to the living landscape and the extraction of natural resources such as marble.
On the opening night of the exhibition there will be a spoken word poetry performance by Shannon alongside the video installation by Benjamin Thompson.
Body as the Site of the Artwork - Saturday 25th February from 12-2pm
You are welcome to join Body as the site of the artwork, a somatic poetry workshop at Blindside on Saturday 25th FEB 12-2pm. Shannon May Powell will host a free workshop exploring embodied storytelling and the body as the site or 'happening' of the artwork. The workshop will use sensory somatic experiencing techniques, active imagination and contemplative practices to access memory, storytelling and poetic prose.
Memory is the selection of images, affect and narrative. Each image, story or sensory experience is contained within the body-mind library. This workshop will put us in the practice of remembering the stories and resources we hold inside.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
Shannon May Powell is a poet, artist and somatic experiencing facilitator based on sovereign Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. Their practice explores gender, sexuality and impermanence with analogue photography, text, video, somatic practice and performance.
Oscar Key Sung fuses melodies with visceral soundscapes. Intrinsically linked by a textural and spatial awareness that is more concerned with creating a sonic mood than maintaining aesthetic continuity. To listen to Oscar’s sound sculpture is to step inside a living art object.
Benjamin Thompson is a designer / educator / artist on Wurundjeri Land. He focuses on an absurdist mix of class, neurodivergence, anti-futurism and Nu Metal through a digital medium.