Between Worlds

Between Worlds | Brydee Rood and Harpreet Singh | A guided performance walk from Auckland Diwali Festival to The Story of Rama exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 2015

Between Worlds is an interactive walking performance and live installation using 52 handmade flags created from saffron hued turban cloth, carried by people transforming into an ephemeral installation in the Auckland Art Gallery Pool. We were inspired by the Rama exhibit, lakes and rivers features prevalently in many of the Rama miniature paintings the acknowledging of water is also symbolic of a point of crossing from place to place, making a journey to The Next World as in the story of Rama and the title of the final chapter which has inspired our title Between Worlds. Between Worlds opens up a universal context and shifts between - crossing the divide from the Diwali Festival and Auckland Art Gallery and making journeys in life crossing oceans and cultures to new places and peoples. 1 tonne of river stones fills 52 buckets forming the resting installation.  

Procession Photographs: David St George | Installation Photographs: Brydee Rood

The inspiration for the 52 flags comes from the Sikh tradition and story of Diwali, the narrative as a metaphor for the procession that we will make has many relevant crossovers to contemporary life, migration, climate change, displaced peoples, the act of coming to new lands; fusing these universal narratives together in a localised Auckland multicultural context and the unique platform which gives a voice to contemporary art practice and navigates both physical and theoretical space between the Auckland Art Gallery and the Diwali Festival.

Images: Brydee Rood and Harpreet Singh 

From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession

From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession | Brydee Rood and Chiman Dangi 2015 | Site-specific Performance and Video Project at Matheran Green Festival Maharashtra India

The Matheran Waste Cart Procession was created as a direct response to the environs of Matheran - meaning "forest on the forehead" an eco sensitive Bombay Hill station “discovered by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the then district collector of Thane district in May 1850. Today Matheran is a very curious place, without modes of popular transport cars, bikes, busses... the tradition of riding by horseback, hand pulled cart or walking prevails and impacts positively on daily life, an inviting lush destination popular with visitors. On the other hand - the impacts and residues of human waste are evident throughout the delicate habitat. Plummeting breath taking views into Matheran’s green valleys are belied by accumulated carpets of thrown plastic bottles, food packets, snack plates... The evidence of a contemporary human presence carelessly left in the wake of their collective daily life. From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession spurred from the context of life in Matheran Hills, a performance action, which involved high-jacking a working rubbish collection cart, and honouring its workers and the process of waste collection by unfolding a series of a sacred rituals throughout the procession from the main market place to the Matheran Dumping Ground. We created garments from silver plates, leaf plates and recycled fabrics; we decorated Jharoo with gold and silver foils and ribbons, and used them like warrior’s arms or ceremonial staffs. Our heads were adorned with a crowning 3rd eye for nature something befitting the forest on the forehead and empowering the inner eco- warrior and garbage goddess queen.

Images Brydee Rood and Chiman Dangi 2015