Bhenji Ra

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Bhenji Ra is premiering a show on November 2nd. It is presented by FORM and is one part of a triple bill called Common Anomalies.
“There is a million narratives going on at once, and to consume that every single day and forget that your narrative is also very important but not only that but that your narrative has to be made up from experience and experience doesn’t come from flicking through instagram and wishing or comparing or trying to familiarise or see yourself represented in that. like, fuck representation! it’s such a hard thing, yes we need to see ourselves represented in social media and on TV and in films and cinema but at the end of the day I also wanna see myself represented in the landscape and to see myself in the streets..  you have a community”
Bhenji Ra
“sometimes the voices in your head are not yours, they’re just trauma” 
Bhenji Ra
we talk about:
  • #identity
  • #survival
  • #making shows
  • becoming #clickbait
  • obscuring #accessibility to #culture, traditional cultures and subcultures
  • #aesthetic #relevance and references
  • having #taste
  • being a #solo practitioner
  • #instinct
  • being a lazy walker
  • #pageantry walking
  • “I love mirrors” BR
  • political, cultural and dance theory references coming after ones own movement generation
  • NRG – show – collaboration with Angela Goh
  • having a following
  • not offering any solutions (except for skincare)
  • being #gentle on yourself, “sometimes the voices in your head are not yours, they’re just trauma” BR
  • Bhenji’s curating of MCA ARTBAR
  • carving out bridges for communities to meet e.g. Liverpool, rural Australian-Filipinos and art institutions
  • #Suffering through #conformity
  • living up to your #destiny
  • being #suspicious of what “#Australian” is, and #nationalism and borders
  • working out how to live together
  • working through white supremacy the phenomena not personal attacks
  • there being a lot to talk about
  • “woke-ness”
  • Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art #Jeepny film
  • #selfcare in relationship with #socialmedia
  • a future project about billboards
 

quotes from the discussion:

“I’m offering a different narrative, that’s all” BR

“rise above and listen to your inner bad-bitch” BR

“was the conversation, Here’s some cash, go make some art?” – MC “yes! and that’s the conversation i wanna have for the rest of my life” BR

“self doubt is the biggest player in stifling yourself” BR

“everyday is a process of liberating myself  from what ever self hate i have” BR

“i just want an experience of myself that isn’t consumed and talked about in the public media as well.” – BR

“i can make this so fab and relevant.. and  you’ve just fucked it up” – BR

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TheMattmosphere

Matt Cornell is based in the Asia-Pacific region and grew up in Darwin, on Larrakia land. He works through dance, choreography, sound, photography, and discussion to question the arbitrary configuration of systems, and is passionate about overcoming cognitive bias... to ask better questions… to dissolve malignant social narratives.

One thought on “Bhenji Ra”

  1. Really enjoyed BR speaking from the heart about the limitations of social media and the potency of physical representation in the landscape … experiences forming the person. Lovely . Congrats.

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