 |
| White Lies (Katina Olsen) photo Gabriel Cormerford |
This mini festival which included three works, White Lies, Public Property and Territory by Guts Dance worked with dancers from across Australia in a central Australian/Arrende meeting point for artists along the arterial channel of the Stuart Highway. In a time of regressive government policy on locking up children in prisons, Guts holds out as a bastion of truth telling, all women directors the upending and body slamming the patriarchy into reverse gear. Reclaiming voice, reclaiming country, restoring truth, offering hope, taking the bull by the horns. On the ride with ten gutsy women was mind opening, body challenging, heart challenging. The inescapable truth in your mind at dawn every day. The pain of awakening. The magnetic centre of the continent, the confrontation and challenge of the desert mind, everything rotates around this. Reinstating country, toxic voyeurism, torturous endurance, shameful misconceptions and excruciating parody. Carnival contradictions, rigour and strength in the cowboy crews, lead artists pushing for the impossible. Overcoming and outdoing yesterday’s previous limits. Being a wholly different person by the end of the day than the one you woke up as. Art is life, nothing should be taken for granted.
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs/Mparntwe 31 July -2 August 2026
