Conceived by Amrita Hepi, Soothsayer Seranades, invites collaborators to develop playlists accompanied by provocations to move which are released at 4pm on the 15th of every month via the music streaming service Spotify.
As part of our current exhibition, Notes for Tomorrow, Contemporary Calgary is pleased to share the third playlist of the Soothsayer Serenades series in collaboration with Jessica McMann and Amrita Hepi.
Soothsayer Serenades is a provocation for moving together while apart, without proof of presence. An offline dance class or walk.
This format provides insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated ways of rethinking how art can be experienced and distributed across place and time to transcend geographical and physical boundaries. The pandemic has highlighted how the internet and free social media platforms have provided connectivity during a time when we have been estranged from friends, family, community and workplaces.
Jessica McMann
About the Collaborator
Jessica McMann is a Cree (Cowessess, SK) contemporary dancer and choreographer. She is also a classically trained flutist with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her recent compositions and soundscapes explore Indigenous identity and history. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is owner of JMArts, a consulting company that works with arts organizations.
About the Artist
Amrita Hepi - Photo David Collins
Amrita Hepi is an award-winning First Nations choreographer and dancer from Bundjulung (Aus) and Ngāpuhi (NZ) territories. Her mission as an artist is to push the barriers of intersectionality in form and make work that establishes multiple access points through allegory. Her work is characterised by hybridity and engages in extending choreographic practices by combining dance and movement with other domains such as visual art, language and participatory research.
About the Curator
Sharmila Wood is the Director of the curatorial initiative JINA. Since 2012 she has worked as a Senior Curator with FORM. Previously, Sharmila has held a plurality of roles, from fostering market access with artisans in India to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage for Aboriginal communities in Australia and developing curatorial place-based strategies for public art projects. She is interested in interdisciplinary approaches to addressing concerns around heritage, environment, social, and spatial justice. Sharmila conceptualises and develops community projects through socially engaged processes, creates installations, collaborates with artists on major commissions, and makes art interventions. Sharmila has a Masters of Art History & Curatorship from the University of Sydney and in 2017 was the recipient of an Asialink residency. She has edited books and writes regularly for publications, and journals, most recently for the Journal of Public Space, and Springer. Currently, she is working on a curatorial project, Actions for the Earth, a participatory platform for ecology, healing, and kindness in response to COVID 19 and the climate emergency. Her long-term curatorial project with Aboriginal artists from the Pilbara region of Western Australia will be presented in 2021.