PAWA 2023: Pieces of the Island (Part One)

This article is published in collaboration with Performance Art Week Aotearoa 2023. Showcasing performance artists from across Aotearoa and the world, Performance Art Week Aotearoa brings a stellar line-up of performance art works, workshops, discussion and happenings to Wellington city. Rat World is excited to platform a range of critical writing on the events from the year’s festival.

A blanket 
A bag 
A bell
A wind 
A want 
A need  
We waked slowly 
To arrive 
At the art 

She moves with intention
The colour white is peaceful this time 

                                                                  A blanket a body

perhaps I held on too long - push 

                                                                   I think she knows.

A bell sounds , I am blanketed, a shared breathe, I would like to stay here forever.
What is it? the space between intimacy shared  -I forgot you were watching 
this is togetherness cocooned.

                                                     “ I think you could really love here” 

It whispers.

I think you could learn to love this place, resolve. 
How do you hold and be held when you are seen.
The muscles a little tighter.
The thoughts a little more controlled. 
Is it wrong to let a soul become a reflective surface?
The danger of the permission of a response is to look closer than the feeling of that moment.
and now I am doing that.
Thinking of how to make a blanket we pluck the feathers from a bird and stuff them all inside for our comfort.
But no. no. this is the type of thing that she so carefully lulls.

                                                                    disappears.

                                                                      cradles. 

Nurture, nature and back to a blanket.
We start with a blanket and a breath, they drape one over us evert night and when we leave, a final breath they cover our face with one.

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Jazmine Rose Phillips a performance Artist, Musician and writer. They seek to embrace the grit and beauty of the human experience. Their works aim to evoke and embody transparency and healing. Often motivated by the destruction we all take part in as humans. Jazmine has released 2 albums under Moniker Jazmine Mary and in 2022 Won best Independent Debut award for their Album The Licking of a Tangerine. Jazmine has performed their works in Galleries across Aotearoa, Melbourne and India. Most recently a season at the basement Theatre of “Their feet did not touch the ground” a performance highlighting the experiences and human rights violations detained refugees face currently in Australia.

This piece was commissioned by Performance Art week Aotearoa with support from Wellington City Council, and was curated and edited by Sasha Francis. Click here to check out more about the 2023 Festival.