Jonathan Homsey

Fragments and Remnants (FAR) is an installation using the destruction of visual art as the creation of performance. Inspired by Homsey’s own Syrian ancestry, FAR delves into how allegories and cultural information can be interpreted into a variety of stories and scenarios. Homsey did not discover his ancestry until 2012, where he discovered his ancestry is from the village of Homs and Aleppo for many generations. FAR is Homsey’s platform for self discovery about his own heritage and to help gain empathy for the destruction of his ancestral cities of Homs and Aleppo.

Throughout the exhibition, four allegorical works of pottery will be destroyed as the impetus for choreography. A member of the general public will destroy one of the ceramic works and the broken pieces will deconstruct the original allegory. How stories can be misinterpreted over time is a constant battle in history and archaeology; FAR aims to explore the deconstruction of narratives through this series of four performances.

FAR examines how storytelling and historical allegories morph over time and aims to inquire what we can learn from rebuilding fragmented allegories for future generations.

Critical Non-Fiction on Fragments and Remnants

I’ve always reckoned with the idea that there is a tendency for the oppressed to err towards preservation, that we need to uphold things in tact that were snatched from us. This leaves us in a weird predicament that being: when are you allowed to innovate?

If you are responsible for the culture that is constantly being created around you (and make no mistake you are) where are you preserving culture and tradition, where are you stifling yourself, and where are you innovating allowed to innovate?

When piecing together diaspora, or taking on some kind of quest for being whole it can feel as if your seeking to reaffirm the things that people who weren't you knew to be true - Oh you’re blak, black, brown, a dancer, female it must be like this, it could be like this - as if the musts and could’s weren't already point blank within reach.

Recently a friend asked me to tell them something I know to be true - which I thought was trite and really fucking difficult but then I surpassed the cynicism and got on with it and found it to be consoling. What I know to be true: no one feels like they belong wholly all the time, we will die and spend our time looking at the death and life of others and it’ll mean great love and sadness, you are not the belly button of the universe (my favourite ultimate truth) and that there is no shame in trying to piece it all together even if it takes a lifetime, loss of authenticity, making things up and vanquishing others. You might not feel authentic or even like your “it” a lot of the time but truly no one does.

Amrita Hepi, 2017.

Read SIBLINGS DISCUSS THE END OF THE WORLD, AS THEY CHEW ON IT by Jahra Rager.

IMAGE | Jonathon Homsey, Fragments and Remnants, 2017, performance still. Photography by Giulia Morlando.

Jonathan Homsey (performer/ceramicist) is an arts maker and manager interested in the intersection of street dance, visual art and social engagement. Born in Hong Kong and raised in the United States of America, he immigrated to Australia in 2010 where he is a graduate of Victorian College of the Arts (BA Dance) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (MA Arts Management with Distinction). His choreographic practice has evolved from a theatrical context with works such as the award winning Together As One (Arts House, Melbourne Fringe 2013) to a interdisciplinary practice in galleries and public spaces from Seventh Gallery (Melbourne) to 107 Projects (Sydney) and Design Festa Gallery (Tokyo).

Collaborators

Amrita Hepi (writer) is a Bundjulung and Ngapuhi woman interested in movement as manifested by all bodies and reimagining/creating the greatness that will be WOC first nations futures. She studied at NAISDA and then Alvin Ailey – Her work and practice sits in the nexus between pop culture and contemporary dance with a focus on intersectionality. She has exhibited and performed at the Sydney Opera House, Next Wave festival, Australia’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Carriageworks, TEDX, Banff Centre in Canada and hosts a radio show about independent dance on FBi radio. Most recently she has joined Western Australia’s Indigenous Contemporary dance company OCHRES.

Jahra ‘Rager’ Wassala (writer) is a contemporary dancer, choreographer and poet of Fijian/NZ origin. Jahra is primarily based in Aotearoa and graduated from Unitec’s Bachelor of Performing Arts, Majoring in Contemporary Dance programme in 2012. Since graduation Jahra has performed for choreographers such as Sarah Foster-Sproull (Orchids, Sisters of the Black Crow), MAU Dance Company (I AM), and Thomas Fonua. Jahra has toured both nationally and internationally to Hawai’i, Canada, Australia, Guam and Germany, with her own choreographic works and poetry work including the award-winning dance theatre work ‘MOTHER/JAW’, and her solo work ‘bloo/d/runk’. In 2016, ’bloo/d/runk’ was featured at the 12th Festival of the Pacific Arts in Guam, in New Zealand’s Pacific Dance Festival and national Tempo Dance Festival, and most recently was commissioned for a performance by Sophiensaele Theater in Berlin for their ‘Witch Dance Festival’. Jahra is also in positions of governance in New Zealand with roles as a founding member of the Youth Advisory Group and a youth representative role on the Pacific Advisory Group at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Nat Grant (sound collaborator) is a musician and teacher from Melbourne, Australia. She works predominantly as a freelance artist and has been employed as a composer and performer in the fields of puppetry, theatre, film, animation, and dance. Nat’s work explores intersections between improvisation, chance and intention in the development of sound as a sculptural medium. She has performed and exhibited recorded sonic works around the world. Nat holds a PhD in Music Composition from the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne). She performs regularly at venues around Melbourne, and is frequently engaged in projects and performances that invite her audience to be part of the process or realisation of an artwork.

Sian Pascale is a multidisciplinary artist, designer and yoga teacher. After completing her Masters in Architecture in Melbourne and Denmark, she founded her design practice Young Citizens in Mumbai, India. Her work has been published in Dezeen, Wallpaper and the New York Times, and awarded an Elle Decor India Interior Design Award. Sian Pascale has been teaching yoga and meditation in India and Melbourne for over 4 years. Her creative practice is focused on ceramic arts and her pieces have been exhibited as part of London Design Week and commended as part of the Victorian Craft Awards.

IMAGE | Jonathan Homsey | Courtesy the artist.

FRAGMENTS AND REMNANTS (FAR)

Jonathan Homsey