CRAWL ME BLOOD DEVELOPMENT

“What a joy and a privilege to see a work of such scale and lightly worn ambition so early in its life, and at a time when economic, and, concomitantly, aesthetic austerity is the name of the game.” Marginalia

“It was a wild place, untouched, above all untouched, with an alien, disturbing secret loveliness. And it kept its secret. I’d find myself thinking, what I see is nothing – I want what it hides.” Jean Rhys

Halcyon Macleod and Willoh S. Weiland undertook two residencies to work on the development of Crawl Me Blood. At Fresh Milk Barbados, they worked on the overall concept and construct of the work while undertaking interviews with local women. At Vitalstatistix, they worked with ten South Australian artists to explore the theme of ‘longing for paradise’, including romantic notions of landscape versus reality and dislocation, culminating in a showing of the work in progress for the Adhocracy Festival.

Crawl Me Blood is inspired by the work of Jean Rhys, whose book Wide Sargasso Sea expounds the landscape and complex race relations of post-colonial Dominica. This work in development included a radio docu-drama, live artwork and sound installation, uses the sinister eden of the tropical garden and the gossip-ridden, music-blasting medium of live radio to explore the myths we make of paradise.

CREDITS

Artists – Halcyon Macleod & Willoh S. Weiland
System Designer – Matt Daniels
Composer – Felix Cross
Sound designer – James Brennan