to get there from here

Choreographed and Performed by Maria Gillespie, Nguyễn Nguyên, and Kevin Williamson

Gallery Installation Exhibition: Aug 27 - Oct 9, 2022 

Direction, Choreography, Sound, Film, Design: Maria Gillespie, Nguyễn Nguyên, Kevin Williamson

Project Website: togettherefromhere.org

to get there from here is a choreographic investigation and installation that combines live performance, installations, and video projections in the gallery space. These elements are experienced by viewers as a gallery installation of three walls of panorama videos and sculpture installations or in addition with the collaborators’ 50 minute performance. This work combines elements of image, object, and dance as mappings of memories, unfixed, in and through our bodies.  We reflect on the allure and impossibility of destination through mixed media. The stitching together of panoramic videos, movement, and objects animates the tension of never quite arriving while being propelled forward. Our process charts the physical and emotional landscapes enlivened by auto-ethnographic research where we negotiate inscribed pasts. In this process, Maria traces the erasure and restoration of her Mexican lineage, Nguyễn navigates unfamiliar terrains as a refugee, and Kevin wrestles with discomfort and queer pleasure. In our live performance, we embody themes of reunion, transformation, and resilience.