repatriate 2
Performer Latai Taumoepeau and filmmaker Elias Nohra’s work Repatriate considers the issue of climate change with regards to vulnerable Pacific Island nations, specifically the threat of forced dispossession and displacement. As a tank slowly fills with water, Taumoepeau dances the collective vocabulary that she has learnt from various Pacific Island nations, articulating body parts which are encircled with yellow floatation devices in the manner of Pacific body adornments. The dance is distorted as the inflatables become buoyant. Struggling to maintain the choreography, the artist is eventually submerged and drowns.
First presented as part of ’24 Frames’ and Carriageworks, 2015
Latai Taumoepeau - Co-author, Producer and performer
Latai Taumoepeau is a Punake, body-centered performance artist; her story is of her homelands, the Island Kingdom of Tonga and her birthplace; the Eora Nation – Sydney, and everything far and in-between. Latai activates Indigenous philosophies and methodologies; cross-pollinating ancient practices of ceremony with her contemporary processes & performance work to re-interpret, re-generate and extend her movement practice and its function in and from Oceania.
Elias Nohra - Co-author and Cinematographer
Elias Nohra is a digital artist with over 12 years of experience using old, new and emerging technologies to tell stories. Formerly the Community Director and Head Educator at CuriousWorks, Elias has worked with hundreds of young and old people of culturally diverse backgrounds from all across Australia, building their capacity for sustainable self-expression through diverse digital media forms. He brings a passion for a more diverse and representative media and arts landscape to all of his work.
Bec Stegh - Editor and Visual Effects
James Brown - Sound Designer