Transmutation:
We the Butterfly
"A meeting place where the ancestors sing.
They dance to remember, ruminate and reinvigorate.
Their vessel contorts and translates stories within.
They circle & ‘sing’ the next ones in.
A Conjuring.
The matriarchal lineage is considered a powerful conduit for the transmission of ancestral knowledge, traditions and often spiritual or magical capabilities, likened to the
process of alchemy within the body. The female body acts as a vessel for these hereditary qualities, and the ‘alchemy’ is the process of transforming and refining these inherited traits through time and generations.”
—Weniki Hensch
Papua New Guinean artist Weniki Hensch’s directorial debut is a powerful ode to the transmission of ancestral knowledge, tracing the life cycle of her totem the Queen Alexandra Birdwing Butterfly.
At its heart the choreographed experimental work reflects on Weniki’s personal experience of diaspora and adoption, tracing a connection from the first Ancestors to her own daughter, the young dancer depicted in the film, to affirm transmission of ancestral knowledge, traditions and spiritual or magical capabilities.
Credits
Director: Weniki Hensch (Papua New Guinean)
Dancers and Choreography: Yolanda Lowatta (Geidei Iama Zendathkes), Tyrel Dulvarie (Yirrganydji / Umpila / Kalkadoon / Dugulbara) and Florizel Betheras (Papua New Guinean)
Production Manager: Simone Mugavin (Irish and Dutch)
Director of Photography: Rah Dakota (Filipina, Spanish and Irish)
1st AC: Shannon Madden (Éire)
Sound Designer: Ivan Masic (Serbian)
Gaffer: Hamish Palmer
Lighting Assistant: Ashton Taylor
Production Assistants: Natayla Adams - Murillo and Felix Wilkins
Makeup Artist: Kahealea Coleman-Wilson (Ngarrindjeri, Kokatha and Nukunu)
Editor: Rah Dakota
Colour Grade: Daniel Witt
Commissioned by Bunjilaka, Museums Victoria
Special thanks to Abbotsford Convent, Alex Hayes, Aheda Kitchen, Abbotsford Convent, Lori Long and narrm ngarrgu.
Filmed on the traditional country of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nations in Victoria. Always was, always will be.