The sacred is in every aspect of our lives. Looking at the meaning of the word sacred there are many ways in which we use it. It is most often connected with religion and spiritual life when what is considered to be holy deserves respect; especially because of a connection with a god. Sacred music, writings and stories are in every culture from relics to temples and the land we walk on.
Another aspect of ‘sacred’ is when we hold to a belief or custom that doesn’t get questioned or criticised, and becomes “The Sacred Cow’ or the opposite when something we hold dear is changed, the term ‘nothing is sacred’ is bandied about. Everything and more often than not, nothing is sacred, and when it comes to art that surely rings true.
The artists who exhibit at BKHG find a way to bring the themes we give them to life and this exhibition is no exception.
Papa Tango Sierra Delta – A Visual Exhibition By Darmin . These limited edition large-scale signed canvas prints of photographic digital manipulations are designed to elicit reflection and response to the silent epidemic that is sweeping the world, PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Hopelessness, fear and terror are the language of PTSD. Its recipients have a limited capacity to advocate for themselves. It is the perfect storm for apathy and inaction from everyone, including the innocent-ignorant and those who are experiencing the syndrome.
A Bowling Alley is a good analogy for the experience of PTSD. The Bowling Pins are the different parts of your brain. Your consciousness is the machine that stands the pins up and maintains the order – who you think you are and the process’ you have developed to hold your self together as a person. The ‘Bowling Ball of Trauma’ comes hurtling down the alley for a full strike on the psyche, sometimes accidentally, sometimes deliberately.
There is a major difference in the ‘Human Traumatic Response’ to these very different traumatic events.
Then the real trouble begins, the Ten-pin bowling machine (Your consciousness) is now broken. The Bowling Pins (The different parts of your brain) are scattered everywhere, and there is another ‘Trauma Ball’ coming, and you cannot get out of the way. So begins the PTSD Cycle. Sierra Oscar Sierra.
Opening night:
The opening night event ‘Sierra Oscar Sierra’ was what it implies, an SOS a ‘cry of help’ an improvised performance piece that demonstrated the journey from – despair to hope, a solution instead of a sacrifice, a healing instead of a horror.
During ‘Sierra Oscar Sierra” Darmin carried a two and a half metre tall cross covered in dollar signs from the road-level carpark to the main-stage, all the while videoing himself with an iPhone on a selfie-stick.
Darmin said “My opening performance theatre piece was about showing the compromise needed and the sacrifice it entails to making a dollar, the deep personal cost. Showing the damage the ‘dollar-making system’ can do and then the journey back to health by choosing mindfulness, by resonating and harmonising with Sam Voolstra Yoga Teacher from ‘I Love Myself Yoga”.
Sam Voolstra serenely meditated throughout the whole performance, to the soundtrack of a ticking clock then the music of Buddha awakening.
These exhibitions run until Sat May 25th.
