Birth of Dawn

The sun rises and sets, followed by the moon’s rotation each day — there is always a new beginning. The sun is reimagined as a pregnant belly, the moment before new life enters this rotation. If we treat the earth as another breathing body, how do we move across it? The present is pregnant with the future. You are transported to a planet that has yet to experience its first Birth of Dawn.

Birth and death rituals are explored through the framework of the femme body. The cycle of being born, flourishing, rotting, decaying, and beginning again repeats within dreamscapes untouched by man-made objects. There is no beginning nor end to this portal. These landscapes are both ancient and futuristic, their immense knowledge and technology seamlessly woven into every ecosystem. There is nothing more science fiction than nature itself.

The inhabitants experience every emotion that accompanies growth—pain and pleasure ripple across each frame. They communicate through movement and telepathic frequencies, having evolved beyond language. As they prepare for birth, their internal thoughts are projected through the soundscape, carrying us from moonlight to daybreak, over and over. Swimming through bass-heavy tides, this work seeks to transport you not forward or backward, but to expand you into the present moment, where past, present, and future are intertwined as one.

“We rot and become god again. Impregnated with possibility, I birth new dawns. Open. Fecund. Cycles. Spiral up, up, up with me. I see you. I see you in the ocean; I see you in the lava. Stay open. Stay tender every chance you get. Split your heart wide open and let it expand with me. Let’s run!”

• Hannah Brontë

Created on the unceded lands of Yugambeh, Arakwal and Bundjalung Country

Costume materials: Salvaged fishing net, fish scales, abalone, clam, pippi, cowrie, mother of pearl, stingray bone, wire, muslin, silk, stocking, natural dyes, wool, silicone, pearls, glass, wire, palm bark, cotton twine.

Costume contribution by Megan Hanson from previous work

Videographer: Aidan Rice

Sound: Jesse Koroi

Vocals: Mayan Hennemeyer

Editor: Kate O’Sullivan

Models: Kel Knox, Clea Prat, Lisa Kelly , Mayatu Nova, Sasskia Sassen , Drea Lam, Taree Sansbury, Naomi Appo, Eilla Appo, Hannah Brontë