Ana Chaya Scotney and Puti Lancaster co-created The Contours of Heaven in 2017 for the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. Both artists worked together to tell the story with Ana performing the solo show, and Puti directing. Ana shared some of her insights about the creation of the The Contours of Heaven, and what it means to her.
What is The Contours of Heaven about?
The show is about six people. Six young people who come from the Hawke’s Bay, from Heretaunga (Hastings). It raises each of their voices and shares their perspectives and experiences in their own words. They share the awesome moments, the tough moments - all of their experiences in the Hawke’s Bay. The show is also about the geography of the Hawke’s Bay itself. About the ocean, and the cycles of nature. About how and where they overlap with us and our experiences of growth as people. And then it’s about, the tākapu, which is the Australasian gannet.
What is The Contours of Heaven about?
The show is about six people. Six young people who come from the Hawke’s Bay, from Heretaunga (Hastings). It raises each of their voices and shares their perspectives and experiences in their own words. They share the awesome moments, the tough moments - all of their experiences in the Hawke’s Bay. The show is also about the geography of the Hawke’s Bay itself. About the ocean, and the cycles of nature. About how and where they overlap with us and our experiences of growth as people. And then it’s about, the tākapu, which is the Australasian gannet.
What is the history of this work? How did you and Puti come together to create it?
Puti and I initially created it for the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival. For both of us as makers, The Contours of Heaven became the third part in our own trilogies. I had made two other solo works, one when I was 18 called Death of Nomad, and one when I was 20 called Mighty Boy which were both around themes of being young, being Maori, and not really identifying and having a sense of belonging. So both were concerned with the social and human component of feeling misplaced culturally. For Puti her two previous works were closely linked to kaha Maori in relation to the environment. Edge of a Raindrop which she made focused really closely on the impact of agricultural change to the river system in Heretaunga. And she created a second work before that looked at the area of Napier Bay. So for her and I The Contours of Heaven was the third in our own series – me for the people, Puti for the whenua. This show brings them both together, tangata and whenua existing together in relationship. |
Image credit: Charley Draper
|
Who are the rangatahi being represented in the work?
Puti is from Hawke’s Bay so she had a relationship to three of the rangatahi we interviewed through her work as a theatre mentor. So three of the people we spoke to from Flaxmere and Hastings knew Puti through past experience. A couple of the others were connected to the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. And the other rangatahi was a child of one of Puti’s colleagues. So Puti had a relationship already – but they didn’t know me at all. I had no real experience of the place before moving there. I just went gung-ho and moved there and was living in this little whare. |
"The sound of the sea is like this huge age-old lung. The big lull of a sleeping giant inhaling and exhaling." |
The youngest person we spoke to was 17, and the oldest was 21. I was 22 when we made it in 2017. For me, they’re not young – they are my contemporaries – we’re young together. For Puti they are young because we are a different demographic.
And what about the whenua?
The geography is alluded to and evoked through the sound and the bigness of the ocean. The sound of the sea in the Hawke’s Bay has such a specific sound. The sound of the sea is like this huge age-old lung. The big lull of a sleeping giant inhaling and exhaling. Living there it kind of scared me. You can hear it from everywhere in Napier.
So we bring the environment in through sound, and also movement. Through metaphoric physical languages. We considered how our movement brought the whenua into the work. If the land were a character, but couldn’t speak, how would we embody its processes and presence physically.
And what about the whenua?
The geography is alluded to and evoked through the sound and the bigness of the ocean. The sound of the sea in the Hawke’s Bay has such a specific sound. The sound of the sea is like this huge age-old lung. The big lull of a sleeping giant inhaling and exhaling. Living there it kind of scared me. You can hear it from everywhere in Napier.
So we bring the environment in through sound, and also movement. Through metaphoric physical languages. We considered how our movement brought the whenua into the work. If the land were a character, but couldn’t speak, how would we embody its processes and presence physically.
"The show is about six young people who come from the Hawke’s Bay, from Heretaunga. It raises each of their voices and shares their perspectives and experiences in their own words. "
Ana has recently been promoting her role in the film The Breaker Upperers alongside her work on the stage. Watch the video to see more from Ana.
|