eSeLSCHWARM Tanuki: Taking over the narrative
eSeLSCHWARM Foto (Tanuki): New Endings (brut nordwest, 15.4.2023)
Is it possible to tell stories about racism without being smashed and devastated by the injustice and violence of the world? The amazing, beautiful, mesmerizing, and everything-in-between team of six: Stefanie Sourial, Sunanda Mesquita, Patu, Janine Jembere, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, and Hyo Lee, have revised the fates of some of such stories and performed these alterations as “New Endings.” The new endings are bold and tough; they evoke the joy of taking over the narrative.
The more specific the stories grow, the more universal they become; they follow patterns and have a cliched and hackneyed quality. These are the thoughts Faris Cuchi Gezahegn and Hyo Lee expressed about racist aggressions after the performance at the artist talk. Boom! The distracting power of that violence losing its control over us. These attacks are pathetic and are not worth our - amazing, beautiful, mesmerizing, and everything-in-between people's - attention, time, or emotions; they are trash we must drop like it’s hot! We are strong and will not be swayed away from following our dreams and reaching our goals; from abstract fantasy to fantastic reality, we are making the world!
Thank you to:
Stefanie Sourial for the lies that aren’t fiction but possibilities and transformative forces.
Sunanda Mesquita for removing violence from our stories.
Patu for a sneak-peek into the inner world of the performance processes.
Janine Jembere for bringing rhythm to the performance.
Faris Cuchi Gezahegn for sharing the magical power of Kuru’s dress.
Hyo Lee for calling out the real cause of our allergies.
Text: Jameli “Tanuki”