MOKITA
A seven hour durational performance, a ritual, and an invitation, MOKITA is mourning in motion. Exploring grief, and the complex emotions arising from, but not limited to, environmental collapse, Mokita is a participatory, immersive and meditative experience where attendees are invited to submit their grieving to the space and to share in the catharsis
A Kilivila word from Papua New Guinea, meaning ‘the truth we all know, and have agreed not to talk about,’ MOKITA is a performance work that seeks to create a space dedicated to grieving, and asks how we maintain our humanity amongst a time of rapid destruction and change.
MOKITA aims to create a secular contemporary ritual space that answers this need. It exists as a salve for those unable to process or release their own sense of grief; whether it arises from situations commonly associated with mourning, such as a death, or is a result of any kind of change, or ongoing anxiety.
Change = Loss = Grief
How then do we begin to recover the authentic emotional self that has been numbed or disassociated?
On the day of this ritual, participants were invited to confidentially offer their grief into the performance space to be carried through a meditative performative process.
The handwritten grief was individually placed in native seed mottled clay by participants, and at the conclusion of the ritual, was planted in the soil surrounding Birdlands Reserve in Belgrave Heights. Grief was also collected from the public prior to the performance through the use of an online portal.
Performed by Luna Mrozik-Gawler, Nithya Iyer and Devika Bilimoria, accompanied by sound art by Amy Hanley, and supported by Nardine Keriakous.
Presented at
HIllscene Live Festival
12th November 2017
Birdsland Reserve
Belgrave Heights,
Victoria
AUSTRALIA