The Burning of Godog 2009 opening night performance for Nam Bang! curated by Dr Boitran Huynh-Beattie Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre; see Nam Bang! catalogue for more details. The Burning of Godog is part of Nam Bang! a 2009 Casula Powerhouse Project
Mai Long Artist Statement 4 April 2009 -The Burning of Godog
The Burning of Godog is searching for meaning; liberation from parochialism; a sieve for irrelevancies: yearning for other possibilities beyond violence, destruction, and suppression.
Once a language for liberation has become established, how then does one proceed to nurture or maintain this position of liberation as a form of “seeing”. I am looking to release my Godog from the materiality that has trapped this deified Pho Dog* in a complex world suffocated by competing interests and symbolisms, loaded with combating histories and voices; to transcend a narrowness of perception that we are all at times guilty of.
The Burning of Godog is the celebration of a new beginning: freeing Godog, and heralding the power of imagination and positive energy to re-embrace transformation & fresh perspectives.
*Mongrel hero, adept at transforming to survive
Photographer 1: Stuart Horstman; Photographer 2: Nguyen Kim Long; Camera 1 & Edit: Scott Keanie; Camera 2: Panos Couros; Camera 3: Iakovos Amperidus; Camera 4: Biwa Kwan; Drum: Declan O’Doherty; Godog Bearers, Garland Assistants, & Flag Girls: Francis Wisendha, Ivana Pepic, Linda Boulom; & Andrew, Mai, Edward, Kim, Ronan, & Felix Long.
