Adriana Māhanga Lear

Bleeding Earth was first screened in 2015 at 107 Projects, with support from Honorary Consul Louise SR Waterhouse, Consulate General of the Kingdom of Tonga, Sylvie Ellsmore (The Greens NSW), and Joos Farrell (Sea Sheppard Australia), Mik Foley (Foreigndub), and Sea Rakaisau (Women Writes Movement). Originally conceived as a music video, the work has since found space within the gallery environment; such as in Wayfinders 2018: an exhibition co-curated by the Australian Museum, Blacktown Arts Centre, and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre to facilitate artistic reflection on the impacts of Climate Change in the Moana (Oceania/Pacific) region.

In this work, the artist Adriana Māhanga Lear engages with the concept and reality of climate change from a place of personal vulnerability, intimacy, and story; through music, lyric, archival image, and video. The work directly speaks to the impacts of climate change on the Moana region, cultures and people, contemplating these issues within a diasporic landscape that is at once connected and disconnected from ‘home’.

Credits: Zaac Seru AKA Prolifik the Gifted (co-music-producer), Bayvick Lawrance AKA Bayvick Designs and Xavier Harvey (costuming), Vasi Diamond (HMUA), Adam Singer (co-video-producer), Lionel Peterson and Kitione Vasu (dancers), Sedona Fox and Monique (models).