Venice Experimental Performance Reportage

May 6, 3022

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Amid the flurry of opening day at the long awaited Biennale de Venezia, Tara Chadwick, an Indigenous Belizean/ Canadian based in Broward County, Florida presented a short film honoring her lifelong artistic practice in dance and nature immersion. 

Still image from "Earth • Ecology • Everglades" courtesy Adrienne Chadwick

"Earth • Ecology • Everglades" grew out of a project to provide residents and visitors with a taste of the rhythms, sights, smells and sounds found in the intersection of humans and the natural environment. Funded in part by a grant from the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Broward Cultural Division, Proyecto Papalotl has engaged communities across and beyond South Florida in interactive presentations since 2014. During the beginning of the COVID pandemic, alternate ways of connecting with community were explored including utilization of different forms of artistic expression: livestreaming, digital recording, audio, film and still  images. The short film is accompanied by a National Geograhic certified intergenerational lesson plan with the same title. More about last month's Venice Experimental Performing Arts Festival can be found at https://www.itsliquid.com/review-experimental-venice-2022.html 

[Image of Earth • Ecology • Everglades on view at Palazzo Bembo courtesy of Its Liquid Group]

Currently Tara Chadwick has two additional works on view in Venice, both of which expand on the theme of exploring the unfurling of our identity, purpose and responsibility as humans living in an Earth  ecosystem that we are rapidly changing. #Matriarch will open at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello on Thursday, May 12 as part of "Anima Mundi CONSCIOUSNESS" and is also on view as a digital lightbox work at Spazio Tana / Tanarte, just across the canal from the Biennial's Arsenale through May 31. Limited edition prints available.

#Matriarch made her debut in Fort Myers last October, then hung as a public art billboard over 27th Avenue during Art Miami Week/ Art Basel from November through January.

Broward County residents and visitors can join Tara Chadwick for an interactive workshop in collaboration with the Miramar Community Garden on Saturday May 14th at 10 am. 

Sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Funding for this project is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council. Background mural courtesy of Valery Amor, Tara Chadwick, Mictla Chadwick, Ihiyo Chadwick, Talyn Skye Bell and Dr. Debbie Danard Wilson. Limited mobility, vision and hearing assistance available, please email wabigun@yahoo.com with detailed request one week prior to event date.

99 red poppies

On this 99th anniversary of the birth of my paternal grandmother, and in the absence of a digital record of her life, I will write her a memorial obituary, now that the fog of losing her have lifted a little, after fifteen years.

Annie Yvonne Iona Chadwick nee Hutchings
Born 1920 Quebec City
Died 2004 Scarborough


My grandmother was my best friend, mentor, confidante, supporter and provider of a special and unique type of unconditional love.  She was tough yet fragile, brilliant yet humble. She had a million stories yet she always prefered to draw out the stories of others rather than share her own. She was adamant that she did not want people looking at pictures of her after her death...   But her rockery was her landscape engineering pride and joy, so here is one of her checking in on the woman enjoying a moment on the slate slabs that appear to have been recently constructed... my best guess is that is likely Mrs. Hunter, from two doors down. Perhaps my dad will remember....

It is my grandmother who taught me to make time for walking, enjoying the wind and learning about the plants that surround us. She lit fires on the days that were darker, wetter or colder than the others. She took me to see ballets and operettas and she loved hearing classical music playing on her kitchen radio... the only form of media she consumed on a daily basis. My grandmother was so very careful about what she allowed into her body, and into her home. Once, she scolded me for bringing in items that were over packaged that resulted in doubling her weekly garbage output, which was one small plastic bag full. Everything else was either avoided at the source, or composted in the backyard bin. A lifelong member donor to Pollution Probe, my grandmother was equally careful about what we put back out into the environment from inside our home. Fires in the fire place were carefully monitored to ensure that plant based products only found their way up the chimney stack....

I hope as I continue my journey through adulthood, I can aquire some of the traits she had.... the balance between careful and carefree attitude, the service to community and an unwavering commitment to support life through her relationship with the earth and her community.

I love you... and miss you... and as your second great grandson reminds me... I know you are also always with us.... thank you for your service and love.

Development - Freedom - Justice

Just a few words this evening on the eve of Dias de los Muertos... a reminder, an encouragement, a perspective that is gaining traction in the spheres of business and policy innovation...  I'm talking about that old adage: don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Right now, a battle is brewing on the prairie, yes, that very prarie we all used to watch with love in our hearts for the simplicity, tenacity and perseverence of those beloved characters... a battle not unlike that of Alcatraz, Sand Creek or Wounded Knee... a battle where our police, troopers and national guard are being deployed with military grade weaponry to wage war on unarmed, peaceful descendents of Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Chief Joseph.  The crime? Attempting to protect our common water resources from destruction by an energy company determined to complete a 1000+ mile oil pipeline from the northern to the southern edge of that prairie.

The tactics haven't apparently changed much... surveillance, smear campaign, bait and switch, false victory, intimidation, humiliation, dehumanization, non-consentual experimental weapon test subjects... seems like we've been through this before... in the 1600's, 1700's, 1800's, 1900's and what's happening now is just a replay with a small upgrade in landing gear. It's gettin old & boring.

Time for the people who populate this island to wake up. Take note. Stop hitting the snooze button. And start acting as though we are the ones who are responsible for this state of affairs. This island is our responsibility and we need to acknowledge and then get down to it. Read. Be aware. Ask questions. Formulate solutions. Be tenacious. 

Our future is based on the actions we take or choose to ignore today. A future based on development that considers Earth's resources as relatives to be respected and used as needed with kindess, love and appreciation... where everone's wellbeing, including those whose voices are not so easily heard, is accounted for... where the job goes not to the highest or lowest bidder, but the one who can demonstrate the capacity to incorporate everyone's voice... now that's a framework worth investing in! 

No matter how great we become, we are all still children of our Mother Earth, it's her garden that feeds us, and her water that keeps on providing life for us all. Let's choose to work with her these next 10,000 years, shall we?

Autumn is here again!

Florida Autumn is such a beautiful thing - Dia de los Muertos - planting season - the return of the monarchs and hummingbirds!  We hadn't seen one of those in over two years, and finally, while working around a bountiful food forest last Sunday, one of the eagle eyed ladies spotted the faster-than-life hummer.  An incredible reminder of the impact we each can make with intent, determination and focus.

This week we'll open up an exhibition of ofrendas again, the community artists have already put together their loving thoughts for the friends and relatives they wish to remember. Together, South Florida is relearning how to find ways to strengthen our connectedness to each other by knowing who we are, and sharing our stories across the many boundaries and barriers that too often keep us apart.

This month too, I'll offer a public workshop on the history, music and movements that come from our geographic and social relationship to Mesoamerica.  It is so wonderful to sit here in this one spot and see all the connections there are to this place. History, maps, written accounts, people, objects, ideas... I see now why I needed to return here, there is so much to my own personal history that was stored away, waiting to be remembered, understood, from within the context of today.

We need to always fully utilize the resources we have available, and South Florida is most assuredly a media and ideas hub of the Americas. It's difficult to take a stand here on any item or even form an opinion because we are in a bed of hot political coals, and we never want to alienate potential donors, allies, funders... but there is so much that needs attention... Historic Preservation, Education, Arts Funding, not to mention water, climate change, and bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals.

We need a consistent, long term, multifaceted approach to keep each other motivated, on track and performing at our fullest. The good news is that there are lots of venues that are expanding to include multiple voices and perspectives using a variety of increasingly innovative methods.

All in all, it's been good to sit here and learn, observe, reflect and remember.  I look forward to seeing everyone come by History Fort Lauderdale this month to spend some time reading the Ofrendas that have been built, and take a moment to contemplate what makes our own life worth living every day.