Cloudburst
MANCHESTER ANTHEM ONLINE GALLERY
Art from our open submissions window, sent in by incredible artists, and chosen by our team. All responding to the themes of our recent production 'A Manchester Anthem' by Nick Dawkins.
renu arora
'FROM THE CANYONS WE CREATE'
Like Tommy on his last night out, I know what it means to be caught between worlds.
The world gave us one narrative
we painted another.
This is the revolution
​
Community - The First on Your Street
People wonder, why speak of magic, when you've fallen
Under the tram, under the bus,
me, with my thirty pieces of bone
Tommy, first in his family,
first on his street.
I carry thirty pieces of bone, learning what it means to be whole.
We know the depths.
We know the terrain.
We found the gifts.
In our broken bodies, we found freedom
​
Identity - Between Here and There
Central to my narrative is the question -- how does choosing the right label,
help the artist to find agency and create from a place of strength?
I now call myself 'a sit-down artist' -- a phrase I've coined.
Tommy fears going to Oxford and coming back as someone else.
I understand that anxiety -
What does it take to integrate traumatic injuries, visible or hidden?
How does one become empowered as a disabled person and artist? And further
-- how do any of us integrate the fissures to become whole?
After my accident,
My bones broke
My tissues broke
My psyche broke
My spirit broke
My world broke
And my heart broke
And here
I began to find peace in the pieces.
​
Class - Claiming Our Frame
We are the monitor
No longer monitored
Tommy dances to his anthem in his underwear, unashamed.
I claim the colour of my crutches, and my wheelchair -- pink
How do you find the frame to hold yourself,
to honour the intricacies of you?
This embraces how you speak your truths.
If it gestures
of dance
of song
that is the place where the heart belongs.
​
The Journey Home
Immobility
is not disability
and art, beyond catharsis,
Is the journey home
that every human being is craving.
Tommy's last night in Manchester, my first day calling myself a sit down-artist -
we both know that home isn't a place we leave,
It’s inside
It’s a rhythm we carry.
As artists we are forever reaching for the sun and moon, the flowers in bloom
that we wear in our hair.
From the canyons we create.
And that is home.
What is it that we are doing differently in today's society? Is it about not having a body... or a human connection, or not having a sense of community?
​
I don't blame anyone, it is a struggle we are all facing! Most people don't want to be seen, they don't want to be bullied, and they don't want to feel. And there's no blame on anyone: it happened to me, it happened to you, it happens to all of us.
​
Which is why we go to the theatre to reconnect to community. We seek it and we seek it together, because it is safer together - it's safer!
​
We seek presence; we seek breath; we seek voice; we seek speech; we seek freedom; we seek connection. And we can only connect if we are present, not absent. And that's the other thing about theatre - it's about the constant courage to feel, to think, to comprehend, and to connect.
​
Therefore theatre becomes a space that respects serving something else: stories that are not just points of view; ideas that lead forth, educate, share knowledge, which becomes a satisfying and freeing thing to do.
​
Fundamentally, in a community expression is terribly important and as part of a community we need to understand each other. But, we also need the power to be in the same room with people that we disagree with, and listen, and speak across the divide! That's how we bond, that's how we grow as a community, that's how we debate our moral positions.
​
Also let's get something very clear, part of understanding the world we live in is accepting that ou don't know things and that you get things wrong!
​
Part of theatre is preparation, and practice, because if we want to tell important stories that transform and discuss everything that matters to us - they require craft. Craft recognises that you are in service to something. A performer is in service to the artistic vision, in service to the ensemble, in service to the audience. The great paradox in acting, dancing, performing, is that it is you but it isn't you. You are a vessel for the audience, you take them with you on a journey and that's a very honourable thing to do.
​
Great performers heal! Great shows heal! Belonging to a community heals!