​Sasha Huber & Petri Saarikko

PRESENT Remedies Tasmania:

Film, 90m, 4K

2007

Artists Sasha Huber (Switzerland/Haiti) and Petri Saarikko (Finland) brought Remedies, their international project, to GASP as PRESENT Remedies Tasmania, celebrating the power of oral storytelling.

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Working in collaboration with our culturally diverse community, Huber and Saarikko invited 50 participants sharing ‘local-international’ Tasmanian stories and remedies for health, for culture, or for the world, this powerful film project was a huge team effort culminating in a feature length art film.

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The film is a unique and powerful evocation of the many disarmingly honest stories of journey, migration, survival and celebration. Participant Arnold Zable described the film simply as ‘collective wisdom’.

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The project was presented in two stages in mid-September 2017, as an outdoor full cinema projection:

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• A free community screening on the Glenorchy Central shopping centre wall for over 120 people. 

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• As part of the Tasmanian Writers & Readers Festival, the film was projected onto the Wilkinsons Point Pavilion cantilever over the Derwent River. An audience of 100 people enjoyed the film, and performances by the Karadi Dancers, Taiko Drummers and Tibetan Dumplings, then commenced a 2km walking journey together with the artists around the Elwick Bay foreshore.  Along the way they encountered music performances and finished the journey with a Sri Lankan feast and intercultural discussion led by Sasha Huber, the writer and human rights activist Arnold Zable, and Tasmanian Aboriginal Elder Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta. The diversity of cultural performances, discussion and food welcomed the audience and brought the process of collaborating with over 50 community members alive in dynamic and unique ways.

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Sasha Huber is a visual artist of Swiss-Haitian heritage, born in Zurich. She lives and works in Helsinki. Huber’s work is primarily concerned with the politics of memory and belonging, particularly in relation to colonial residue left in the environment.

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Petri Saarikko is an artist and designer based in Helsinki, Finland. Saarikko combines societal commentary with his human-computer interaction profession and curatorial background, which results in long-term social interventions. His work has a holistic performative nature and strives to engender power relations, making room for individual narratives and taking a stand for equality.

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Arnold Zable is an award-winning writer, storyteller, educator, and human rights advocate. His acclaimed books include Jewels and Ashes, Wanderers and Dreamers, Cafe Scheherazade, The Fig Tree, Scraps of Heaven, Sea of Many Returns, and Violin Lessons. His most recent book, The Fighter, was published in 2016.

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Jim Everett -puralia meenamatta has written poetry, plays, political and academic papers and short stories, and created visual art and performance projects. Jim is from the clan plangermairreenner of the Ben Lomond people, of the Cape Portland nation in northeast Tasmania.

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Curated by: Jonathan Kimberley

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Other information

Other information

This project was generously supported by:

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