GOD-HOUSE

Melanie Ree, Poet and Performance Artist (Gadigal/Sydney, Australia)

“..I found so much more and even more. I found myself, reflected, held, celebrated, I found it in a name, Jahra, in a form so exquisite the word ‘dance’ would never be enough, through her we transformed from aching bodies to vessels of pure love energy vibrating in unison, she took us in, all raw and broken, alchemised our pain into power, she who speaks every language to ever exist in the dip of a wrist, in the glance of a head, in her body there were stories of suffering, survival, inconceivable connections to spirit and life and all that is, truths I’ve yet to claim in my own body, a meeting to all the worlds I know but have never accessed, a symbiosis with another being we have been ravenous for.

She carries us all, Jahra, our sister, our fearless, our courage, our vulnerability, all of it held so intimately, we felt so safe that night, like Mother Earth was burning her face in human protest, but we were the chosen few she felt compelled to guide home.

This is art. This is everything we need as a species, a connection to each other so profound, suddenly everything seems possible.”

Janine Williams, Urban Visual Artist & Muralist (Aotearoa).

“There are moments throughout the performance you feel like your soul is ripped from the physical.
The work is perceived as a powerful reminder to the viewer of the pain of removal. Removal of culture, physicality, objects, tāonga (treasures) and the lack of understanding around the beauty of indigenous Pacific culture.

Strong and confronting, it makes you question. It requires a response, a personal responsibility to join the efforts of reclamation and celebration of the unique beauty of the South Pacific and all of her beauty. The dancers’ understanding of each other is apparent as artists in their element - the differing roles and important components create a visually emotive story that reminds us of the deeply confronting history of the artefacts. Artefacts that quietly poise themselves throughout collections around the world, longing for the touch of their loved ones and the restoration of mana they truly hold.

It was an honour to view this piece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to be part of this historical work! “

Dan Taulapapa McMullin, American-Samoan Literary and Visual Artist
(New York, Turtle Island/U.S.A)

“In the magnificent surroundings of the Metropolitan Museum's Oceania gallery, surrounded by towering Asmat bis poles, Jahra Wasasala enters standing on the crawling figure of fellow dancer Ooshcon, as her voice in a twisted wail seems to come out of the sculptures around her. Leaping out towards the gallery audience her dance incorporates grimaces changing like flashing pages, leaps coming to shuddering stand stills, rapid fire hip hop influenced contortions, in a thousand changing movements that express a thousand passionate changes of emotion, a supercharged poetry of the body, of desire, of the will to power, and of the many interior conflicts that echo an indigenous woman's being in contemporary space.

I've not seen Pacific dance so raw, so full of promise, as this, since I saw my first viewing of Lemi Ponifasio's work in Samoa more than twenty years ago.
Jahra's work combines the body with emotion and intelligence in a way that I believe is hugely important to contemporary dance and art and I believe should be supported at every stage of the growth of the life of her work.”

Giselle Buchanan, Artist and Educator
(New York, Turtle Island/U.S.A)

“If I had to describe Jahra Wasasala’s GOD-HOUSE in one word, it would be ‘shifting’.
Jahra stilled the particles in the room. Brought the sleeping artefacts and ancestors to life. Conjured feelings in each body present.
Her performance carried a many bodied, centuries old, guttural voice.
It spoke of the need for retribution in return for great loss.

I looked around the room during her final utterances as people wiped their tears and sat still in reverence. Artefacts carry histories that journey alongside them when displaced. It is important work to make art that serves as context, as voice, as intercessor on behalf of all that still remains unnamed and unacknowledged. Jahra embraces these histories, this work, in GOD-HOUSE. It is a performance that deserves to be experienced on a larger scale.”