We can’t call out violence in its myriad forms if we don’t know what it looks like, what it sounds like, or what it feels like. Join the panel as they share the potential of written, and performative art to communicate through the physical bodies of the audience, transforming abstract and concepts of violence into visceral corporeal experiences and, hopefully, understanding.

This panel discussion will explore the power of the creative and performing arts to transform abstract concepts of violence, into visceral, corporal experiences.

It will also look at the responses these embodiments can evoke. Hear from prize-winning author Charlotte Wood and an interdisciplinary panel of artists, scholars and practitioners as they reflect on the many ways violence is represented in their own practice.

Charlotte Wood

On the panel will be Charlotte Wood, author of the multi-prize winning novel The Natural Way of Things exploring power, gender, and violence in Australia. Charlotte’s novel is the inspiration for the upcoming Sites of Violence immersive theatre work The foul of the air.

Bruce Isaacs

Joining Charlotte will be film scholar, Bruce Isaacs, as he extends this examination of the Australian landscape and how it visually manifests a ‘sunlit noir’ aesthetic in filmic portrayals of the hostile outback.

Carolyn McKay

Redirecting our attention to the sinister alcoves of road-side motels, visual artist, author and Sydney Law School academic Carolyn McKay, will invite us to confront lingering sensations of discomfort through her research on ‘hauntologies’.

Michelle St Anne

Finally, focusing on aesthetics and the performative body, theatre practitioner and Sydney Environment Institute Deputy Director Michelle St Anne will interrogate the visibility of trauma.

This event is in partnership with the City of Sydney, Sydney Environment Institute and The Living Room Theatre. It is part of the Sydney Environment Institute’s Sites of Violence research project.