'The Bougainville Photoplay Project:
'A slideshow with fireside chat:
1. An eminent Australian orthopedic surgeon makes a series of trips to Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) during the 1960s, just as the era of Australia's colonial mandate is drawing to a close. The doctor is presented with dozens of crippled children and lepers; his operations allow many of these people to walk for the first time.
2. The giant Panguna copper mine is established against the wishes of Bougainville's traditional landowners. Environmental destruction is caused by the mine, and the struggle for Bougainville to become independent of PNG leads to a brutal civil war during which roughly one in ten of the island's inhabitants die.
3. An Australian academic begins fieldwork study of reconciliation ceremonies on Bougainville in the current period of post-war reconstruction. He carries with him a book of photographs.
'Three narrative threads are delicately interwoven in an intimate, moving, and constantly surprising monologue performance from acclaimed performance group version 1.0. Combining field notes, oral history, slides, Super-8 film, video installation and the display of various artifacts, "The Bougainville Photoplay Project" grapples with the ethical, epistemological and practical dilemmas of making art and conducting research in post-colonial, post-conflict settings, particularly when the artist/researcher is a citizen of the former colonial power. This is politics and performance at its most personal.'
Source: version 1.0 website, http://www.versiononepointzero.com/
Sighted: 09/11/2010
Production history: July 2005, ADSA Annual Conference, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga; February 2006, Mori Gallery, Sydney; 27 April 2007, UTS Gallery, Sydney; 9-11 February 2008, The National Multicultural Festival, The Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre; 6 September 2008, LiveWorks Festival, Performance Space @ CarriageWorks Canberra Theatre Centre; 13-31 October 2009, Old Fitzroy Theatre as part of Tamarama Rock Surfers 2009 program and a national tour for Mobile States: 2-5 September 2010, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts; 25-28 August 2010, Brisbane Powerhouse; 18-20 August 2010, Browns Mart, Darwin Festival; 12-15 August 2010, Arts House, Melbourne.
This published version of The Bougainville Photoplay Project was first performed at the National Multicultural Festival Fringe, Canberra, february 2008. Director: David Williams.
