Zadie Xa is a London based Canadian artist. Her work is informed by her experiences within the Korean diaspora.  She works in painting, installation, performance, film, soundscape and text.  Since 2019 Seki has been working with Xa as a co-dance leader with Jia-Yu Corti developing work collaboratively.  

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SCORPION, 2021

"All bodies that vibrate change are seen as a threat."

 

Scorpion brings together painting, live performance, costume and sound to tell a story of how disobedience, subterfuge, trickery and masquerade are embodied by characters to challenge the status quo, defy convention and seek alternative outcomes while providing protection to survive the dangers of this world.

The performance considers the trickster archetype as it appears in mythology, folklore and popular culture. Performed on 29 October 2021 at the National Gallery as part of 'Dance to the Music of Our Time', a live exhibition that explores the relationship of storytelling and contemporary art through the use of movement, dance and choreography curated by Priyesh Mistry.

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view moving image

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Art Direction; Zadie Xa, Painting installation; Benito Mayor Vallejo, Costumes; Manuel Vadillo, Performed & choreographed; Jia-Yu Corti and Yumino Seki, Original Score; Sophie Malllett, Wigchapel, Make-up; Ophelia Liu, Photo; Andrew Bruce/National Gallery

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Magohalmi project; 2019-2020

Bringinging together imagined and learned Korean folklore, transforming diasporic knowledge into new realities. Within Xa's immersive world through live acoustic drumming, dance, costumes and painted sculptural elements she presents an origin story inspired by Korean creation myths, centred on the giant goddess Grandmother Mago (Magohalmi). Exploring the passing down of ancestral knowledge through the matrilineal social structures that are based on the separation of responsibilities between male and female deities in the creation of the universe, the work confronts the goddesses’ shift in cultural status over time, from central to marginal.

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'Grandmother Mago' at 58th Venice Biennale, 2019

Art Night London, 2019

'Child of Magohalmi and the Echos of Creation', Dance International Glasgow, Tramway Glasgow, 2019

'Grandmother Mago', Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada 2020

'Child of Magohalmi and the Echos of Creation', De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill on Sea, 2020.

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