creative projects

My creative passion is moving in relation to the natural environment as well as with other humans and beings. A way of expressing this to myself and to others is through the mediums of photography and videography as tangible artefacts of the movement arts. The video editing process, which includes deciding on the arrangement of the images and sites and adding sound and other effects, adds another layer to the creative process. Some of my recent creative outputs can be found on my instagram:

e:merge re:form

Amelia Yiakmis and Amanda Levey

e:merge re:form is a video assemblage of movement-based profound performance practices developed for the Performance Studies International Conference 2024. As two creative arts therapists living in Aotearoa New Zealand with common ancestral journeys from Eastern Europe, we engaged in a duo ethnographic inquiry of shared threads in the natural environment. We explored our connections and the concept of disassembly within the context of Indigenous knowledge systems, with te ao Māori cultural guidance. We engaged in both duets and solos and reflected on the insights that were offered up by the arts-based explorations. As the project came to rest, we found ourselves settling into new/old relation with te taiao | nature, and found comfort and affirmation in the notion that, “it is strangely liberating to realise your true status as a node in a single network. There is honour to be found in this role, and a certain dignified agency”. (Yunkaporta, 2020)

Reference

Yunkaporta, T. (2020). Sandtalk: How indigenous thinking can save the world. HarperCollins.

This video was published in JoCAT in March 2025. Click below to visit JoCAT.