ABOUT US
Hiya, we are Jane & Néa! We work in iterations & cycles, drawing from our liberatory lens of reframing & repurposing spaces as living archives. We work in transitional spaces & non-traditional performance settings such as corridors in old buildings or hidden tree canopies. Our work is methodical & inviting, guiding participants through experiences using tools like questions, dreaming, objects & intimacy.
Jane Morris
I’m a transfeminine playwright and artist interested in text-based game design. As part of shelf/break, I write a lot of provocations, text, and scores for mapping out our experiences. I love 121 performance and sharing intimate moments of ephemeral encounters with people in clubs and house parties. my work is grounded in my socialist politics and anti-imperialist beliefs. I see art as a space to enable us to become more human.
Néa Ishana Ranganathan
I’m a genderqueer durational and live artist interested in the documentation of Tamil homeland. As part of shelf/break, I build objects, sculptures, and zines as a form of archiving our practice. I love working in and with the land as a way of building meaningful encounters through clay, body, ritual, protest, and elongating time. My work is grounded in anti-colonial politics and guerrilla resistance movements. I strive to curate spaces for generational healing in opposition to the eradication of our people, languages, and lands.
METHODOLOGY
Our first show, we are on the brink of something, was our graduate show on the BA in Theatre and Social Change, which took the audience through seven scores used to pull together an action. We have an interest in resistance and site-responsive work to find meaning in our violent and beautiful surroundings. We have a cyclical approach to making and thinking about the indigenous political ancestors which we are drawing knowledge from. We are interested in work which invites the audience into playful participatory dialogues around histories of radical political action, which passes on practical knowledge and organising skills.
INSPIRATIONS
Our mutual inspirations include Tania El-Khoury's Jarideh and Memory of Birds. Néa also worked on the UK tour of Memory of Birds as Lead Audience Guide at Mayfest and Norfolk/Norwich Festival. Both of these pieces play with participation, resistance and meaningful audience interaction. Our other inspirations include Emma Frankland, who makes beautiful material-based and punky trans art, and Sheila Ghelani, who was our mentor for our graduate show and informed our detailed approach and fascination with objects. Our political inspirations come from our organising work with our anti-imperialist campaign and collective, Built On Blood. These inspirations include the Tamil Tigresses, PAIC, The Black Panthers, Fanon, STAR, ACT UP, The Young Lords and Student Encampments/Demonstrations for a free Palestine.
