Persephone Trilogy 2015-2022
A community theatre project inspired by the ancient Mediterranean agricultural myth of Persephone and Demeter.
Written by Dr Craig San Roque and Creative Producer, Miriam Pickard.
Persephone’s Dog was performed on a broken cliff face outside Alice Springs in 2015. Persephone Goes Under, (performed Alice Springs 2016; Santorini, 2017, tells how and why Persephone, a ‘regenerative divinity’, acquired her human body in ancient Australia. Persephone’s Wake tells how and why Persephone gave up her body and function in our time. During COVID we developed Persephone’s Heart and Persephone’s Wake into online performances. See video links below.
Gaia: Then and Now; The Mythopoetics of Climate Change
Archive in Research for Archetypal Symbolism, International webinar series, presenting Persephone’s Heart Film, April 2022, Photo by Navid Constantinou.
This was a series of webinars by Archive for Research in Archetypal Symbolism. The presentations focus on our relationship to the Earth, as revealed through the study of ancient and contemporary symbolic imagery as it appears in myth, the visual arts, dance, and dramatic story telling.
Craig san Roque and Miriam Pickard present two contemporary interpretations of the fate of Persephone in the modern world. See the live recorded films below.
Links & Publications
Miriam Pickard, “Persephone and Me” PAN, Issue13
Persephone’s Dog/Picnic published in, Ancient Greece, Modern Psyche; Archetypes Evolving, 2015
Persephone’s Heart published in, When the Soul Remembers Itself; Ancient Greece Modern Psyche 2020
Photo performance compilations by Fiona Walsh
“A Picnic of Promise” Alice Springs Editorial by Keiran Finnane
Southern Ngaliya Women’s Dance Camp
with Incite Arts and Warlpiri Youth Development Aboriginal Corporation (WYDAC)
Southern Ngalia is about Warlpiri women actively reviving, restoring and maintaining the timeless wisdom of Warlpiri cultural mythologies. Yawulyu (Warlpiri women’s ceremony) is taught through story, song and dance. Based in Yuendumu, this project began in 2010 between Warlpiri women, Incite Arts and WYDAC. It is a long term, relationship-based project working and learning two-ways; Yapa way (aboriginal way) and Kardiya way (non-aboriginal way). This project empowers women in their learning, teaching and leadership.
From 2010-2019 I was working on this project and collaborating with senior Warlpiri women and young women in the planning, preparation and delivery of each camp. This included thinking and talking about activities and processes that support transmission of knowledge across generations. I was also responsible for filming and documenting songs, dances and stories. I supported the women to bring their cultural stories to new spaces including Unbroken Land (Alice Springs site-specific theatre work) and cultural festivals including DanceSite and Barunga Festival. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to work with strong, gracious and patient women who are committed to keeping culture strong. I gained a deep respect for the healing power of story and witnessed the necessity of intergenerational relationships for cultural health and wellbeing on a personal and collective level. I encountered a resonance between people and country through story that was sung, danced and shared across generations. Generating inter-cultural and inter-generational resonance is at the heart of my arts practice and teaching processes with young people.
“ This work of Art is a visual, patchwork map, journeying through Jukurrpa and generations of sharing knowledge. It tells the story of women meeting for the dance camps. The idea behind the painting is to show that everyone was gathering for the knowledge of old ways and tradition was being handed down“
By Enid Nangala Gallagar; Cultural Advisor and Custodian of Southern Ngalia Dance Camp & WYDAC Board Member
