"Songs for Absent Beauty" in development
I'm stoked to be diving into creative development for a brand new show this year! I'm working with a couple of artists with ocean-like souls and unique voices who inspire me deeply. Beginning with good questions and meaningful conversation, we're pondering personal topics like our relationship to our bodies, chronic disease, childbirth, eating disorders, perceptions of beauty, metaphysics and more...
The ephemeral nature of beauty. The female body. Impermanence. Loss. Pleasure and gratitude for the small things. These themes inform three artists who will share intimate stories and songs that invite connection and soothe the heart. In a world obsessed with external appearance, the artists will conjure softness, vulnerability and reflections on a quiet beauty.
Songs for Absent Beauty will be part of Anywhere Festival (theatre anywhere but a theatre) which began in 2011 as Brisbane's revolutionary take on the fringe festival concept. Now in its thirteenth year, Anywhere Festival puts artists first so they can take creative risks using non-traditional spaces for performance.
About the artists
Mira Chorik is a songwriter who makes art. Her melancholy folk layers bitter-sweet poetry and warm-honey vocals to tell the unadorned story of the heart. Mira crafts live performance spaces that invite participation, emotional intimacy and audience connection. Performances include Anywhere Festival, Moreton Bay Food & Wine Festival, and Woodford Folk Festival. Mira also hosts the Songwriters Roundtable, a supportive space for songwriters to meet and hone the art of storytelling with words and music.
Karen Law is a songwriter, meditator, mother, tea-drinker, guitarist and optimist. She’s been writing songs for over thirty years beginning in the folk clubs of northern England before moving to Australia in 1995. She soon became known on the Australian festival circuit for her nomadic songs and travelling stories. She has now released four albums of original music and won multiple awards for her songs, including the Alistair Hulett Trophy in 2020 and a Tamworth Songwriters Association Award in 2022. Karen writes story songs about things that matter. These songs have a knack of leaving you feeling a little better, a little more hopeful than you were before.
Rosie Waters is a Gamilaroi woman and poetic storyteller living on Jinibara Country. Rosie’s entertaining and thought-provoking tales speak of personal and cultural healing, and they focus on the experiences of women and First Nations people. Rosie is an emerging poet who has drawn on her many years of performing music, theatre and dance to create her unique theatrical, musical, storybook-style of performance poetry. Her performances have been avidly received by audiences and fellow poets, and she was asked by nationally renowned poet, Irish Joe Lynch, to play support in his theatre show, Twelve of the Best, in 2022.
The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and City of Moreton Bay to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.