Vā TAMATEA | SaVĀge K’Lub

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The SaVĀge K'lub first emerged in the 2010s formed by Rosanna Raymond, an artist from Aotearoa (New Zealand), of Samoan and Pakeha (European) descent. Since then, The SaVĀge K'lub has seen installations and performances across Europe and Australasia and most recently was housed by BMAG where I was able to see it.

This Birmingham SaVĀge K'lubroom was created for the Fierce Festival's 'Healing Gardens of Bab', a response to colonialism and what it tried but failed to stamp out- providing a space for queer celebration where expressions of queerness are global, spectacles, and participatory.

Vā TAMATEA, 2022

SaVĀge K’Lub

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Images courtesy of the author

This K'lubroom was centred around reclaiming items, practices, and parts of culture that had been taken, or tried to be gotten rid of altogether. This exhibition was an exploration of the importance of community and preserving traditions and ritual, and resonated with that aspect of my work, and how ritual is embedded in the DNA of marginalised communities.

Just as with the Array Collective's Turner Prize winning installation, 'The Druithaib's Ball', I found the activation of the space through video and sound aided in creating an atmosphere where you as the viewer felt comfortable enough to stay and participate in learning through the space, rather than too uncomfortable/intimidated to interact. This is something I would like to incorporate in my own work.

Something that I was drawn to in this exhibition was the glass case of seemingly random objects, pictured above (centre). These items were chosen by young queer people for the purpose of developing throughout the exhibition. Whilst these items may have been looked at as ordinary by most people, to others, to young queer people, they are ritualistic in their intention- it's the thought given to them by the person that gives them importance. I am interested in exploring this in my practice further by looking at how we all find our own forms of spirituality in different and mundane objects, and at how ritual doesn't have to be long and complicated to be spiritual/important- in the same way, community doesn't have to be groups of people.