The fold of belonging

Within Fenna's work, she tries to transport her audience to a different dimension and space. Where she finds it important to connect emotion and the body to the physical space, and therefore start a conversation with her audience by putting herself and the audience in the center of the work. Part of the work is exploring the boundaries of human behaviour within imaginative worlds.

Fenna's focus is oriented to stage design and performance design. Finding the world-building for a story fascinating. This will be her continuation in her education, starting a Master: Design for performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

GRADUATION PROJECT

“The fold of belonging” immerses the audience into my personal story and Indonesian heritage. The design is portable, with the precise fold, echoing how one’s identity is carried with them, whether it is folded in their travel bag or their DNA. “The fold of belonging” is alive with delicate shifts of light-triggered through manipulation of the foldable robotic controller to illuminate the Batik motifs and the narration. 

Our mother told us a lot about our Grandfather and our Indonesian family. But I could always feel there was a sensitivity, a part of the history that wasn’t spoken of. I felt the need to talk about how this influences our childhood and our future.  As a third-generation, I think it is also up to us to keep our identity and heritage alive. By making work about what influenced me, and how I feel, I am trying to find a way to shape my argumentation, how I feel, and continue learning about colonial history, and the belonging of the Dutch/Indo’s in the past and the present. Because we can never forget where we are coming from. 

THESIS

The Fault

‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.’ -Shakespeare

“Mama, how did I get here, why does it often feel like I am living outside myself? Sometimes it feels like I am living a character, that this body doesn’t belong to me, that this mind doesn’t belong to me. Sometimes I don’t understand anything of what I am taking in, it’s overwhelming really, the loud noises, the banging of the wind against the door, the plane that flies over our house every minute, a timer that goes off. I wish I could escape it, hide behind your jacket again.”

The Fault is about the inner and outer world of imagination. In which the research dove deep into theatre and stage design. I was trying to look at how we can use elements of theatre and stage design in a broader societal context explaining the relation between someone’s perspective and society within the form of storytelling. Looking at the mirror of a society that is hidden within a theatre, and the role of representation that carries a value into taking a roll and escape to feel embodied and connected. Finding out how this inner world of imagination can help us within a broader social context and could potentially break boundaries.