One With the Earth - One With Each Other

ONE WITH THE EARTH- ONE WITH EACH OTHER, 2023

Creative solidarity performance action and short campaign film.

Creative devisor, project coordinator and film producer for action supporting Indigenous rainforest campaigners from Borneo and the launch of the CUT campaign to Clean Up the Tropical Timber Trade.

"As you are one with the Earth, we are one with each other. What we do to the Earth, we do to each other. What flows in the rivers, and what flows in the Earth, is what flows in our blood and in our veins."

CELINE LIM

Wearing traditional ceremonial robes from Sarawak, Celine Lim (a Kayan community leader and head of the Malaysian grassroots organisation SAVE Rivers) and Komeok Joe (a Penan elder and head of Indigenous organisation KERUAN) joined me to guide participants in a rainforest solidarity ceremony of movement, song and blessing, encircled by Cecilia Vicuña’s ghostly 'Dead Forest Quipu' in the Tate’s Turbine Hall (the sculptural element of the Chilean Indigenous mestizo artist’s 'Brain Forest Quipu' installation.)

Woven with interviews from leading environmentalists from the UK and Malaysia, the ceremony forms the centrepiece of a new short film by award-winning, activist-filmmaker, Fergus Dingle that I produced for a new international-partnership campaign group:

Clean Up the Tropical Timber Trade. Much more info and photos on the CUT website

Celine Lim and Komeok Joe bestow a traditional Sarawak ash-blessing during an Indigenous rainforest solidarity ritual in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Indigenous rainforest solidarity ritual participants with 'bone branches' in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Komeok Joe bestows a traditional Sarawak ash-blessing on a ritual participant during an Indigenous rainforest solidarity ceremony in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Indigenous rainforest solidarity ritual participant, Dr Hoon Too with 'bone branch' in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Celine Lim bestows a traditional Sarawak ash-blessing on a ritual participant during an Indigenous rainforest solidarity ceremony in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Komeok Joe bestows a traditional Sarawak ash-blessing on devising artist, Gaby Solly during an Indigenous rainforest solidarity ceremony in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Celine Lim and Komeok Joe deliver a solidarity speech to Indigenous global land-defenders in Tate Modern (FILM STILL)

Red Rebel Brigade lament the loss of Earth's forests during an Indigenous rainforest solidarity ceremony in the Tate Modern for the CUT campaign launch. (FILM STILL)

Komeok Joe and Celine Lim lead a procession of UK activists in support of Indigenous rainforest campaigners, to deliver letters to UK Government and King Charles demanding a stop to unsustainable deforestation and human rights abuses linked to the Tropical Timber Trade. (FILM STILL)

Komeok Joe and Celine Lim lead a chant in support of Indigenous rainforest campaigners, after delivering letters to UK Government and King Charles demanding a stop to unsustainable deforestation and human rights abuses linked to the Tropical Timber Trade. (FILM STILL)