Nirma Madhoo. Juried Artist
Constellations
VR Program at QUT Kelvin Grove
Artist Statement
The project title derives from the astronomical practices of the original stargazers of Southern Africa, who first mapped isiLimela (later named the Pleiades), which constellates 444.2 light years away from Earth.
In this 6-DoF experience, these ancient practices are superposed on the geography and modern astrophysics of the Southern African Large Telescope.
Fly over and traverse the starlit & ghostly terrain of the semi-desertic Karoo, where volumetric fashion performance unfolds to a cinematic Afro-diasporic score.
Feminist and expressionist, costumed figurations and particle bodies morph in a triptych, entangling African cosmology with the technological sublime of inner and outer space.
About the artists
Nirma Madhoo (she/her) is a fashion filmmaker and XR creator. Using a transdisciplinary approach, her practice-based PhD at RMIT University explores digital fashion bodies as performative matter and posthuman performance in virtual and augmented realities. Nirma recently participated in La Biennale di Venezia College Cinema VR and her work has shown internationally in UK, France, Scotland, Germany, South Africa, Canada and Australia at film and digital festivals such as London Short Film Festival, Berlinale EFM, MUTEK Montréal, SXSW and SIGGRAPH Asia.
Credits: Nirma Madhoo