The Curiosities, commenced in 2008, so far consists of four works. In 2008, Healey made a six-minute film Reading the Body, a duet for dancer and animated anatomical imagery, based on a poem by Jenny Bornholds (New Zealand Poet Laureate). In 2009, Healey created a performance installation, also titled The Curiosities, in collaboration with leading scientists, new media artists and dancers. Inspired by the processes of biological development and evolution, The Curiosities evokes the feeling of a surreal natural history museum, where the body is presented as a specimen for scrutiny—homo sapiens, exquisitely adapted but curious on its fringes, fragile and flawed, ever-evolving. The following year, Healey staged Reading the Body Installation (2010), a six-minute loop as part of ReelDance installations #04. Later that year, she presented the first stage development of a major work, Variant, as part of Liveworks at the Performance Space, Carriageworks. [Text courtesy of the artist.]
Lisa Griffiths (centre), The Curiosities photo Heidrun Löhr
credits: Reading the Body (2008), performers Rachelle Hickson, animator Adnan Lalani, cinematographer Judd Overton, composer Darrin Verhagen, choreographer and editor Sue Healy; The Curiosities (2009), performers Lisa Griffiths, Rachelle Hickson, Adam Synnott, Nalina Wait, animator Adnan Lalani, digital artist Adam Synott, composer Darrin Verhagen, lighting designer Joseph Mercurio, choreographer’s assistant Joseph Simons; Reading the Body Installation (2010), installation Adam Synott and Sue Healey, film Sue Healey and Rachelle Hickson, animation Adnan Lalani, music Darrin Verhagen, cinematography Judd Overton; Variant (2010), James Berlyn, Narelle Benjamin, Benjamin Hancock, Rachelle Hickson, Kiruna Stamell, Nalina Wait and Pat Wilson
performance history: Reading the Body, Io Myers Studio, University of New South Wales, August 2008; The Curiosities, Performance Space, Sydney, October 2009; Reading the Body Installation, Io Myers Studio, University of New South Wales, June 2010; Variant, Liveworks, Performance Space, Sydney, November 2010
Rachelle Hickson, Lisa Griffiths and Adam Synnott, The Curiosities photo Heidrun Löhr
