Pelenakeke Brown

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Pelenakeke Brown is a multi-disciplinary New Zealand artist. In 2019 she was awarded the Disability Dance Artistry Award by Dance/NYC, and was recognised for her work through Creative NZ's Arts Pasifika Awards with the Pacific Toa award in 2020. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Career

Brown was 9 years old when she became a founding member and company dancer for Touch Compass. Her involvement lasted from 1997 to 2000, when she left to focus on her schooling. [4] After secondary school, Brown studied at the University of Auckland (2007–2010), completing a bachelor of arts in Pacific studies and English literature. [5] In 2011, she undertook the Be Leadership programme with Be Lab, a New Zealand accessibility organisation. [6] About the programme, Brown stated “Everyone has the potential to be a great leader and the Be.Leadership programme has helped me realize that I could be one too.” [6]

After completing her undergraduate study and spending some time in the work force, Brown left New Zealand to continue studies in New York, moving in 2013 and studying at the National Academy School of Fine Arts completing the Studio Intensive Programme in 2016. [1] [7]

Brown's work is embedded in the Samoan concept Vā'. [3]

Vā centers spatial relationships as a way to understand and move in the world. In my art practice, this translates to interrogating relationships, how we relate to ourselves, each other. I am fascinated with the in-between spaces and how our in-between spaces inform the way we navigate the world. (Brown) [8]

Brown has exhibited work across the United States of America, in California, New York and San Francisco and in Germany, London, and New Zealand. She has been published in the James Franco Review, Apogee Journal, Movement Research Performance Journal and the Hawai'i Review. [9] [10] [11]

Brown spent six and a half years based in New York, where she engaged in choreography, movement, dance, curation, visual arts, writing, and storytelling. She has collaborated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, Goethe Institute and Gibney Dance Centre for projects. She has held art residencies in New York, Vermont and New Zealand. She returned to Auckland, New Zealand in mid-2019 and took up the role of artistic director at Touch Compass the following year, becoming the first disabled artist to lead the company in its twenty four years of operation. [4] [12]

In 2020, Brown collaborated with artist Yo Yo Lin and co-founded Rotations, "a dance collaborative movement working towards deepening and challenging our understanding of artistry, disability, and access". [13]

Brown was the keynote speaker for the Ōtautahi Tiny Fest in 2021; writer Kosta Bogoievski described Brown's talk as 'an emotional opening, as festivals can be but Tiny Fest happens to be, in 2021, one of the last live performance festivals standing in the country'. [14]

In March 2022, Brown was part of an online panel discussion for Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival wānanga series Te Ara i te Matihiko Toi, to discuss access, inclusion and participation within the performing arts. [15]

In 2022 Brown is one of the panel members evaluating proposals to the Innovation Fund at the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Other panel members are W. Gary Nicholas and Ian Barrs. [16]

Performances

YearShow/CompanyRoleLocationRef.
1997- 2000Touch Compass Dance TrustCompany DancerNZ    [17]
2017A Remedy for a Constitutional Crisis (Abrons Art Center)PerformerNYC. NY [18]
2017Boogie on the Boulevard (Bronx Museum of the Arts)PerformerBronx, NY [19]
2018Excavātion (Denniston Hill Open House)PerformerWoodridge, NY [20]
2018Sunshower (Yuko Uchida, Ideal Glass Studio)PerformerNYC, NY [21]
2019Down In The River Judson Memorial ChurchPerformerNY [22]
2019Excavātion:An Archival Process (Gibney Dance Center)PerformerNY [23]
2020WITH (Tanzplattform supported by the Goethe Institute)PerformerMunich, Germany [17]
2022Vā Moana Conference (Auckland University of Technology, online) Artist actiVAtorAuckland, NZ [24]

Solo exhibitions

YearTitleOrganisationLocationRef.
2017Reasoning on Paper: The Myth Of HerselfORA GalleryNYC, NY [25]
2017In Conversation with LineSonia Gechtoff GalleryNYC, NY [26]

Group exhibitions

YearTitleOrganisationLocationRef.
2015Experiments in Self PortraitureSonia Gechtoff GalleryManhattan,NY [26]
2015FACE IT: The Face in Contemporary ArtOnsite:BrooklynBrooklyn, NY [27]
2016Urban Indigenous XAsian Pacific Islander Cultural CenterSan Francisco, CA [28]
2016Creative Mischief National Academy Museum NYC, NY [26]
2016Black and White Perspectives: Works on PaperSonia Gechtoff GalleryNYC, NY [26]
2017Trash CapsulesNew Women SpaceBrooklyn, NY [29]
2017Creative MischiefNational Academy MuseumNYC, NY [26]
2017Ka OraORA GalleryNYC, NY [30]
2018Rendering LikenessLa Bodega GalleryBrooklyn, NY [26]
2019Mana Moana, Mana Wāhine,Raven Row GalleryLondon, UK [10]
2019Talk Back (Curated by Lexy Ho Tai and Moira Williams)Flux FactoryQueens, NY [31]
2020Here To LoungeNook GalleryCA [32]
2021All That You Touch You ChangeHelmhaus (Stadt Zurich)Zurich, Germany [33]

Residencies

YearResidencyOrganisationLocationRef.
2016ResidencyVermont Studio Center, Johnson, VTNYC,NY [34]
2016Immigrant Artists Programme:Social Practice New York Foundation For The Arts NY [35]
2018Artist in Residence: Ana Pekapeka StudioCorbans Art EstateAK, NZ [34]
2018Create Change FellowLaundromat ProjectNYC, NY [2]
2018Performance Art Seminar with Xaviera Simmons Denniston HillNY [36]
2019Artist in ResidenceDenniston Hill/Laundromat ProjectNY [37]
2019Disability Dance Artistry ResidencyDANCE/NYCNY [3]
2020Artist in Residence Eyebeam NY [36]

Scholarships and awards

YearScholarship/AwardOrganisationLocationRef.
2006Bursary ScholarshipASBAK, NZ [38]
2007Vice-Chanellor's Award for Top Māori and Pacific ScholarsUniversity of AucklandNZ [38]
2013Future New Zealand Charitable Trust ScholarshipFuture New ZealandNZ [38]
2014National Academy School ScholarshipNational AcademyNY,USA [38]
2019Disability Dance Artistry AwardDance/NYCNY, USA [2]
2020Pacific Toa - Arts Pasifika Awards Creative New ZealandWGN, NZ [2]
PAK’nSAVE Artistic Achievement Award - Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards Arts Access AotearoaNZ [39]


Personal life

Brown has Samoan and Palagi (non-Samoan) heritage.

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References

  1. 1 2 "About". PELENAKEKE BROWN. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Pelenakeke Brown". Meeting Place. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Pelenakeke (Keke) Brown". The Center for the Humanities. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Pelenakeke Brown: Access all areas the aim for new dance leader". Rangitoto Observer. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ↑ "Speakers". www.dance.nyc. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  6. 1 2 "Be. Leadership Alumni News: Interdisciplinary Artist Pelenakeke Brown". www.belab.co.nz. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  7. ↑ "Nonfiction by Pelenakeke Brown". The James Franco Review. 7 September 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  8. ↑ "Pelenakeke Brown". The Gallatin Galleries. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Pelenakeke Brown". ORA Gallery. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  10. 1 2 Watlington, Emily (9 March 2021). "Cripping Choreography". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  11. ↑ Studio, Familiar (18 March 2022). "Pelenakeke (Keke) Brown". Movement Research. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "PRESENTS – Pelenakeke Brown". vitalcapacities.com. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  13. ↑ Anderson, Vicki (25 November 2021). "What's on: Event highlights in Ōtautahi Christchurch". Stuff. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  14. ↑ "Tiny Fest - Things morph, amplify, distort in delightfully unexpected ways". www.theatreview.org.nz. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  15. ↑ "Online Wānanga on Access & Inclusion in the Performing Arts ⋆ Te Tairawhiti Arts Festival 2021". Te Tairawhiti Arts Festival 2021. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  16. ↑ "Innovation Fund". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  17. 1 2 Magazine, Viva. "Get To Know Interdisciplinary Artist Pelenakeke Brown - Viva". www.viva.co.nz. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  18. ↑ "Maya Ciarrocchi | A Remedy for a Constitutional Crisis | David Hamilton Thomson". davidhamiltonthomson.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  19. ↑ "Artist News | Immigrant Artists Collective at "Boogie on the Boulevard"". NYFA. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  20. ↑ "lutte collective". luttecollective.com. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  21. ↑ Ideal Glass Studio. "Press Release for Sunshower" (PDF). p. 1.
  22. ↑ movementresearch (10 October 2019). "Movement Research at the Judson Church — September 16, 2019". Medium. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  23. ↑ "Making Art Accessible". The Big Idea. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  24. ↑ Vā Moana: Space and Relationality in Pacific Thought and Identity. Auckland University of Technology. 2021. p. 119.
  25. ↑ "Reasoning On Paper: The Myth Of Herself | Ora Gallery, NY". TAUTAI - GUIDING PACIFIC ARTS. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CV". PELENAKEKE BROWN. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  27. ↑ "FACE IT: The Face in Contemporary Art". Site:Brooklyn Gallery. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  28. ↑ "URBAN x INDIGENOUS". Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  29. ↑ "Trash Capsules: Archives of Illness, Food, and Diaspora". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  30. ↑ "ARTISTS". ORA Gallery. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  31. ↑ "Talk Back – Flux Factory" . Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  32. ↑ "Here to Lounge". Shannon Finnegan. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  33. ↑ "All That You Touch, You Change". allthatyoutouch.ch. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  34. 1 2 Studio, Familiar (13 March 2022). "Pelenakeke (Keke) Brown". Movement Research. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  35. ↑ "2020 Resident Artists in Conversation | Part Two: Pelenakeke Brown and Elissa Moorehead with Jeff Kasper and Tina Campt". Eyebeam. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  36. 1 2 Brown, Pelenakeke. "She Returns". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  37. ↑ "Alumni". Denniston Hill. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  38. 1 2 3 4 "CV". PELENAKEKE BROWN. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  39. ↑ "Te Putanga Toi Arts Access Awards 2020 celebrate diversity and the arts". Creative New Zealand. Retrieved 29 March 2022.

External References

Gender/Power Composition IV Performance https://vimeo.com/188065481

Pelenakeke Brown Movement Research at the Judson Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArMqVHODgcM&t=15s

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