Anthony Sawrey
Radical Fields is an arts and cultural organisation that works with artists and community to explore the “serious play” of artistic processes. As of October we have begun our seasonal program featuring free creative workshops and community art activations.
November welcomes artist Rhae Kendrigan for a special workshop event. A Mallee kid through and through, Rhae is a socially and environmentally engaged artist based on Latji Latji Country (Mildura) and working across regional Victoria and NSW. They are passionate about building strong rural and regional communities through embracing diversity, developing kinship with our natural resources and creating localised economies. Their work as a practising artist and creative producer explores the intersections between body and place, serving as a process for understanding systems awareness.
“My creative practice is rooted in an art form called ‘Body Weather’,” says Rhae. “It is a comprehensive training and development centred around dissolving the borders between the body and the environment. It is a practice that really engages with all the senses and could be compared to going into a mindful meditative state within nature to access a deeper connection to it.”
This will be Rhae’s first time working with the Glenlyon community and will be the beginning of a project that is set to extend over two Harvest events across 2025 and 2026. But they are no stranger to long term creative development, having worked over three years on Borders. Borders is a vast undertaking exploring the relationship between creative communities in cross-border towns along the Murray River; engaging in social research, community dialogue and performance development.
“I will be hosting the session with Hepburn biodiversity officer Brian Bainbridge. I was asking him about three areas that I’m interested in; Hydrology, Geology and Biology. He gave me some really good insight into the uniqueness of Glenlyon in regards to those three areas, looking at water, plants, trees and the geology of the earth. A lot of what he knows is unseen, what is happening underneath us, how the water moves through the landscape, or what role a particular tree has in the ecology. I’m hoping he will share some of that on the day and what I would like to do is respond to this by creating activities to help people (on the day) connect to that knowledge. Not just in their mind, but to their bodies as well.
While it is early days yet, Rhae hopes to be able to present an inaugural performance at the Radical Fields Harvest that will embody something profound regarding the local environment and its unique characteristics.
“The performance for the March 2025 event is going to be after the Zen walk,” says Rhae, “so it will be building off the energy (and) the focused kind of state people will be in and I would like to create a performance that draws in these people in some way. I see that first performance as a build up to the 2026 Harvest where I hope to engage other people in performing.”
Come and meet up with Rhae Kendrigan and Brian Bainbridge on November 16th during the Glenlyon Village Market from 9am to 1pm. This project was made possible by the Australian Government Regional Arts Fund, which supports the arts in regional and remote Australia.
