Sean Miles
close your eyes and take five deep breaths
have you ever tried to clap in sync with everyone at a gig and not been able to keep up with the tempo and you become so aware of your bad timing that you pretend to be more drunk than you actually are in order to make people think you normally have a good sense of rhythm but right now you are just wasted and sloppy but then you realise that maybe no one notices or cares and this becomes a catalyst to be more obnoxious about your off beat clapping and then you notice the people that you know and that like you are laughing at your clapping and you feel like a hero for going against the system and you hope that theyre laughing with you and not at you and the people that dont know you maybe hate you because youre being annoying but then again maybe thats just in your head?
meditate every day exercise more take medication stop drinking coffee eat less carbs reduce screen time quit smoking again relax your jaw smoke less weed dont forget make sure you remember
have you ever thought obsessively about time because you have no sense of it and maybe that’s your adhd or maybe its the fact that the gregorian calendar has so many flaws and created 31 day months but also 30 sometimes but then also theres a random day every 4 years that still doesnt add up right and when it was made it deleted like 10 days from history and will probably have to do that again someday and it tells you that time is dictated by the sun and every second is measured equally but when you watch a kettle boil it feels like forever and then time flies when youre having fun?
eat more greens stop using ubereats be more ethical stop the algorithms stop feeding big business stop the monopoly support small business eat the rich end world famine stop worrying chill out
have you ever considered that the way we measure time is colonial and capitalist and patriarchal because your ancestors had lunar calendars but also measured time based on locality and the environment and didnt have 9 to 5 and would naturally menstruate in sync with moon cycles but western science tries to tell you otherwise even though this knowledge is deeply embedded in the stories of your culture and maybe thats because all those men in white lab coats are just trying to gaslight you with their bunsen burners?
its just cos youre a fire sign youve just gotta learn to live with it
have you ever thought that the moon is so much cooler than the sun and maybe thats why you really like vampire movies and witches and goth shit because you feel more aligned with the moon and maybe thats the reason why you love rimming so much because you get to taste where the sun dont shine and relish it and ultimately maybe that the reason why you cant sleep at night is because the moon fills you with so much energy and you wake up the next day and youre supposed to be somewhere on time but you still have no sense of it and some normie with control issues tells you that you are lazy and hopeless but the ritual of getting that coffee in the morning helps sustain you and dont you feel that trying to keep in line with this sense of time is really exhausting?
make fake deadlines pay rent pay bills set goals baby steps just do it keep trying hang in there cheer up hope youre holding up okay you look tired get some sleep got to sleep go to sleep
have you ever thought about how maui snared tama-nui-te-rā with his fishhooks to slow down the speed at which the sun surges through the sky and so he essentially slowed down time and then eventually ended up being crushed to death between the thighs of hine-nui-te-po and became an eternal cycle of birth and death and rebirth every full moon and that these cycles are so relatable to you because they underscore your feelings about regeneration and transformation and growth and they reflect your transgender experience when you equate the sun and the moon and elements like water and fire with concepts of the masculine and the feminine and fluidity and that maui is the trickster and that time will reveal itself as a fraud when you bait it hook line and sinker?
time and time again
Sean Miles is an interdisciplinary and process-based artist, respectfully doing mahi on sacred Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri) and Boon Wurrung land in the settler colonial city called Melbourne.
Their practice centres the correlations between trickster archetypes in ancient mythologies and contemporary queer performativity, attitudes, actions and resistance tactics. They hold a particular interest in the stories of Māui and how his clever wit combined with the powers of shape-shifting and interdimensional travel are used to undermine structural authority to benefit those with less privilege and access.
They apply simplistic and immediate methods of transformation to at-hand material and to environments as a means to reveal the transformative potential of our everyday make-up. They manifest visions that confront the ongoing damage of colonial and heteronormative social structures and concurrently foster a space for contemplation, healing, liberation, regeneration and a celebration of resilience.
Killing Time articulates a frustration with standardised time and fucks with its measurements in various ways, presented through the visual, sonic and written form.
The performance-for-video is inspired by my personal dreams, visions and hallucinations during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It conjures characters that I embody to explore alternate spaces and places in time.
By following intuitive processes, I liberate myself from the constructs of time to instead follow rhythms that are more in tune with the body, the free flowing mind and the deeper spiritual forces of what we call past, present and future.
When experiencing this work, I encourage you to apply a non-linear and experimental approach to your engagement.
Ko Titiraupenga te maunga
Ko Orakānui te awa
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Ngāti-Raukawa te iwi
Ko Ngāti-Ahuru te hapu
Ko Ngātira te marae
Ko Sean toku ingoa
Ko takatāpui ahau
E mihi tēnei te mana whenua o nga iwi Moemoea
This performance was recorded on the sacred land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I’d like to acknowledge them as the traditional custodians of these lands, waterways and skies. I’d further like to acknowledge their ongoing connection to material, creative practice, knowledge systems and oral traditions. I pay my respects to their ancestors & elders and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
Some key texts that inform this work:
● Tāwhanga Mary-Legs Nopera, huka can haka: Taonga performing tino rangatiratanga
● Ngāhuia Murphy, Te Awa Atua: Menstruation in the Pre-Colonial Maori World
● Rangi Mātāmua, Matariki: The Star of the Year
● Laura Westengard, Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma
Special thanks and acknowledgements to:
● Agnes Whalan (Production Assistance)
● Klari Agar (Production Assistance)
● Jake Treacy (Support)
● Bon Mott (Ongoing Mentorship/Support)
● Anador Walsh (Developmental Support)
● Knowledge of Wounds - Course: IndigiQueer Poetics: Desire, Flesh, Memory. Facilitated by Ellen van Neerven, Joshua Whitehead, Joseph M. Pierce, S.J Norman
● Ngāti Kangaru ~ for inspiring the initial movements for this performance
● Manisha Anjali ~ for encouraging me to listen to my dreams and with my writing
● Kei te pai Press - Hana Pera Aoake & Morgan Godfery
● Seb Henry Jones, Ellen Formby, Joel Spring and the Runway Team
● Friends, whanau and collaborators who have helped shaped my practice
Sean Miles
close your eyes and take five deep breaths
have you ever tried to clap in sync with everyone at a gig and not been able to keep up with the tempo and you become so aware of your bad timing that you pretend to be more drunk than you actually are in order to make people think you normally have a good sense of rhythm but right now you are just wasted and sloppy but then you realise that maybe no one notices or cares and this becomes a catalyst to be more obnoxious about your off beat clapping and then you notice the people that you know and that like you are laughing at your clapping and you feel like a hero for going against the system and you hope that theyre laughing with you and not at you and the people that dont know you maybe hate you because youre being annoying but then again maybe thats just in your head?
meditate every day exercise more take medication stop drinking coffee eat less carbs reduce screen time quit smoking again relax your jaw smoke less weed dont forget make sure you remember
have you ever thought obsessively about time because you have no sense of it and maybe that’s your adhd or maybe its the fact that the gregorian calendar has so many flaws and created 31 day months but also 30 sometimes but then also theres a random day every 4 years that still doesnt add up right and when it was made it deleted like 10 days from history and will probably have to do that again someday and it tells you that time is dictated by the sun and every second is measured equally but when you watch a kettle boil it feels like forever and then time flies when youre having fun?
eat more greens stop using ubereats be more ethical stop the algorithms stop feeding big business stop the monopoly support small business eat the rich end world famine stop worrying chill out
have you ever considered that the way we measure time is colonial and capitalist and patriarchal because your ancestors had lunar calendars but also measured time based on locality and the environment and didnt have 9 to 5 and would naturally menstruate in sync with moon cycles but western science tries to tell you otherwise even though this knowledge is deeply embedded in the stories of your culture and maybe thats because all those men in white lab coats are just trying to gaslight you with their bunsen burners?
its just cos youre a fire sign youve just gotta learn to live with it
have you ever thought that the moon is so much cooler than the sun and maybe thats why you really like vampire movies and witches and goth shit because you feel more aligned with the moon and maybe thats the reason why you love rimming so much because you get to taste where the sun dont shine and relish it and ultimately maybe that the reason why you cant sleep at night is because the moon fills you with so much energy and you wake up the next day and youre supposed to be somewhere on time but you still have no sense of it and some normie with control issues tells you that you are lazy and hopeless but the ritual of getting that coffee in the morning helps sustain you and dont you feel that trying to keep in line with this sense of time is really exhausting?
make fake deadlines pay rent pay bills set goals baby steps just do it keep trying hang in there cheer up hope youre holding up okay you look tired get some sleep got to sleep go to sleep
have you ever thought about how maui snared tama-nui-te-rā with his fishhooks to slow down the speed at which the sun surges through the sky and so he essentially slowed down time and then eventually ended up being crushed to death between the thighs of hine-nui-te-po and became an eternal cycle of birth and death and rebirth every full moon and that these cycles are so relatable to you because they underscore your feelings about regeneration and transformation and growth and they reflect your transgender experience when you equate the sun and the moon and elements like water and fire with concepts of the masculine and the feminine and fluidity and that maui is the trickster and that time will reveal itself as a fraud when you bait it hook line and sinker?
time and time again
Sean Miles is an interdisciplinary and process-based artist, respectfully doing mahi on sacred Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri) and Boon Wurrung land in the settler colonial city called Melbourne.
Their practice centres the correlations between trickster archetypes in ancient mythologies and contemporary queer performativity, attitudes, actions and resistance tactics. They hold a particular interest in the stories of Māui and how his clever wit combined with the powers of shape-shifting and interdimensional travel are used to undermine structural authority to benefit those with less privilege and access.
They apply simplistic and immediate methods of transformation to at-hand material and to environments as a means to reveal the transformative potential of our everyday make-up. They manifest visions that confront the ongoing damage of colonial and heteronormative social structures and concurrently foster a space for contemplation, healing, liberation, regeneration and a celebration of resilience.
Ko Titiraupenga te maunga
Ko Orakānui te awa
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Ngāti-Raukawa te iwi
Ko Ngāti-Ahuru te hapu
Ko Ngātira te marae
Ko Sean toku ingoa
Ko takatāpui ahau
E mihi tēnei te mana whenua o nga iwi Moemoea
This performance was recorded on the sacred land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I’d like to acknowledge them as the traditional custodians of these lands, waterways and skies. I’d further like to acknowledge their ongoing connection to material, creative practice, knowledge systems and oral traditions. I pay my respects to their ancestors & elders and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
Killing Time articulates a frustration with standardised time and fucks with its measurements in various ways, presented through the visual, sonic and written form.
The performance-for-video is inspired by my personal dreams, visions and hallucinations during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It conjures characters that I embody to explore alternate spaces and places in time.
By following intuitive processes, I liberate myself from the constructs of time to instead follow rhythms that are more in tune with the body, the free flowing mind and the deeper spiritual forces of what we call past, present and future.
When experiencing this work, I encourage you to apply a non-linear and experimental approach to your engagement.
Some key texts that inform this work:
● Tāwhanga Mary-Legs Nopera, huka can haka: Taonga performing tino rangatiratanga
● Ngāhuia Murphy, Te Awa Atua: Menstruation in the Pre-Colonial Maori World
● Rangi Mātāmua, Matariki: The Star of the Year
● Laura Westengard, Gothic Queer Culture: Marginalized Communities and the Ghosts of Insidious Trauma
Special thanks and acknowledgements to:
● Agnes Whalan (Production Assistance)
● Klari Agar (Production Assistance)
● Jake Treacy (Support)
● Bon Mott (Ongoing Mentorship/Support)
● Anador Walsh (Developmental Support)
● Knowledge of Wounds - Course: IndigiQueer Poetics: Desire, Flesh, Memory. Facilitated by Ellen van Neerven, Joshua Whitehead, Joseph M. Pierce, S.J Norman
● Ngāti Kangaru ~ for inspiring the initial movements for this performance
● Manisha Anjali ~ for encouraging me to listen to my dreams and with my writing
● Kei te pai Press - Hana Pera Aoake & Morgan Godfery
● Seb Henry Jones, Ellen Formby, Joel Spring and the Runway Team
● Friends, whanau and collaborators who have helped shaped my practice
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches.
We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway Journal is produced by a voluntary board and pay our contributors above industry rates. If you have found some delight in this content, please consider a one-time or recurring monthly donation.
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Runway Journal is produced by a voluntary board and pay our contributors above industry rates. If you have found some delight in this content, please consider a one-time or recurring monthly donation.
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches.
We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway is supported by