What is the Fury Project?
The Fury is an interdisciplinary arts exploration of the emotion of anger, and seeks to tell stories that carve paths to justice, transformation and empowerment. Using the power of spoken word/poetry, monologue, live vocals, dance and performance; the visceral nature of multi-media arts installation and techniques of inclusive artists/audience interactive debate, a diverse group of artists deconstruct the ancient Greek mythological tale of "The Three Furies" and reconstruct it for 21st century notions of Womanhood. Personal narratives are made political by the very nature of genderising and racialising the emotion of anger.
History of the Project
The Fury Proejct is the brainchild of Writer and Performance Poet Zena Edwards who was invited by Jan Ryan of UK Arts Internationals, in the Summer of 2011, to devise a piece of work for the launch of the Afrovibes Festival 2012.
2013 sees the The Fury project a year and a half into it's development with four phase under its belt each digging deep into the what makes anger anger and is it's role in society today. . Each phase being entirely different in its format, though using the same creative devices of spoken word, film and movement, marking the nature of the project as a true exploration of the much misunderstood emotion, Anger.
In 2012, poets Zena (UK) curated The Three Furies, inspired by the story of the Greek mythological figures of the same name. Zena, Mbali Vilakazi (South Africa) and MC/Poet Clara Opoku (Netherlands) were commissioned by UK Arts International, to create a poetry in performance piece for Afrovibes Festival 2012 funded by British Council and the Arts Council. These three female artists came together to translate, embody and embolden the energy of the Greek mythical legend of The Erinnyes. First and foremost the protectors of women and children, they were known as 'The Three Furies', the most terrifying spectres of vengeance in the ancient world. Also known as The Eumenides - "The Kindly Ones", The Furies bring balance to injustices done to the Family.
The trio initially devised the script via blogging and film sharing online and launched the festival in April 2012 with much support from MC Theater (NL) and the Albany (UK). Through , spoken word and song, Zena, Mbali and Clara transformed the power of this myth into contemporary representations of women overcoming trauma from cultural and institutionalized patriarchy to the jubilant affirmation of self."
March 2013 has seen the fourth development of the The Fury Project, instigated directed by UK based Writer and Performance Poet,
For Internatonal Women's month, Zena worked with Katie Pearson, Cherrelle Skeete and Rasheeda Nalumoso to take the project to a new level of exploration through dance. Zena decided it was time for a male voice to interact and invited a male dancer Sean Graham to be contribute to the dialogue through movement. They delivered a successful performance at the Canada Water Cultural Space with dynamic post show discussion that affirmed that a project like this is valuable for exploring women's voice. The mission continues.
To hear Anger Stories for the Transformation Juke Box, click to visit The Fury Project Tumblr site.