Xu Fengshan by Kate Murphy

In May 2010, APE Artistic Director, Sally Sussman travelled to Beijing with old friend, mentor and creative colleague, Xu Fengshan to see him perform in a Festival of Kunqu, one of the oldest forms of Chinese Opera. It was an exhilarating journey back in time, when Sally evoked her pivotal experience training in Beijing Opera in Beijing in the ‘80s and her first exciting directing experiences with Chinese performers in Mandarin.

Sally was invited by Annemaree Dalziel of Campbelltown Arts Centre to facilitate and interpret for video artist Kate Murphy's creation of a multi-channel video-installation on Xu. Sally became an unwitting feature of Xu’s story in Kate Murphy’s evocative video work, which captures Xu’s life in south west Sydney’s Macquarie Fields and his home town of Beijing as well as showing Xu at the Northern Kunqu troupe where he trained and his stunning performances at the Festival in Beijing. 

Project details
In development for installation at the Campbelltown Arts Centre in 2012.