Summary"“What are the seeds of poverty? What are the seeds of our people? What do we choose to water within our people?”
Sheldon Rua is a Māori and Samoan, multidisciplinary creative born in Papakura, South Auckland. His street dance and spoken word poetry has been shared around the world online and at various events throughout Aotearoa. Through his creative work, Sheldon aims to recreate positive energy with humility and be a catalyst for change in every space he steps into.
Creative Process
Rooted in Sheldon Rua’s Fale-ship Residency is a desire to change the narratives regarding people who experience homelessness. His process and works in this series encourage us to get to know the people we see on the streets every day by asking them about their lives and their interests.
Works include physically typed poetry, tangile and accessible in the public realm, as well as an audio recording which echoes “you reap what you have sown”, and a Choreographic Labb. Each of the components question our duty of care for the community around us.
In Sheldon’s final Fale-ship Residency piece, he recites a self-written poem over video documentation of a choreographic lab. Seated on a street bench in Papakura where the tangata on our streets sit every day, he writhes around exploring texture, stillness and character. At one point a passerby seems unsettled by Sheldon’s presence, and there lies a tension surrounding Sheldon’s next action; revealing a compelling interaction that mirrors the way the public interact with ‘homeless’ people.
Latest News
