Emma Maye Gibson challenging the status quo
Emma Maye Gibson finds her power in her latest show, part of All About Women at the Sydney Opera House
Inner West
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Emma Maye Gibson is shedding her outrageous alter ego Betty Grumble in a celebration of female power as part of the All About Women festival at the Sydney Opera House on International Women’s Day on Sunday.
The skyhigh hair and crazy make-up may be sidelined for the night but the Marrickville physical theatre artist, who is known for a penchant for using her body as a blank canvas for her art, says she is lining up with Stelly G, Iya Ya Ya and Megana Holiday in a performance where they will be activating their bodies to create an uncensored, unapologetic performance with a protest party as a backdrop.
“You can expect a genre-smash of party, poetry, ‘bitch’-craft, dance and disobedience,” Gibson said.
All About Women brings together women from all over the world to discuss the most important and pressing issues facing women today.
“I think we need these dynamic spaces to rethink and work out how we can be together with our differences and sit in the mess of movement forward,” Gibson said.
“What the collective has been talking about is we don’t want to be polite but we do believe in being respectful which is why we have used called our show Working Bitches - it is a reclamation of that energy and a refusal behave the way the status quo would like women to behave.”
The All About Women line-up also include Balmain’s Yumi Stynes, broadcaster and author, who will be speaking on a panel called Sober Curious, about the growing trend in Australian women towards sobriety.
The big line-up also includes: Middle East correspondent Azadeh Moaveni, whose book Guest House for Young Widows looks at 13 women who joined the Islamic State; Ukrainian-Australian artist Stanislava Pinchuk (Miso) will deliver a talk on the practice of weaving as a global act of female resistance and political discourse and; Sanam Maher, author of A Woman Like Her - The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch that examines the ‘honour’ killing of Pakistan’s most unlikely feminist . Maher will engage in a cross- cultural discussion with Jess Hill, author of See What You Made Me Do about Australia’s domestic violence crisis.
About Women festival director Dr Edwina Throsby said: “For all of our glorious diversity, there’s still an awful lot we have in common, and this year’s festival is a place to celebrate and find power in our shared experiences. It’s like a great big group hug, but a lot more political (and a lot less creepy)”.
All About Women 2020 will feature solo talks, panel discussions and hands-on workshops, international and local thinkers, storytellers and game-changers.
NEED TO KNOW
What: All About Women
When: Sunday, March 8
Where: Various venues, Sydney Opera House
Tickets: From $33 + booking fee (multipacks available), sydneyoperahouse.com