‘LOCAL SUPERSTAR’ is a multi-stranded constellation of sculpture, live-action film, digital animation and congregative music. At the centre of gravity is a full size tour bus, a vehicular bridge between worlds which holds the formation of Saheli (ਸਹੇਲੀ) – a sonic collective of five South Asian, queer women (Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay, Mani JNX, Ushara Dilrukshan, Zahrah Hutton and Seema Mattu) whose focus on sonic joy, musicality and collectivity stems from artist Seema Mattu’s experience of musical congregation as seva (selfless service). 

Musician, artist, curator and activist Poulomi Desai joins artist Seema Mattu to reflect on the first stage of LOCAL SUPERSTAR and consider questions about representation in music, relationships between women in sonic spaces, the nature of improvisation, and entanglements that arise through working together.

By seeking feedback from a Sonic Elder of Poulomi’s standing Seema hopes to explore when sound is moving toward liberation and when it is reproducing constraint, how to hold experimentation and accountability together and how to keep space for not-knowing within processes that are often expected to produce clarity or direction.

BYOI: Bring Your Own Instruments!  The event will culminate in a sonic jam as we let loose and collectively explore what a liberatory sound feels like in the body. Poulomi will bring her homemade instruments and you are invited to play them or bring your own musical instruments or noise making objects of any kind. No skills or musical knowledge are required.

This event was programmed as part of the LOCAL SUPERSTAR project.

Photos by Eastside Projects (below)