The ‘Women’s Show’ after House of Slé: A Dialogue Between Bhenji Ra and June Miskell

Abstract

Introduction to Our Dialogue (June Miskell) Over the past decade, Filipinx-Australian artist Bhenji Ra has developed a transdisciplinary practice combining dance, performance, video, and community organising and events. Together with artist Justin Shoulder, she is part of the collective Club Ate, whose practice traverses video, performance, and club events, with an emphasis on community activation and collaboration with members of the LGBTQIAþAsia–Pacific diaspora in Australia and the Philippines. Formed in 2014, through Bhenji and Justin’s shared Filipino-Australian ancestry, Club Ate has frequently collaborated with set and costume designer Matthew Stegh, digital video artist and music video director Tristan Jalleh, and composer and electronic music producer Corin Ileto. Across the body of Club Ate’s work—recent examples include Ex Nilalang (2014–) and In Muva We Trust (2020)—Bhenji and Justin draw upon and reimagine Filipinx folklore narratives in the creation of their own ‘future folklore’, which is both pre-colonial and future-oriented. Alongside video practice, Club Ate has facilitated workshops and events that take the form of pageants, variety nights, and balls, notably collaborating with House of Sl e across a number of early balls held in venues such as the Red Rattler Theatre and Gumbramorra Hall, on unceded Gadigal and Wangal Land in Marrickville, Sydney. The House of Sl e is a Western Sydney–based vogue house mothered by Bhenji and comprising a tight-knit family of diasporic LGBTQIAþPasifika and Asian artists, dancers, and performers. Since its formation in 2015, House of Sl e has pioneered the activism and aesthetics of US New York queer ‘ballroom’ culture in an Australian context, organising events, vogue workshops, and balls across the greater Sydney region over the last seven years. Queer ballroom culture and voguing