Melt Festival is an annual open-access festival of Queer arts and culture staged across Magandjin/Brisbane, Australia. To celebrate the festival kicking off, Pip theatre in association with Melt hosted a launch event. This event showcased a wonderful exhibition of artworks and photography by Luke Brohman, as well as some live music and showcases of what the festival has to offer. The energy was enthusiastic from the eager participants as we met appearances from York Lit, Daniel Bruschweiler and JD Zamora just to name a few.
Upon entering the space we were greeted with a glass of bubbles and a walk through the studio presenting Heart Full of Omens by Luke Brohman. It is an eye catching exhibition presenting detailed paintings, drawing, photography and projected clips. Set amongst moody lighting, the paintings draw you in with their exquisite intricacies and hidden detail. The pieces seem to leap out with so much texture and the occasional inclusion of three-dimensional elements. The paintings offer many expressive faces worked in amongst the chaos, and seem to be pensive and serene. The artworks inspire joy and contemplation, with contrast between intense energies and calm.
The photographic works take a different approach, combining many tastefully natural figures with repeating shapes and symbols. The photography contains good composition and clarity; emulating a feeling of something ritualistic. With repeating and melding figures it feels at points like a cosmic kaleidoscope. Some further attention to detail could be important for future photography adventures, such as ironing crinkles out of backdrops or editing them in post-production. All in all, Heart Full of Omens is an enjoyable series and was a perfect introduction to this event.
We were then invited to explore the terrace which was very atmospheric with charcuterie on offer. The live Jazz music was an excellent backdrop to precede the announcements to come. We were then greeted with York Lit in a spectacular sequined silver get-up, a well regarded drag performer. Lit is performing as part of the show Kings of Kaos being presented by Melt, which is a cheeky drag variety act including six kings. Daniel Bruschweiler was introduced to give us a taste of Square Peg Bonus Hole, another fantastic act included in Melt.
Brushweiler introduces us to the concept of the show, what it is like to ‘never live up to expectations’. JD Zamora AKA JD Jephson is presenting traumageddon at Pip Theatre as a part of Melt. This show is said to be a real rollercoaster, a musical rendition of JD’s trauma that takes you through the highs and lows. There are countless more performances, acts and events as part of Melt Festival which is very exciting.
Overall, the launch was a fun event with many people at the ready to delve into the festival and all its offerings.
To book tickets to Melt X Pip, please visit https://www.melt.org.au/events/meltxpip-launch/.
