A mish-mash of talents, from the awesomely indefatigable George Gittoes, the infectiously confident spoken word artist Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, to the vibrantly charming Malaysian dissident cartoonist Zunar were some of this year’s line up of storytellers at the Carnival of the Bold 2016 (June 6, 2016).
While the performances targeted an array of issues-racism, social justice, freedom of speech, child abuse-all artists seemed to have one thing in common; a sense of higher purpose. After all, art does inspire, and good art can inspire change. But these artists are not concerned with calibrating human emotion, but are seeking bold, sweeping social change that touches communities, societies, countries, humanity.
In fact, a hearty fuck you, but in the nicest possible way, to use Dame Edna’s famous disclaimer, seemed to me to be the central message in this year’s Carnival of the Bold. These artists mean to challenge all that is not right with the world, so the audience was pushed to think, feel, express ourselves in ways that we weren’t comfortable with. It was an experience that took me out of bounds, which made me feel naughty and nice at the same time.
Thanks muchly to the organisers for giving me this evening of boldness, especially Kevin Bathman, whose own talents seem to have no bounds.
MASAKO FUKUI 