Kohima: Artists from North-East India brought their work to the 25th Oslo Mela in Norway this August. The performance, titled Birding Utopia(s), premiered at the City Hall Square, known as the living room of Oslo, on August 15 and 16. The production connected Guwahati, Shillong, Oslo, and Tromso. It marked the first time the festival featured a dedicated art segment.
Visual artist Parismita Singh, theatre artist Lapdiang Artimai Syiem, and journalist Aheli Moitra led the collaboration. Singh created suspended cloth artwork. Syiem provided theatrical movements. Musicians Dibakar Saha and Apkyrmenskhem Tangsong composed the score. Moitra curated the project, which received funding from the Oslo Mela. The performance lasted 30 minutes each day.
Syiem drew from Khasi folktales and the poetry of Esther Syiem to explore gender and crisis. She used a traditional Khasi garment, Ki Jainkyrshah, and a bamboo stool, or murha, as key props. “The work drew inspiration from Esther Syiem’s poetry— that hens must crow, the time has come for women to crow,” Syiem said.
The performance tackled capitalist overconsumption and climate change affecting the Himalayas and the Arctic. Organizers aimed to highlight how women often face the heaviest burden of ecological ruin. Festival Director Ashley Shiri called the piece a highlight of the event. The Oslo Mela, which began in 2001, draws diverse crowds to the capital during the South Asian Independence weekend.
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