Strange Intimacies by Diya Naidu

A one to one performative experience facilitated and performed by Diya Naidu.
It is immersive, intimate, experiential, ritualistic and draws from the world of performance and healing.

Project description as written by the Artist :
“The work comes from research around intimacy and touch over the last four years. I learnt that even the most seemingly conventional person, the ordinary human being needs intimacy with strangers. Underlying this need is the subliminal message – “the world is safe”. With the constantly reinforced codes, rules, conventions and norms that govern our way of being in public or with others based on their age, gender, hierarchy etc we are made to internalise – “the world is an unsafe place”.
As an artist and human being, particularly as an animist tradition practitioner and dancer, it has come into my experience that who I call the “other”, is but an extension of me and that our lives are intimately connected in ways we cannot imagine. This project therefore was created to allow at least one interaction between two strangers that will stand in the face of all experiences in the lives of the participants that make them feel the “other” is not trustworthy or is the enemy. Some of the most profound experiences in our lives are when a stranger is kind to us, or we share a moment of real intimacy, perhaps even tell them a secret we have never told another.
The work is a one on one performative yet participatory event. The viewer is alone with the performer for almost 120 minutes. It is immersive and intimate.