Conduit II is a body of work developed in response to the observation that, in recent history, there has been a distinct move away from traditional, ceremonial ways of marking important moments in people’s lives. 

I believe that shifts in traditions are important as societal contexts and cultural values change. The challenge with the total negation of rites of passage and the ceremonial contextualisations, though, is that all the peripheral support, teaching, and support structures are being simultaneously minimised. The result, as I see it, is that people are increasingly turning to institutionalised services for these supports rather than to fellow community members.

I am fascinated by AfrikaBurn as a cultural experiment and wanted to explore these questions further by engaging with this community. This work poses questions about how we can re-envision formalised rites of passage ceremonies to better support each other. 

Through fire as a transformative medium, each of the figures presented transitioned in material form in some way throughout the course of the week. Each was affected by it and showed visible signs of the engagement. 

The title refers to the idea that we are more than our material beings. We are conduits of thought and makers of meaning. We have the ability to construct and navigate our realities. We are not cultural passengers because we can choose and create and effect intentional change.