Kintsugi Gold
Kintsugi is a short film that premiered at the Dadafest International Festival 2020. The film artistically combined performance art and poetic language to create a mesmerising piece of digital art, exploring how it feels to be broken inside. Using my body as a canvas, painting cracks and fractures on my face and body in gold, was an artistic arrangement that makes brokenness look beautiful. I also explored linguistic concepts around brokenness. ‘… clouds break. Why can’t I?’
“Really beautifully shot, such strong imagery and the language is so powerful.” Rachel Rogers, Producer at DaDaFest International 2020
“I found Kintsugi Gold beautiful and moving and it was profoundly transformative” Audience Member
Creative Team
Writer & Performer Chanje Kunda
Director & Editor Lwimbo Kunda
Director of Photography: Alex Veitch
Jib Operator: Dan Shaw
Sound Design: Luke Dobbin
Art Director: Kat Hale
Make-up Artist: Lill Queen
Production Assistant: Anwen Lewis
Commissioned by DadaFest
Supported by HOME Mcr and Unlimited
Funded by the Arts Council of England
‘Kintsugi Gold’ is a short film inspired by the concept ‘mad pride’, she seeks to celebrate the lives of people with severe and enduring mental health disabilities. Since it’s premiere it has been shown at by the British Museum for the ‘Hidden/Revealed’ event in 2021 and for the ‘We Shall Not Be Removed’ project run by Graeae Theatre Company.
The conceptual inspiration is taken from Kintsugi, the Japanese art form of repairing cracked and broken crockery with gold. Instead of disguising the cracks, they are celebrated and made more visible. This often makes the pieces more beautiful than the original, and the broken places are the most valuable.