Maria Matrem
Maria Matrem is a collaborative dance-film shot in Avebury with performer and soprano Katherine Evans, who recreated the 13th-century pilgrim song Mariam Matrem from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat on gittern and synth.
In the film we explored themes of beauty, vanity, transformation, and the lengths we go for things, drawn from the lyrics of song. The project became a contemplation of pilgrimage itself, both literally and metaphorically, viewing movement itself as pilgrimage to the real and unknowable, approaching the body as profound mystery.
Avebury was chosen as a paradoxical site that embodied mystery, perseverance, and reverence on the one hand, but on the other, human domination and potential sacrifice. Avebury wasn't just a convenient backdrop, however, but viewed as a participant and co-choreographer as a site of a coming together of worlds.
This was echoed in the creative relationship between myself and Katherine, who hold differing belief systems, a meeting of worlds being central to the pilgrim's experience.
Maria, Virgin mother pure,
We lift You high.
We raise You, Jesus, to the sky
in harmony.
Maria, refuge for all time
Defend us here
Christ Jesus, harborage sublime
Give us Your ear.
Already over land and sea
You are unfurled.
You shelter over all the world
entirely.
Christ Jesus, holiness supreme
Is good and true
Maria, leader we esteem,
We welcome You.
To everyone show charity,
The same to all,
For us who chase our sins
and crawl in vanity.
Maria for eternity
Salvation made.
Christ Jesus set condemned souls free;
For them He paid.
They fought for us all fearlessly
Who are but slaves
And who are beaten to our graves
Most brutally.
Lyrics translated by Carol Anne Perry Lagemann
The work criticises industrialised beauty, pointing towards the soul pollution of sacrificing our humanity for vanity. ​It asks us to look at how we can let go of imposing our own will over reality to reveal and reclaim a tactility with the real, ‘touchstone’, or mystery of being.
Creative direction was a collaborative effort, Katherine composed and recorded the music and edited the film.
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If you enjoyed the song please consider supporting Katherine and buying it on Bandcamp above.