Sarah Jane Moore

Sarah Jane Moore

We spent a delightful morning with multi disciplinary artist Sarah Jane Moore recently, hearing about her influences and inspirations for her upcoming one-woman show that is part of the Bondi Pavilion Housewarming Programme on Sunday 26 November.
Sarah Jane will perform Hey kunanyi, “or hey mountain, in honour of the majestic and sacred mountain in the southeast of lutruwita Trowunna Tasmania. The mountain is the summit of the Wellington Range and is within the Wellington Park reserve. It is a special place of story, wild weather, spectacular wilderness and connection. It looms over nipaluna / Hobart and it is where the show ends and begins”.
Accompanied by Richard Starr on keyboard, Paul Davison on guitar and Michael Galeazzi on double bass, Sarah Jane will perform songs that explore the importance of place; sharing stories about mountains, rivers and oceans, and communicating their impact on belonging, strength and healing. 
The show is a culmination of Sarah Jane’s recent Bondi Pavilion residency.

What is your Bondi story?

“I raised my first daughter in Bondi and feel deeply connected to the times I spent here in my twenties. I remember enjoying motherhood, teaching and performing and marvelling at the fluidity of the community and its porous, welcoming vibe. When I imagined raising my next daughter, I committed to the notion of manifesting a full and creative life for her in Bondi. It is this dream that delineates my Bondi story. It is memory, it is past, and it is future. One of the songs that I perform in my show Hey kunanyi is entitled ‘Look Away’ and embodies the notions of going away and coming back. In it, I explore my life story of being from an island off an island’ and sing about coming from ‘a small town on the edge of the Arctic’. The song embodies a whale theme, and evokes symbols of returning, of coming back and of seasons and the ‘right times’ to do this.“

How do you spend the first hour of your day?

“I spend the first hour of my day in the creative zone. I write poetry and keep up a daily journaling practise which has helped me write the 8 nature-based stories that are included in my one woman show. I enjoy the stillness of a quiet house and map and track the dreams I have in pencil, pen, acrylic or oil, charcoal and water colour. I keep a series of journals in the house and a wide range of art materials are always on hand. I like to experiment with making pigments and grinding shells, too. I am raising a young child and so have shifted my body clock to wake before her, when my time is my own and I can focus on my creative outputs. At 5am I brew a soy-based coffee on the coffee machine I found outside Spotlight recently. At this time, I listen for the birds and keep an eye out for first light. I was gifted a piano a year ago and it is one of my most treasured tools of trade. I compose music in the quiet times before my house hold stirs and at this time I hear clearly, write authentically and think deeply.”