The ˈDräɡənˈflī is one of 48 constellations in the serpent-shaped galaxy Mboike, located between the Andromeda and Maffei 1 galaxies. Mboike and Maffei 1 are destined to collide around 2.3 billion years before Andromeda’s expected collision with the Milky Way – an event that may also affect the speed of the second collision.
Located at the centre of the Mboike galaxy, ˈDräɡənˈflī is the only constellation of this galaxy visible with the naked eye from the planet Earth. When seen from the southern hemisphere, the constellation appears very close to the horizon, making its contours bright and easy to discern.
Composed of one nebula and 7 stars, its shape resembles a ˈdräɡənˈflī creature, giving the constellation its name. A ˈdräɡənˈflī is an ancient creature, having existed for more than 300 million years. Its morphology has barely changed during its long existence, apart from becoming smaller. Its ancestors were giant flying creatures. The ˈdräɡənˈflī represents change and transformation. In the northern hemisphere, the ˈdräɡənˈflī is rarely seen, yet its appearance still has great importance, marking the transition from winter to spring, and celebrated as the renewal of life force.
The ˈdräɡənˈflī has an amazing flight technology. Each of its four wings can move independently, allowing the ˈdräɡənˈflī to fly in all six directions: up, down, right, left, forward and backwards. It is one of the very few creatures that can fly backwards.
These remarkable flying abilities contribute to the ˈdräɡənˈflī being the greatest hunter of all. Its hunting strategy is interception, it can predict where its prey will be while both creatures are in motion. The ˈdräɡənˈflī does not chase the prey, instead, it predicts the spot where the prey will be in the next few seconds and intercepts it there. The appearance of the ˈdräɡənˈflī constellation in the southern sky announces the hunting season.
The ˈdräɡənˈflī’s eyes are bigger than their heads, composed of approximately 30,000 mini telescopes that capture different wavelengths of light. They can visually perceive all 360 degrees. 1This super-sensitive visual awareness makes them ideal guardians of the portals to other realms. The ˈDräɡənˈflī ‘constellation is the portal to the Mboike Galaxy and is the visual representation of the PhD artistic research project environment embodiment – towards poetic narratives.
environment embodiment - towards poetic narratives explores the concept of agency in the context of encounters between body and environment. Proposing the body as an environment, the project draws from uncanny, poetic, and embodied perspectives. Throughout the research, a single action is practised cyclically: walking backwards.
Situating itself in the performance field, the artistic works form a series, exploring performance in a hybrid dialogue with films and installations. As narratives, the research inhabits spaces between genres by weaving poetry, facts, fiction, speculative narrative and theory. As a method, poetics is present in every aspect, such as the imaginary, language, aesthetics and approach.
environment embodiment - towards poetics narratives by Fernanda Branco took place at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (2020-2024).
The developed embodied practice of movement-voice-environment is based on regenerative modes of working. It approaches states of wonder, attentiveness, evocation, observation, listening, sensory awareness and perspectives of becoming with these experiences.
The approach to artistic research is informal and playful. It explores the capacity of works to self-generate through cyclical or long-lasting processes guided by embodied states of persistence, endurance, and transformation. The research is developed in co-creation with places and matters while also collaboratively with other artists, primarily in dialogue with the epistemologies and cosmologies of the Global South.