Brown Church | Naavikaran

Brown Church a visionary prayer for the queer and gender non-binary people of colour – and really everyone who might still feel under identified in the evolving acronym: LGBTIQP+. Brown Church is offering a place of worship of the aforementioned. Queerness the centre. The audience brimming with colour, collective support and collegiality. Brown Church begins, and the accessibility - clear. An auslan interpreter present for the differently abled, wheelchair users having pride of place in the front row. A seemingly stark theatre stage with only 3 performers starts this piece. Drag-alicious, determined and daring. 

“Brown Church is a work in progress”, declares Naavikaran , and it’s clear that they have much to say. Thank those Gods within Naavi that they have created a space to share this. The very clearly rehearsed and intentional poetry recited is of considerable expertise, sheening the POC queer space into the light. 

“What if I told you queerness was holy?” asks Naavi. 

Images supplied.

I feel this reverberate deeply within me. Growing up in a Methodist church , with a father who is a minister and a sister who still follow this  faith – as I sit in the audience,  I recall all the times I have felt excluded from the saving grace of “God”, as the prayer leaders in these circles say everyone’s name but mine and those in my queer family. The members in my family never mentioned, my life as a queer daughter un-appreciated, I have grown adaptive to re-interpretating those prayers into something that holds meaning for me. I’m tired of this constant inner-transposing of prayer, and I bet I’m not the only one who has had to do this. So, here are these queer artists creating new and inclusive ritual spaces, and I like this incarnation of church with Naavi as our prophet. “If men are from Mars, and women from Venus, then I must be the whole god damned solar system”. Yes, Naavi YOU are. And yes, WE are too. 

Surely by now in 2021 ingrained ignorance might see that the lives of queer folk are NOT a choice. Apparently choosing to live lives of humiliation and exclusion is not easy. This piece performed and produced by Naavi responds with whispers in my being – Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Queer people are the mystics of Sexuality and of Gender diversity. They are sacrificial lambs for the greater good that begs ALL into existence.  When we are seen, the whole picture is seen. The courageousness of those before us in the firing line, so that we can now follow pathways already carved, and out into tendrils unimagined before. The Brown Church congregation come away heavily clad with impenetrable armour, interlaced with silk and sequin.

The cast consist of writer, actor and first time drag artist,  Dilsah De Rham with their 5 o’clock shadow and butch bagginess. Dilsah stands in confidence with this cast, and I look forward to seeing more from them. The ending piece incorporates D’s child. A sincere homage to the spectrum of family as we know it, I relished in the delight in witnessing them being up on stage, celebrated with their parent. 

Creative, Ty Goddard who I’d seen perform before with House of Alexander stipends the performances with their island beauty, seeping through sweat beads that trickled with sensuality and subtlety like pearls. Ty in one scene, is in a ball gown with tapa cloth collected in the front of their dress. This is a tender homage, and soothing sight for my island brown eyes. 

Pasifika queerness at Brisbane Festival this year has been Big, Beautiful, Brave + Bold. To think that being homosexual in many parts of the Pacific is still illegal!!!! Our people have migrated here and now this generation flourishes at the opportunity to become their full selves, with the ability to bring their culture, their intricate kinship systems, their beliefs and their creativity to the feasting table.

The symbiosis of the three and into six at the end, provide thickening to the cream of Naavikaran’s poetry, dance and performance. Bravo. 

Naavikaran holds the audience in their palm, caresses their identity and blows them a big beautiful brown worship kiss. Thank you for this work, Naavi. The space held me and others like me in it. A brief time for libations after the show with other queer brown artists Hope One, Ella Ganza and Miss Jess see us identified, praised, and showered in queer narratives of resilience, faith, and self-determination. And we leave feeling worshipped.