Eons ago, I might have been your child. You, might have been my mother. Now, you are within me. Maybe in our next life, we will share the fortune of sisters.

This is the dramatic start of “Girl of the Mud” by NUS Stage, capturing the stories and soul of a photo by Ritchelle Mantiquilla titled “The Girl in Mud”. Shot at Pasir Ris Park in Singapore; the flow of water, sand, the breeze and setting sun acted as reflectors of the protagonist’s musings on life, and its legacy, passed down from one generation to the next as an heirloom of hopes and dreams.

In a collaboration under the Build-A-Bridge project of the HERE! Arts Carnival 2020, Michelle Simon Hariff (year 4, NUS FASS [1]), Melissa Peh (year 4, NUS FASS [1]) and Elle Cheng (year 2, Yale-NUS [2]) produced this introspective piece with inputs from Mantiquilla and a cameo appearance by Hailey Bengson Charles (child).

We connected with the three student artists of NUS Stage to understand their artistic process in capturing human stories through drama, and what they hoped would be the role of art in the larger context of how we evolve as a society.

How did you ideate the concept of your performance from “The Girl in Mud”?

Our first impressions of the photo focused on how it depicted a light childhood innocence which contrasted with the dense materiality of mud. These sensorial elements helped us brainstorm images to build upon. Ritchelle [Mantiquilla] talked about the female experience, migrant worker rights, and her personal views on children and life. Her hopeful philosophies impacted our meaningful conception of this video.

Interesting, so who are the two women interacting on the beach?

Honestly speaking, the two women on the beach are up to the audience’s interpretation of the piece. Though we did craft it with a meaning in mind, because our piece intends on being interpretive, we hoped the audience would see part of themselves in them or relate to them in some way, as they may. So, what is the relationship between them? Are they two people or one in the same? It’s up to how one wants to connect the dots.

It was inspiring the way you tried to capture Mantiquilla’s experiences and philosophies in your performance. In your opinion, how does drama serve to capture/reflect the human spirit?

Michelle: I feel like often drama unfolds and centers itself around the human, even if it’s devoid of it – as much as we recognise what is there, we also recognise what is not there.

I personally believe that drama is that discourse between artist and audience, artist to artist, artist and audience with object and environment and so on. We are constantly creating relationships with things. Also, the very fact we can exercise creativity and contemplate or escape into something or just engage in anything, allows us, as people, to be part of that performative and ephemeral process.

I think that in itself is pretty human? So not only does drama have that capability of encapsulating stories about humans, animals, society, objects (practically anything at this point), of which we relate to and are moved by, but the very act of it encapsulates perhaps an innate need to connect to something, or someone.

In a more practical sense, what do you think is the goal of a performance that focuses on existential musings, in the larger context of our society?

It’s actually pretty personal so it’s hard for us to generalise, but if people take away something that is also great and valid. Our intent of it all was to look at things, essential or non-essential, and how they are able to give purpose and drive to life beyond just survival. How do we care, and witness ourselves and others, especially those on the fringes? It’s a look at time – how might we look at ourselves, past, present and future, in the face of joy, and obstacles, and still move?

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You can catch NUS Stage’s powerful performance on the HERE! Arts Carnival website under Build-A-Bridge.

[1] NUS FASS: National University of Singapore, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

[2] Yale-NUS: Yale-NUS College