zavé martohardjono

Adjunct Instructor

zavé martohardjono (b. 1984, Montréal, Canada) is a multidisciplinary artist working in dance, film, and installation. A queer, trans, and Indonesian-American artist, zavé makes works that dwell in their ancestors’ mythologies, contend with the political histories our bodies carry, and dream up more just futures. zavé employs reparative embodied modalities, anti-colonial political education and modes of dance and ritual that de-condition the body, reconjure liberatory memory, and untangle assimilation. They received an MFA in Film from the City College of NY and BA in Political Economy at Brown University.

A 2022 Bessie/New York Dance and Performance Award nominee for Outstanding Performer, zavé has presented at the 92Y, BAAD!, Boston Center for the Arts, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Center for Performance Research, El Museo del Barrio, Gibney Center, HERE Arts, Issue Project Room, The Kennedy Center, and Storm King Art Center. They’ve exhibited at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Asian Arts Initiative, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Bronx River Art Center Gallery, Glasgow Center for Contemporary Arts, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, SOMArts Gallery and Winslow Garage. They have shown films and performed in Amsterdam, Berlin, Glasgow, Zurich, Skopje, and Jakarta. Their work has been written about in the New York Times, BOMB Magazine, CultureBot and Hyperallergic. 

Residencies and fellowships include 2024 Center for Experimental Ethnography at UPenn, 2022 MRX/Movement Research Exchange program, 2021 NYPL Dance Research Fellowship, 2020 Gibney Dance in Process, 2019 Movement Research AIR, 2019 CATWALK Art Residency, 2017-2018 LMCC Workspace Residency, 2016 Bronx Museum, 2016 Shandaken: Storm King, 2016 Gibney Work Up 3.3, 2015 Chez Bushwick, and 2011 EMERGENYC.

Five colorful deities pose against a collage of olive green landscape photos clipped and arranged to overlap. One deity with long yellow hair and bangs wears purple, pink and black dress and purple and pink makeup. To her right, a deity in blue with tall blue peacock feathers has blue eye make up and long hair pouffed above her forehead. Next to her, a deity with four raised arms wears red fringe, red lipstick, green curly hair, and a mask of a white spirit’s face with fangs and teeth. Kneeling in front of her is a deity with puffy blue feathers, a pink harness, shiny purple bloomers, red braids in buns, orange arm bands and colorful makeup. Next to them another deity in creme and taupe fabrics kneels, their face obscured by golden bead fringe and holds a branch with wooden beads.
Photographer: Kathleen Kelley; Collage by zavé martohardjono

 

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