Mauve, Jim and John

Mauve, Jim, and John

combines a site-specific dance of a queer romance with the story of alleged UFO sightings.

The starting point for Mauve, Jim, and John was in hauntology, folklore, and the body of myths and legends of Orford Ness, Suffolk. Paul Maheke was drawn to the story of alleged UFO sightings in nearby Rendlesham Forest during December 1980, which at the time was associated with the over-the-horizon radar station Cobra Mist on Orford Ness.

Experimenting with site-specific choreography, Maheke’s short film creates a visual dialogue between alien intrusion from the sky and the military past of the site. The journey of the spacecraft from Rendlesham Forest to the Ness is re-told through the movement of two male bodies, referencing John Burroughs and Jim Penniston; two servicemen who reported their sighting of a mysterious craft in the sky. Maheke worked closely with dancer and choreographer Robert Bridger to develop a new score, where the sightings in Rendlesham and the unsettling landscape of the Ness form a backdrop to the film's queer romance.

To accompany this work, Maheke wrote a text titled The Mauve Hour.

Download the PDF here

Mauve, Jim and John is part of a series of newly commissioned works for Afterness, inspired by Orford Ness and created to be experienced online with headphones on. It was screened exclusively here until 30 October 2021.

Video: Teaser of Paul Maheke, Mauve, Jim and John (2021). This video is also available to watch on Vimeo and YouTube.

About Paul Maheke

Paul Maheke

Paul Maheke was born in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France and lives and works in London, UK. Since studying at ENSA Paris-Cergy, Paris and Open School East, London, Maheke’s works and performances have been shown at Tate Modern, London (2017), the 57th Venice Biennale (Diaspora Pavilion, 2017), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2018), Lafayette Anticipations, Paris (2018), Baltic Triennial, Tallinn (2018), Manifesta, Palermo (2018). In 2018 the Chisenhale Gallery in London hosted a solo exhibition of his work, which later travelled to Vleeshal CCA, Middelburg in January 2019. In 2019 his performances were shown at the 58th Venice Biennale and at ICA Miami in addition to a solo exhibition at Triangle France, Marseille.

Through primarily dance and a collaborative practice comprising performance, installation, sound and video, Maheke considers the potential of the body as an archive in order to examine how memory and identity are formed and constituted.

Paul Maheke was also part of Artangel's programme Thinking Time, 2020.

In the Artangel Collection