About Amber’s Residency
“During my Moving Forward residency I will be revisiting my film work Softtrap through the lens of live adaptation.
Softtrap is a body horror, originally commissioned by Chunky Move and the Tanja Liedtke Foundation’s research initiative Solitude 1. The film was created in my garage during lockdown and features a set of prosthetic silicone hands. I casted my hands in alginate and used silicone and a deadening agent to create lifelike replicas, gently skewing the boundary of my body. In 2021, with the support of Chunky Move’s Activators program, I was able to have my arms professionally casted and painted by special effects makeup artist Kiana Jones. These prosthetics extend the length of my arms significantly.
This week I’m searching for foreign physicality whilst achieving complete embodiment of the prosthetics. I’ll be interrogating my new, hybrid body in an attempt to become familiar with the unfamiliar.”
– Amber McCartney
About Amber
Amber is a Narrm/Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer. Since graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2012, Amber has worked extensively for companies Chunky Move and Lucy Guerin Inc. She is a member of the Assembly 197 Tasdance ensemble and continues to perform for numerous independent and multidisciplinary artists.
In 2020 Amber was a recipient of Solitude1, Chunky Move’s home-based residency program and created her film Softtrap for the 2021 Activators program. She has presented solo work for Tasdance, Lucy Guerin Inc’s ‘Pieces’ and Dancehouse’s ‘Now Pieces’, and has created for YellowWheel and Transit Dance. In 2022 Amber won a Green Room Award for Best Performer in Prue Lang’s Project F.