Immersive and dreamlike, A Symphony of Flesh and Bones is a deeply personal and contemplative new work by artist Juliet Ellis.
Presented as both a film installation and live performance, the piece explores the elusive boundaries between body, mind and self. Drawing on her family history and Buddhist practice, Ellis offers a powerful meditation on impermanence and identity.
The work is rooted in the lives of Ellis’ father, Lloyd – a former world champion bodybuilder – and her brother, Anthony, a retired cage fighter. Through their stories, Ellis interrogates the ways we build our bodies into symbols of strength, protection, or aspiration. As their physical forms begin to age, the film poses a poignant question: what happens to the self when the body begins to decline?
Visually poetic and emotionally resonant, the film is split across multiple screens, creating a layered and hallucinatory experience. Ghostlike images of Lloyd and Anthony as younger men appear alongside present-day footage, capturing both the physical realities of aging and the weight of unfulfilled dreams. Juliet Ellis sits at the centre of the performance as a live conductor of the piece, weaving together past and present in real time.
As both director and performer, Ellis inhabits multiple roles – guiding the audience through her personal narrative while also inviting broader reflection. The result is a meditative and sensory encounter that asks us to consider our own identities, the ways we present ourselves to the world, and how we experience and consume the bodies of others.
Juliet Ellis is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist, theatre-maker and filmmaker. Her debut feature, Ruby, won Best Drama at the Berlin Independent Film Festival and the Fellini Award at the Austin Arthouse Film Festival. With A Symphony of Flesh and Bones, she continues to push the boundaries of storytelling, performance and visual art, creating work that is at once intimate and universal.
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