Description
TWF was commissioned to create an empowering daytime festival "diamond moment" for Sampa The Great at the Melbourne and Sydney Laneway Festivals in Australia. Inspired by Sampa's empowering lyrics "who am I to be a hero, who am I to not?" we envisioned Sampa's words magnified in physical form -- words of heroism becoming uniforms of empowerment. In less than a month, we conceived and hand-crafted a massive patchwork dress AND backdrop comprised of hundreds of interlaced individual capes--each cape a different bold African pattern honoring Sampa's heritage. The artisanal interconnected backdrop created a bold but warm vibe as the band took the stage. At the pinnacle moment of the set, Everybody Hero, Sampa dons the massive dress... she is Queen of the stage, mother Africa as the opposite end of the dress is then passed over the audience. The expansive quilt cascades from Sampa to blanket the audience in colorful shade. She calls to the people, "unlace your capes!" The audience unlace the canopy, to don their own capes, becoming their own super hero. What was once a stage dress is now hundreds of beautiful capes worn by heroes throughout the festival and life.