MIF25: A Symphony of Flesh and Bones at Aviva Studios
Creative Tourist
Symphony of Flesh and Bones is a dreamlike film and installation by award-winning artist Juliet Ellis, exploring identity, strength and impermanence. Set in the atmospheric South Warehouse at Aviva Studios, the piece draws on Ellis’s family history, focusing on her father, Lloyd—a world champion bodybuilder—and her brother, Anthony, a former cage fighter.
Blending striking multi-screen visuals with elements of live performance, Ellis examines how we build our bodies as armour and sanctuary, and how aging reshapes identity. Rooted in her Buddhist practice, this thought-provoking work blurs past and present, weaving together ambition, vulnerability, and the fragility of self.
As Ellis conducts the piece in real time, audiences are invited into a contemplative, hallucinatory experience that challenges perceptions of strength and transformation. Symphony of Flesh and Bones promises to be a profound and visually arresting highlight of Manchester International Festival 2025.