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SCRIPT:
overGround:underStory - khepri after Khepri
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Khepri (after Khepri)
{audio}
(an)overGround:underStory
Quote
{audio}
If I,
I get to know your name
Well,
if I could trace your private number,
baby
(Dead or Alive, 1984)
Long Video
{audio (sand)}
Within the dimly lit tomb of Nee-ank-koh-noom and Kah-noom-ho-tep, manicurists to the King, a scarab beetle named Khepri spent his last day in contemplative solitude. Known to ancient Egyptians as a symbol of transformation and rebirth, the scarab was revered - khepri, however felt anything but revered, tired from a life of cleaning up after the mess everything else seemed to make. But, this was their place - and there was a certain contentment in that.
Coloured & Beetles
{audio (plays through)}
This particular day was special, the sunlight seeped in through the tiny crevices of the tomb, aligning with carved and painted image of the two men in a pose normally reserved for married couples.
Khepri Statues / Fog
Khepri sensed a change in energy and knew their time was near. They climbed over the carved figures, thinking of their namesake god, Khepri, the scarab-headed deity linked with dawn and creation, and also transformations, and wondered what might come next?
Red Arrow
Their tiny legs skittered one final time as they came to rest on Nee-ank-koh-noom's shoulder, nestling into the space under Kah-noom-ho-tep's embracing thumb - sensing the ebb and flow of time, as well as the impermanence of life and transfer of matter from one state to another.
Black
His shell glinted for a brief moment before he became still, forever.
Multi Video
As Khepri's spirit lingered in the tomb, he felt a strange sense of peace. The sunlight streaming in seemed to connect him to the world outside, a reminder of the cycle of life he had always been a part of. For a brief moment, Khepri felt a sense of unity with the universe, understanding that even in his small life, he had played a significant role. He may not have been manicurist to the King, but he knew his role was no less important. And after all, he was sharing his resting place with those that had been.
CSIRO Video
!! needs three clicks
RECORDED VOICE:
"In 1788, five cows, two bulls, 29 sheep, five rabbits and other assorted livestock were landed in Australia by the First Fleet.
Of course there were the uninvited passengers too; fleas, lice and rats. But one special passenger was missing from the livestock consignment, the dung beetle. ==click== Because of this omission ==click== an ecological imbalance was caused ==click== which has lasted for nearly two centuries."
Not Khepri
{Not}Khepri woke in an unusual setting. {Not}Khepri, a relative of Khepri, another species of the Scarab family, from another part of Africa.
Dust and Red Desert
{Not}Khepri had memories of home, another country.
Different soil,
different sun,
different stars?
Beetle-ly memories of beetle-ly places, passed from egg, to larvae, to pupae, to beetle, to egg, to larvae to beetle, to egg... quiet times in the underGround, allowed time to notice these differences, noticing, of-course in very beetle-ly ways.
Quote
And I
~~(I, I, I) ~~
would like to move in just a little bit closer
Windy
No time on the overGround to notice - emerging - seeking dung - rolling dung and storing dung - rebirth & resurrection - new beginnings - in his beetle-ly way {Not}Khepri knew that Khepri's human contemporaries understood his place - {Not}Khepri was not sure sure his human contemporaries understood much of any of the important beetle-ly things.
All the Beetles
But as {Not}Khepri carried on in the new world, tirelessly rolling dung under a foreign sky, the weight of history and displacement weighed heavily. The ecological balance was disrupted, and despite {Not}Khepri's efforts, the land around him remained troubled. He knew, in his beetle-ly way, that despite what others thought, he was not the solution.