Wandering Down Memory Land

Ghirija Jayarraj
May 31
3 min read

May 3rd 2026 I had the opportunity to do just this - Reflect back and wander through all the creations that have come to life over the past 20 years... Started creating around 2005.. here we are in 2026 and so much has come into being.

Wander Land was a show we got to produce about the journey behind these creations. It’s a migrant journey of assimilation in Australia through art. However so many artists had stepped in and contributed to this work. It was wonderful to look back at it and take a moment to enjoy the memories and journey we all shared together

Many long term collaborators joined this presentation and I’m truly grateful for that. It was like a reunion after many many years with Avijit Das, Shruthi Kexhakepuram Purushotham, Shwetha Krishna, Prateeksha Kashi and of course the support of Raging Bull Actors Studio

along with many wonderful new faces.

More than performance we all truly had fun making this come to life.

Special guests from the arts Industry came to watch and we even got our first review in the Hindu. Exciting times!!

To know that my fragmented immersive story telling works means the world 😍🙌🏽

We only had 12 days to pull this and Mukuti off - but everyone came together and supported each other through it. It’s been a blessing indeed to be able to work with so many artists for over 2 decades. and the trust they place on me is everything! I truly cherish this in life!!

A special thanks to The Blue Room Theatre Australia for supporting in this presentation through the Incubator residency. For the first time I had an Australian sounding board and that meant a lot! Also a special thanks to WA Investment and Trade Commission for all their support 🙏🏽

Production staged in chennai's AF Madras on the 3rd of May

Performed by @shruthi.kezhakepuram @kavijitdas @prateekshakashi @shwethakrishna15

@ganesan.kaliyamoorthy

@hibakesavan @jaisree_balasubramani_22 @swarna.sahasra @_.swez._ @margaret_blessy @shreejith_sathyan @swetha_jayashree @abhssen @sparrow_real_madrid_10 @swaroopkumar1 @rv_pradeep @sethuraman_.s @harinipriya_11 @tharmeega (on screen) and yours truly @a_dance_story

choreographed by @shruthi.kezhakepuram @a_dance_story @y_a_m_i_n_i_b @prateekshakashi @shwethakrishna15 @kavijitdas @shreejith_sathyan

music sound engineering and foley @sheikkeys and Krishnan Subramanian

costume @shruthi.kezhakepuram and @rajdaksh @gayuanand_333

stage production team @sethuraman_.s @rajdaksh @kalaiyarasanraj

photo credits @picturedbypriyaa

filming @dop_rishi @suriyanarayanan.in goutham

Concept, Screen Visuals and Direction - yours truly

We also got to showcase the behind the scenes of a lot of the productions. So much happens - it’s a story in itself

It was a spectacle even for us to witness @kavijitdas and @shreejith_sathyan battle it out between themselves in a fashion usually seen in hip hop - experimenting with fusion without losing the complexities of our traditional art forms.

We also had the opportunity to showcase snippets of our latest production செம்மண் Sem Mann - something about this project brought us altogether in a deeply emotional way. So glad to have revisited this ❤️