Lunatraktors is a collaboration between artist, choreographer and percussionist Carli Jefferson, and artist, vocalist and researcher Dr Clair Le Couteur.
Hazard Bears are ‘apotropaic beings’ – they keep bad luck away. Made of crochet bedspreads and hazard tape, these shaggy monsters make weird singing sounds to communicate.
They travel around festivals, concerts and museums. As part of LORE, the Hazard Bears sing fragments from the Mills’ Museum & Archive, weaving poignant moments together. After the opening night performance, the costumes remain in the exhibition – suspended, dancing in response to the visitors’ movements.
From the Green Man to straw bears and tatter jackets, British folk costume features many otherworldly beasts that blur the lines between human, animal and plant. Responding to these traditional figures, Lunatraktors made the Hazard Bears: ‘straw bears’ constructed from over 3km of hazard tape.
Striped like the costumes of court jesters or pantomime characters, the Bears’ hazard tape is always in motion, constantly dancing in the breeze. Its purpose is to form mobile, improvised boundaries, ward off danger and guide movement. Its uses are temporary, but the plastic it is made from never decays, littering the landscape. Forgotten scraps flutter among branches, or draw unseen lines through landfill sites.
