Biography
Kelli Jean Drinkwater is a multi-disciplinary performance artist, filmmaker and activist whose radical body-based practice spans over three decades of experimental work at the intersection of live art, film and collaborative world-making.
Kelli Jean uses the fat body as a site of resistance, creating space for experiences that are often excluded from traditional institutions. She has collaborated with numerous performance collectives internationally and has presented work at major institutions such as The Art Gallery of NSW, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Festival, Carriageworks, The Red Rattler Theatre, The Malthouse, ACMI and The Barbican (LDN).
Kelli Jean was Artistic Associate on the live production of Force Majeure’s fat dance theatre production Nothing to Lose (2015), which won Best Live Work at the FBi SMAC awards and had sell-out seasons at Sydney Festival and Dance Massive Festival.
An award-winning documentary director and editor, her work has been screened in over 43 countries and supported by Screen Australia, SBS onDemand, and ABCiview. Her feature film Nothing to Lose (2018) documents the theatre production and won the Audience Award at QueerScreen (2018).
She recently performed for Ron Athey's Darkness Visible in Athens (2025) and is a featured artist in the soon to be published Fat Performance Journal, LADA UK (2026).
Portfolio
Performance
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Collaboration
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Documentary
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Public Speaking
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Watch Nothing to Lose
Nothing to Lose (2018) is the award winning feature documentary directed and edited by Kelli Jean Drinkwater. Which explores the making of Force Majeure's groundbreaking dance theatre production of the same name featuring a cast of fat performers. Produced by Lasting Kind Pictures.
Watch Monsta Gras
The now legendary queer club Monsta Gras, created by The Glitter Militia is more than just a party, it's a subversive playground for Sydney's queer underground. A film by Kelli Jean Drinkwater commissioned for Love Bites series for ABCArts and Screen Australia.
Watch Aquaporko!
AQUAPORKO! Meet Melbourne's fat femme synchronised swim team sculling, egg beating and high kicking towards their first live performance. Grounded in fat liberation and reclaiming public pools. The film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sydney Mardi Gras Film Festival in 2013 and screened at over 40 international film festivals.