Tuesday 24 September 2013

..viewing the art of selfies


 


In a previous post in commenting on not being able to pass up the opportunity of having a selfie shot taken with a local “pollie” I was having a small jibe at the ubiquity of this bit of contemporary nonsense. It then occurred to me that many of the “Core” program of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale to one degree or other was a series of “selfies”.
Shane in the studio
Shane in the studio
Chief amongst these but at opposite ends of the aesthetic spectrum were the works of Young Ho Kang and Hester Scheurwater.
Scheurwater claims, “…that I am not a victim of an imposed sexually charged visual culture”. Which is a bit like saying, I’m not into self-harm and these slash scars on my arms are proof of that. 

Hester ScheurwaterBIFB 13
Unimpressed public in front of Hester Scheurwater BIFB 13

I can’t see how replicating tawdry amateur porn and “intellectualising” about it actually elevates it to art status. Unless of course you only wish to bring “art” down to the most base level and are in the process of de-constructing the old notions of art elevating the spirit and improving humanity.
Whichever way it goes it is a nihilistic world - personal view of little point.
Young Ho Kang BIFB13
Young Ho Kang BIFB13 from YHK's website
Young Ho Kang’s on the other hand are deft and witty explorations of self, myth, culture and its contemporary process. “Selfies” on a grand scale sending up the nature of Western fashion and product advertising imposed on and appropriated by Asian culture. Kang uses himself to point elsewhere at this culture in a very wry fashion.

Kara Rasmanis BIFB 13
Kara Rasmanis BIFB 13 from redbubble
My “Best-of-Oz-Contingent” was Kara Rasmanis’ evocatively personal gravures and photomontages of objects relating to family memories. 

Lovely, meditative works.

Then last night, thinking about writing this piece, ABC’s “Australian Story” appeared. Ostensibly about Art critic, Robert Nelson’s school-girl daughter Olympia having an op-column piece published in “The Age” on “Selfies and youth culture”.
From there the program meandered off-topic and into extolling familial talents various, virtues and tribulations; Olympia’s successful but sadly seriously ill, photographer mum, mum’s shooting style and exhibition list, about how delightfully Olympia glissaded over, around and through the world’s languages by age two (or perhaps three), justification of Olympia’s writing talent from the Age editor (not to waylay any accusations of nepotism, nahhhh… dad’s the Age’s art critic) and from friends a veritable family hagiography.
Mrs Wombat and I looked at each other and slowly and simultaneously in the TV lit gloom of the burrow said, ”What-is –this-about?”
And then decided: it was One Big, Fat Selfie! One of the largest, smug and self-satisfied “selfies” I’ve seen for a while.
But it wasn’t art. Nearly a performance piece…. but not.
Oi.. gazumped!
BTA Class Lawrence winder
BTA Class
Wombat Droppings or the low-down on Oz politics
Where to start?
The Age of the Aspirational Bogan has been with us for a week and just as Leigh Sales had indicated, everything is quiet. 
You know, like a child hiding under the blankets: if ya can't see it, it doesn't exist. Let's pretend the ice-caps aren't melting and the ozone layer hasn't a hole in it and the Barrier Reef isn't dying and that the forests are  not being plundered from existence and that we can all have a frakking good time and bugger the water table and farming.....let's pretend.
Sure, the boats haven’t stopped (seven, so far) but the ranting about them has. Scott “The Drone” Morrison has decided we don’t need to know how many boats come in any more. That way their plan can be a success and can’t be criticized. Let's Pretend... Gee, that’s really democratic, “Drone”! Another variation on “The Emperors’” Clothes?              
As Joe “Oh-What-a-Feeling” Hockey is holidaying in Bali atm (you should holiday when the economy is in crisis) perhaps they should go quiet on the tow-back-the-boats… Indonesians seemed very unimpressed with that policy. Let's Pretend.
http://theaimn.com/2013/09/23/what-happened-when-refugees-were-sent-back-to-indonesia-tony-abbotts-own-words/
here’s a summary of what Abbott said:
  • The asylum seekers should have been sent to Christmas Island.
  • To return them to Indonesia was “brutal”.
  • There would have been nothing wrong with sending them to PNG.
  • Australia needs a good relationship with Indonesia to help address this problem.
His words now imply incredible hypocrisy, beyond belief. Meanwhile, Indonesia says:
“We will reject his policy on asylum seekers and any other policy that harms the spirit of partnership and (Indonesian) sovereignty and national integrity,” Mr Natalegawa told a House or Representatives meeting on Wednesday.

The Climate Commission axed by the “Rabbott” Aspirational Bogan Liarbril Party last week has re-surfaced as a privately funded body: The Climate Council. Greg “Ozone-Hole” Hunt allegedly Environment Minister said: “See, we’re right, the taxpayer didn’t need to fund this body” and "That's the great thing about democracy, it's a free country and it proves our point …" he said. Let's Pretend. Aspirational Bogans with children in Private schools and extensive Private Health insurance, beware. That sort of logic might impinge on your lifestyle!
Malcolm “von Ribbentrop” Turnbull has told the directors for the NBN to bugger-off. He want’s Ziggy “235U” Switkowski to run the show. But it’s not jobs for the boys! “Von Ribbentrop” said, the party's election win gave it  Murdoch’s Mandate to go ahead with its silly and less than exciting NBN plan which will advantage the media interests of “The Ugly American” and cost the public more in the long run. 
So, there!   Let's Pretend.
     Watch this space: this is going to be a fine shambles.
In a move I think deliberately calculated to raise hackles, "Rabbott" decided that he will be the Minister for Women's Affairs! A single -finger salute to all who said he was a misogynist.
Let's Pretend...we've got a "grown-up " Government. Let's Pretend.

BTA Class Lawrence winder
BTA Class

And to finish up with a piece from Brit George Monbiot   news@monbiot.com  which could well be applied to our very own “Coots–With-Queer-Ideas-from–a-Parallel-Universe”, The Institute of Public Affairs…..
“I see the “free market think-tanks” as the most useful of these groups. Their purpose, I believe, is to invest corporate lobbying with authority. ……one of these think-tanks, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has described plain packaging as “the latest ludicrous move in the unending, ceaseless, bullying war against those who choose to produce and consume tobacco”. Over the past few days, he’s been in the media repeatedly, railing against the policy. So do the IEA’s obsessions just happen to coincide with those of the cigarette firms?
The IEA refuses to say who its sponsors are and how much they pay. But as a result of persistent digging, we now know that British American Tobacco, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco International have been funding the institute – in BAT’s case since 1963. British American Tobacco has admitted that it gave the institute £20,000 last year and that it’s “planning to increase our contribution in 2013 and 2014.”
Libertarianism in the hands of these people is a racket. 
All those noble sentiments about individual liberty, limited government and economic freedom are nothing but a smokescreen, a disguised form of corporate advertising. Who-ever articulates it, it means the same thing: ideological cover for the corporations and the very rich.”    George Monbiot.
BTA Class Lawrence winder
BTA Class
Cheers Petals
Shane

PS: there's no truth in the rumour that Sophie "Pit-Bull" Mirabella is auditioning for "The Biggest Loser"!
There is truth in the rumour that Tardis State (Where-all-goes-Backward) IBAC, couldn't have laid one charge let alone the 24 Vic police have against Geoff "What's-a-Car Allowance-for" Shaw.
Pretend Premiers' (Inutilus Rusticus) breast-beating on law-and-order looks a bit tinny after this.

Let's Pretend.





Monday 16 September 2013

Finale BIFB 2013

 Finale BIFB 2013
Episode 6

G’day Petals,
the 2013 Ballarat Foto Biennale finished last night with a small gathering of volunteers and some of the fringe photographers.


shane wombat bfib '13 finale
Shane at finale w/DD

I managed to see some 62 of the “fringe”, missing around 1/3.
Generally I tried to process through a single circuit to both limit excessive travel and see as many exhibits as possible. The ones missed were due either to the venues being closed on the particular day of visit or in some cases the venues own layout, particularly in the case of multiple shows, where deciding what was fringe and what was store product took too much time given its constraints.
Venues missed for whatever reason, if in outlying areas, were not returned to and others were just accidentally missed.
Clusters of venues and venues with multiple shows stood a greater chance of being seen and those within the confines or near “Core” shows also were advantaged as were the 9-5, 7 day a week venues.
How long I stayed in a venue obviously depended on my response to the work and if in a café, whether it was interesting enough to balance the irritation to the patrons seated underneath and if thework could actually be seen amongst the visual and physical clutter of the shop.

speeches BIFB Finale '13
speeches BIFB Finale '13

Presentation and labelling generally was better than the 2011 Biennale Fringe and print quality mostly very good. (I’ve already admitted the embarrassment of having to re-print and re-mount four of my works mid show because of delamination).
I still wonder whether some of the “fringe” exhibitors seriously consider how their works fit their chosen venue, be it regarding content, scale, framing or number of works.
As “Fringe’ contributors really have a more difficult road-to-hoe: with their venues mostly not designed for exhibition purposes they need to apply finer consideration and judgement to these criteria to allow their work to speak.
It seemed to me here that few “Fringe” people actually saw their work as a total aesthetic construct.  Big is not always better;  small inappropriate in some cases too; mid sized can be neither here nor there and quantity, which worked brilliantly in some cases, bombed in others… criticisms which can be levelled at some of the “Core”, too.
With those criteria in mind, from 2/3 of the “Fringe” visited what was my  “Pick-of-the-Litter”?
The works that have “stuck” with me were produced by:

David Simmonds / Sandra Curtis, Eric Algra, Jeff Moorfoot, Julie Hough, Simon Peterswald, Senga Peckam, James Niven, Darron Davies, Danica McLean, Sandra Elms, Anthony Baxter and finally Alison Spence / Denise Regan.
Julie Hough and Jeff Moorfoot


The Program Booklet: visually simpler than 2011 but for some reason the exhibitors names were now listed alphabetically which meant constantly scrabbling back and forth as you went in a linear, numerical walk around the venues.
Dyslexic.
Maps were functional but the “Observatory” probably needs its own page/ GPS/App/footprints on the footpath/ plume of coloured smoke.
Most visitors I spoke to were far less critical of the program than in 2011.
It will be interesting to see what Ballarat Foto Biennale 2015 brings…. I’ve started on mine already.

BIFB Finale 13
BIFB Finale 13


Wombat Droppings or Politics in Oz



The quiet is the lie.
Trust us!


Four asylum seeker boats have arrived since “Rabbott’s” erection to the prime miniature-ship.
Where’s the press hysteria of the past three years?
Trust us!
The past mistress of the caustic comment, Sophie”Pit-Bull” Mirabella is proving that the love you give out comes back.



And the Liarbril candidate for McEwan, Donna Petrovich is probably wishing she had attended more public meetings.
“Rabbott” has been seen in set piece “directorial conversations” which should be filmed in black and white as they look positively like archaic propaganda from the cold war.
Message from all this: Everything-is-under-control-nothing-is-happening-you-can-all-relax.
(Repeat three times, before food)
Trust us!
Much like “Rabbott’ slogan-speak and repetition of old Liarbril “comfort-words”, it might be worth him noting that you can’t step into the same stream twice.
Trust us!
“Pit-Bull’s” awful result might be a warning shot to the likes of Steve ”Slash-her-Throat” Ciobo and Cory “Beastiality” Bernardi but they’re from the Far North and are different.
Also in the Far North, Qld’s attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie, banned the Labor party from accepting campaign donations from unions, so apart from how to vote cards, candidates Lucy Stanton and Bill Gissane in Fisher had no financial help.
Mal Brough”s war chest (He who illegally accessed Peter Slipper’s private notes in “Ashby-Gate”) on the other hand was estimated at $400,000.
Something rough about the edges here?
Trust us!

Which makes me think of that  “Nice Mr Turnbull”.
He’s beginning to remind me of Joachim von Ribbentrop, a pretend aristo who thought he could rise above the thugs surrounding him in 30's - 40's Germany.
 
Au Pair
 
Ribbentrop's on the left.

Cheers Possums,
Shane


sitedfigures

The Australian Index

Wednesday 11 September 2013

...to see the Fat Lady Sing.

 

and the Ballarat Foto Biennale Fringe ‘13
Episode 5

G’day Possums,
being “The Age of Selfies” and not wanting to be left out I just had to grab an opportunity on election day with Labour MLA for Ballarat East, Geoff Howard.
Geoff Howard MLA
selfie with Geoff Howard
We were at the polling booth handing out how-to-vote cards … an exercise remarkable for experiencing the variety of responses an electorate can display and if you think you know your area’s demographic: stand around a polling booth for a couple of hours. It’s is a perfect way to be informed that you probably don’t
It was a day for old friends, being joined by an one at the booth and later travelling up to Ballarat to meet two others to wander around the 2013 Ballarat Foto Biennale.
We had arranged to meet at my exhibition venue, “The Bean Barn” where we also met Barbara Smith, photographer from Canberra and happily received compliments from a couple of other visitors looking at the show.  

Shane and a shy BS at Bean Barn
One of the really good things about the Foto Biennale are these chance meetings and conversations.  Points of view, experiences and ideas are exchanged and you understand better how the event has affected people and how they see “Photography” and its contemporary development.
Good too, was the opportunity to re-view various exhibitions and debate the merits of works seen before and at times re-evaluate your impressions in the light of another’s vision and opinion.

young lust in Ballarat

I’ve also been able to shoot some more ballet stuff but will visit the biennale ‘13 again to wrap up in a few more days.....

Ballet Class
Ballet Class

Ballet Class
Ballet Class


Ballet Class
Ballet Class

Ballet Class
Ballet Class


Wombat Droppings or Politics in OZ

Well as the title says ….The Fat Lady has Sung… and 

the Age of the Aspirational Bogan has arrived

“Rabbott” has won his “Murdoch” mandate and duly paraded his daughters as Vestal-Virgin “eye-candy” on the altar of his ambition.
Trust us!
Kev 07+6 oddly looked jolly happy and seemed in defeat to have taken a cue from the Rob Oakeshott method of 20-minute-speech-making.
 The Labor vote was at its lowest in 100 years: the swing throughout the nation was uneven and the rout wasn’t nearly as bad as the right-wing trolls advertised for. 
The funniest result is that Liarbril, Opposition Minister for Manufacturing, Sophie “Pit-Bull” Mirabella looks like she’ll lose her seat to a conservative independent. With a swing of nearly 10% this time, “Pit-Bull” has managed to take the very safe Liarbril seat of Indi to a marginal one in her twelve years as member.

Well done, Sophie!

  

Consistent (?) with the “truth” of his relentless messaging that everything was in crisis “Rabbott” is now saying “…we’ll be methodical, thoughtful, measured and careful”…. as we plod our way back to the 1950’s.
Trust us!

The first act this “Government-for-grown-ups” enacted was a pay-back: a petty, vindictive and malicious revocation of ex Labor premier Steve Bracks’ appointment as Consul-General to New York..... a few days before he and family were to leave.
Trust us!
Incoming Attorney-General, George “Loose-Lips” Brandis opined that Labor had given Mr Bracks the job as ''a gift''. ''Mr Bracks has no obvious credentials for that job.” He said.
Trust us!

Watch this man… when his slit of a mouth opens.. unvarnished truth is rarely spilt.
Trust us!

The Stalinist Revisionist history method is well under way by the Liarbrils but it would seem that the “social” media is not going to allow them the luxury of constant uncontested lying any more.
The most Jurassic candidate to win a seat, Clive “Titanic2” Palmer (leader of PUPS) has with millions spent, yapped his way into parliament with two senate candidates as well. Disagreeing on policy already,"Titanic 2" and his pups will re-define notions of conflict of interest, pork-barrelling and parliamentary privilege, probably all at once. We may find we've been sold a pup!
Trust us!
Leigh Sales, ABC “7:30” squawked something like “… a triumphant return of the Liarbrils…”
I didn’t see if there was a puddle under her desk.

Worse was to come with her "... as a settled order descends on Canberra compared to the chaos of the last three years...." or some-such partisan non-news,  she conveniently misleads the audience by ignoring the disruptively negative nonsense served up by Liarbril minions during those three years that was the cause of the chaos.
A cardbord cut-out of a journalist.
I hope Sabra Lane is a better journo… but perhaps she’s not… here’s a response to a blog on the subject
 “I've given up on listening to interviews with Sabre Lane, her disrespect is only outdone by her lack of knowledge of the subject matter.  In fact most political journalists appear to base their questions on articles in the “Australian” or liberal "fact" sheets.
Cheers petals,
Welcome to The Age of The Aspirational Bogan.

Shane

 
http://www.sitedfigures.com.au

The Australian Index

Thursday 5 September 2013

..to the BIFB fringe again


 

BIFB Fringe’13  
Episode 4

Shane Wombat BIFB'13 fringe
G’day Possums,
A short one this time; only four shows.
Venue 14 The Unicorn Hotel is showing The Illuminers’ “Illuminated Environments” a collective of four with some interesting imagery and approaches.
Sharon Greenaway BIFB'13 fringe
 
Christine Sayer (seen before) BIFB'13
Kate Dixon BIFB '13 fringe
Unicorn Hotel BIFB'13
Cafe’ de Oro, Venue 18 hosts some works "Sri Lanka" by Nic Bauer.
Nic Bauer BIFB '13 fringe
Carmel Riordan’s “Symphony for a city “ is at CafĂ© Europa, Venue23.
A somewhat mixed collection, the B/W’s having quite a 30’s European feel and others particularly the small collages printed on canvas, I thought, less successful as the texture of the canvas tended to break up the detail and meaning…
Carmel Riordan BIFB '13 Fringe
David Simmonds' and Sandra Curtis’ works at St Patrick’s Hall  (entrance is at right/ front), Venue “H” (there’s a core show there, too) is the pick of this fringe bunch.
Both are beautifully presented sets of work: personal and meditative, drawing you in to investigate further. I think the venue worked a treat for these works, too.
David Simmonds BIFB '13 Fringe
Sandra Curtis BIFB'13 fringe
St Pats Hall, BIFB '13 fringe



And in passing...

  Dean Cannon, from Kangaroo Island at
 Europa Cafe'........ good bloke ..really enjoyng Ballarat and the Biennale






....... and Armani meets Ballarat


 






















Wombat Droppings or Politics in Oz.


Well, the pundits say it’s all over bar the shouting and given that some 10% of the population have voted early, that common wisdom says that the “swing” is on if people are out early to vote: the pundits are probably correct.
“Rabbott” will release all his policies and costings today… two days before the vote date and a day before the media “Black-out”.
Honest and trustworthy? 
No.
Scott ”The Drone” Morrison has announced that they will not be allowing details of their “Turn-Back-the-Boats” operational cruelty to be reported in the public domain.
Honest and trustworthy?
No.
Liarbril Candidate (allegedly with sex-appeal) Fiona Scott has conflated the number of asylum seekers entering the country with the traffic problems in the electorate she’s contesting
Honest and trustworthy?
No.
This article puts it all succinctly…

Reserve Bank, Woolworth’s and Fairfax Press Board member, Roger Corbett gets stuck into Kev 07 +6 in interview t’other night.
Failing to mention he’s a member of the Liarbril party is one thing but espousing IPA insanities by suggesting that the ABC be more limited in what it does is another.
Because, as he said, ABC is competing with other profit driven media companies?
Hmmm… let’s hear it for competition …ooohh, hang-on, it’s a Woolworth’s style competition he wants!
I think Corbett's abilities in directing a media company are there for all to see with the current financial state that Fairfax press is in and how it has lost out to more innovative products by being conservatively ignorant of technological change. (ooh, my goodness, shades of Labor's NBN)
He later attended a $500.00 a head fundraiser for the Liarbrils.
Beware... the Huns are at the Gate.....

... difficult not to do in some electorates.

The "right" will blather on and on and on that “Rabbott” has-a-mandate to do all things; most that were perhaps only mentioned but never debated…like the internet filter.... oops.. rescind that ... aaahh, that's not a policy .... uummm !
Makes you wonder if this rabble could run a chook raffle in a pub!
Why was Joe "Oh-What-a-Feeling" Hockey sweating so much when putting his figure to the press? Knows they're shonky perhaps?

Will "Rabbott" have a Mandate?
Yes....sort of...a Murdoch of a mandate.
One as legitimate and as admissible in court as is the confession extracted under duress!

The Apotheosis of the Aspirational Bogan is nearly here.

See-ya Sports,
Shane

The Australian Index

Monday 2 September 2013

Ballarat Foto Biennale 2013

Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2013, 
Fringe, Episode 3


Shane with  BIFB '13 map
Shane with  BIFB '13 map


G’day possums,
We’ve done our third stint wandering around the streets of Ballarat to look at another fifteen exhibitions. 
Interestingly three of them were using photography more as a convenient method to display a concept than for the medium itself and there were three group shows, of which two, held very good work. Also interesting are the conversations you have during the wander: either about the venues, the works or the techniques and people seem generally inspired by the variety of approaches and idiosyncratic manner of display in this 2013 fringe exhibition.

James Niven’s “Observations in Abstract” at Venue 51, Infocus Photography
Stark, bold and elegantly painterly
James Niven BIFB'13
James Niven

Rob Clark, Infocus Photography BIFB'13
Rob Clark, Infocus Photography
Venue 22,  Radmac Office Choice was showing Mac Lawrence “SeeweeYoung” and Effie Vouyoukas “Environmental Portraits”.
I liked E.V.’s device of linking the different settings with the projector screen and its function of isolating the subjects from the background.

Radmac BIFB'13
Radmac BIFB'13
Effie Vouyoukas, bifb fringe13
Effie Vouyoukas, bifb fringe13
A bit further up the road The Mallow Hotel, Venue 61 is showing an extensive exhibition, extensively titled: “From Kryal Castle to Bluesfest-a Musical Journey “ by Peter Barlow.
If you like your Rock and Roll, this one’s for you…. Plenty of performance sweat, grimaces and the effusion of energy under strobes and gels: you could almost hear it. Good venue for it, too. I thought the stuff upstairs could have done with a bit of an edit but it did allow a narrative to develop.

Peter Barlow, bifb fringe13
Peter Barlow, bifb fringe13
Venue 61, Mallow Hotel, bifb fringe13
Venue 61, Mallow Hotel, bifb fringe13
Six minutes walk further south to Venue 62, Red Brick Gallery and Kirsty Macafee’s “Playing the Hand”, a years worth of a weekly diary where the photography is secondary to the idea but it’s a lot of fun to view and puzzle over.

kirsty Macafee bifb fringe13
Kirsty Macafee, detail, bifb fringe13

 
Steph from red brick gallery bifb fringe13
Steph from red brick gallery bifb fringe13
Wendy Bolger’s “Pleasure Framed” was next at Creative Framing, Venue 40: another conceptual exhibition where although the photography is not prime, it’s use as an agent of perception, is. 
I’m not at all sure I saw all the ideas from the “Art-Wank” expressed in the program but the potency’s of perspective and perception were well expressed and could have been formidable with more considered photographic techniques.
Wendy Bolger
Wendy bolger, creative framing, bifb fringe13
Wendy Bolger, creative framing, bifb fringe13
Backspace, Venue 6, shows a curated collection from “Gallery 1140”… very good stuff.
1140 gallery, bifb fringe13
1140 gallery, bifb fringe13
Ric Wallis
Ric Wallis
The Melbourne Silver Mine Group’s “Urban” was a lot more colourful than their Fringe 2011 but just as appealing:  look particularly for Leah Williams’ (Burke Crossing), Tim James’ (Untitled) and  Malcolm G’s (Exit), at Sebastiaans, Venue 4. 

Sebastiaans, bifb fringe13
Sebastiaans, bifb fringe13
Leah Williams, bifb fringe13
Leah Williams, bifb fringe13
And in the same spot, Ken Myers’ “Rusty Cars”… a HDR cornucopia of texture and colour.
 
Ken Myers, bifb fringe13
Ken Myers, bifb fringe13
“What are your Tribes ?” is at Iron Flamingo. Allister Crawford’s work at Venue 41 was a collection of people, places, packs, mobs, well… tribes. Again, the photography is not paramount, the idea is…. And this one got me in.
Venue 41,Iron Flamingo, bifb fringe13
Venue 41,Iron Flamingo, bifb fringe13
 
Allister Crawford, bifb fringe13
Allister Crawford, bifb fringe13


Mitchell Harris Wine Bar, Venue 36 is showing Craig Holloway’s “Abandoned Places”: images  expressing depths of loneliness and isolation of a particularly rural nature.

Craig Holloway, bifb fringe13
Craig Holloway, bifb fringe13
I finished the amble by back-tracking South to Craigs Royal Hotel and the Ansonia:  Venues17and 16 respectively, were “Non Mi Piace Versace”, Tamaryn Goodyear and then Julie Hough with “A Fair Trade”, Christine Sayer “Castlemaine Floods” and Senga Peckham and "A Room of my Own"

Tamaryn Goodyear, bifb fringe13
Tamaryn Goodyear, bifb fringe13

There is much good stuff to be seen in both venues, particularly Julie Hough’s and her obvious empathy and engagement with her subjects and their stories.
 
Chris Sayer BIFB '13
Chris Sayer BIFB '13
Julie Hough BIFB '13
Julie Hough BIFB '13

Senga Peckham's have a subtle intensity and some innovative mounting options


Senga Peckham  BIFB '13 fringe
Senga Peckham  BIFB '13 fringe, magnet mount
Senga Peckham 2 BIFB '13 fringe
Senga Peckham  BIFB '13 fringe
Cribbage Players, Mallow Hotel

  ....and in passing, 

Cribbage players at Mallow Hotel and 

 Pamela and Vaughan

   










   Pamela and Vaughan at Sebastiaans...

 

 


 

 

 

 

  and Rick Broadway in his new Gallery....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wombat Droppings or politics in OZ


Next Saturday night, September 7 we will see the Apotheosis of the Aspirational Bogan.
Preyed upon for their credulity, dis-interest in political discourse, horror of anything ”thoughtful” and with a hip-pocket selfishness promoted by a conservative press, politicians and the IPA, Bogan Australia will not notice in their cheering of Labor being trounced in the election that what is going to govern them is as much a rabble as they are and with as little plan for a genuine future for all Australians as they have.
look at the date of publication...
They will not have noticed “Rabbott’s Rabble” dis-agreeing at every turn: with Joe ”Oh-What-a-Feeling” Hockey saying one thing and Rabbott” another; the bitching between Warren "Squeaky” Truss and the WA Liarbrils, the flips in policy “…oh, we don’t need to spend $1,500,000,00 on Drones any more…” Scott “The Drone” Morrison will have to play another video game. “… and we’ll keep the Collin’s Class Sub that I said I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole…” “ I’m going to Jakarta in the first week… errrr.. no I’m not ..I’d better wait for an invite”… 
The complete inability to answer or discuss any policy…” I don’t accept that…I don’t agree…no, no,no, I don’t believe that… I just don’t accept that …..”
The misogynist comments that get a laugh down the pub …but if “Rabbott” had’ve said to a 15 YO schoolgirl Netballer in Melton within her father’s earshot in a sneering aside “… contact sports are good…” or some-such, he may have copped a knuckle sandwich from the parent …but the parent didn’t hear it as it wasn’t reported as it should have been.
And let’s not talk about buying Indonesian fishing Boats… there are only 750,000 of them

their REAL track record

 Joe “Oh-What-a-Feeling” Hockey telling reporters to “…get over it” when asked why they will not release costing details on their policies… and  “… if people are that interested, get a calculator and crunch the numbers yourself! “
Honesty or Arrogance?
Bullshit arrogance … and he’s to be next Treasurer!
So beware how he’ll talk and act with a mandate.
And the Bogan’s seem not to care that for the three years in which to build a coherent policy the opposition  has only released a grab-bag of “me-too-ism”, middle-class-welfare, re-cycled thought bubbles from polling and the IPA, revisionist history and plain lies from “Phone-Hacker” Murdoch’s minions that are not costed validly and are fuelled by the most violent and hateful commentary ever seen in this country.


 The Bogan’s like being talked to like children …it comforts them… “Another big, bad tax”, “we’ll stop the boats”,  “we’re better than them”, On Syria: “… it’s baddies vs baddies”.
Now, that’s not going to interrupt the Bogan's thought processes too much when they’re all sitting down to fast-finger-food dinners in their separate rooms watching their separate pap.
The Bogans believe “Rabbott” when he says “… our government will be more adult than the one we’ve got”.. but don’t understand how asinine he was when he and Pyne “the Whyne” tried to run out of Parliament like absconding school boys rather than vote on a motion… or favour quite Fascist ideas like police reporting of asylum seeker lodgings and check-ups and denying them legal assistance…because they’re “illegals”.
No, they’re not illegals... they are refugees!
Or the "Green Corps" which sounds suspiciously like The “Service du Travail Obligatoire”. 
Another of Abetz’s ideas? His family did have form in Vichy France.

Oh well let's wait and see on the 7th for a new chapter of national shame.    
Cheers Petals,
Shane


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