....viewing nice things and the Huns at the Gates

G’day Possums,

Shane at picnic

Or should I say Flying Foxes  as we had a picnic with them at Yarra Bend 

Flying Foxes

before we tripped off across the river to Fairfield to Photonet Gallery for the opening of “Window on the World”, its 3rd annual women photographers’ exhibition celebrating International women’s Day.

Opening Photonet Gallery

 Maria Colaidis’ work to me evoked a sense of Gertrude Kasabier with its soft focus and introspective nature but M.C. did tell me that her reading and looking at Francesca Woodman was part of her inspiration.  Certainly, you can appreciate that in the poses but in isolating the figure from the viewer by the use of textured glass; and softening it and increasing its vulnerability and sense of self absorption the further the figure is from the glass adds a more “Romantic” allure than Woodman’s more observational and documentary commentary on youth and gender.  Also the “framing” setting of the prints adds a further dimension to this work.  

Maria Collaidis

Karena Goldfinch presented photogravures  (a C19th intaglio printing process) that had a Federation “Pictorialist” bent but there was another edge as evidenced in the starkness of the burnt trees in combination with the dead raptor and the, at first, “Romantic” feel of the light barely pushing through the trees but becoming more mysterious and malevolent the longer you looked. The process used certainly suited the imagery and again clearly indicates how graphic in nature photography is. 

Karena Goldfinch

Karena Goldfinch

and 

Kirsten Bowers, Zen Moments

 and 

Helga Leunig

and

Kallena Kucers Edges No V

and

Michel Cardamone, Images of Lake Eyre

and

Silvi Glattauer, Wimmera Window 2

Tech on tech....

You could put it down to personal preference but what “worked’ for me in this exhibition were those of a more graphic nature and although some of my favourite photographers are street photographers, in this show it was these that seemed overwhelmed by pieces which had something more than an observational and recording function to impart.

A show worth seeing.

“Window”, A Window on the World.

Photonet Gallery 15A Railway Place Fairfield….

www.photonetgallery.com.au

Wombat Droppings

In the Tardis State (Where all Goes Backwards) Big Bird Baillieu (Genus: Silvertail Incompetens) has been digging bigger holes for his Liarbril lackeys… he’s had another hissy-fit  with “Big Red” Gillard over education… “our’s is better than yours even though I don’t really know what yours really entails….so there…!! ”

( we in the Tardis State have any public education to talk about?)… sort of foot-stamping-stuff…. 

But now some-one has really leaked some very sloppy and recorded “merde” about the OPI/ Overland/ police union/ Peter ( I-Know-Nuffin) Ryan… I have said this lot stinks … you no longer have to sniff too hard to get the whiff… Oohhh and let’s not forget we’ve another $50,000,000.00 or so to waste on another Grand Prix.

And let’s also not invite a vituperative backlash by mentioning the “deals” of Un-planning Minister Matty (What’s-a-Green-Wedge) Guy!

Federally, Morrison’s putrid idea about reporting a group to the authorities is not unlike what the Nazi’s did after they occupied countries in 1940…. they just asked people to register for identity cards .. and then again, for more information… first a small directive to give information to the occupying authority; a trickle that becomes a torrent until you are fully integrated and so compliant with the racist machine that without realising you are the racist.

Morrison needs better to understand history and better understand the ramifications of what he is doing to this society.

And is Abetz’ support for Morrison only repeating history and angling for another family Ambassador’s posting to Paris? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPHEU3lYp0

I suppose you could call my little video “vilification” and I’d agree with you; but as Mr “Rabbott” has by his support for Morrison’s nasty vileness, sanctioned vilification as an appropriate methodology why not serve a bit back?

“Rabbott” took almost three days to “come-out” and back Morrison.  Was he reading the polls before making a decision?.

This really is a leader?

Vote Bogan…get a Liarbril!

Ships of the Damned, then and now

Already in previous posts I have said that if the Liarbrils win office in September the “Civil” society that some aspire it to be, will be submerged into the sort of vicious bogan mindsets we see evidenced above and interestingly, for the first time in Australia in 100 years we will have this crude racism (White Australia Policy) emanating from the top of our political system.

It’s going to be a very interesting country by the time it saturates the whole society and then has to find new “targets” to satisfy it’s inherent selfishness in order to maintain itself.

Cheers,

Shane

and...Takes a Bow.

G’day Possums, 

....here we are at “Take a Bow” an interim exhibition of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale and a competition themed about performance photography.

It was held in the “Minerva Hall” a refurbished Victorian space in the Mechanics Institute in Sturt St, Ballarat.
Apart from the thirty finalists there were works by Ponch Hawkes, Ben Searcy and Jeff Busby.
These were interesting in their diversity of approach. Searcy's Rock and Roll images showed an intensity of a shared experience, whilst Busby's images from the MTC had a cool, almost disinterested observational distance to them. Ponch Hawkes' Circus Oz performers, on the other hand, as with Searcy, showed "the shared experience" not as an observer but "as one" with the performers. Particularly moving were the dense images of cuts, abrasions and rope burn marks on the performers' limbs. It was the humble "seeing", which gave these a gravitas, I felt, that in the hands of many photographers, would have only yelled, ".... look at what I've seen... look at my photographs of pain"!
I liked these pictures' sensibilite'. 

Eric making the place presentable.

Aldona cleaning and hanging works

Jeff with "Courier" 'tog.... (winning work on far right.)

Opening night

Opening night was a successful event and being a photographic one, a "Bus-men's Picnic"

some of the 'togs at the opening.....and the opening..

There were good performances from an actor, a dancer and a singer which gave the photography on the walls a deal more relevance because, I think, you tended to view the performances in a more visually aware mannner which then flowed through to responses about the exhibited images.
I found the finalists stuff a mixed bunch as it ranged from some very imaginative and skillful advertising type work right through to some pretty plain, and well, ordinary work.
Which in its own way is all to the good, as it did make you think about the subject, performance... and what it is. And how and why you photograph it.

I understand that some-one was interested in buying one of my images.... must chase that up, at least, to thank them for their interest......

Performers and comp winner Patrick Boland with judge Jeff Busby

Laura and Mariah sashaying around the Minerva

And on the weekends, yours truly, presented demos of performance photography to interested audience members with assistance from Aldona, Kristen David and Eric;
and hard work from Laura, Mariah, Jana and Rachel.
We couldn't link our camera to the "big screen", so when there were some interesting questions we would perambulate around the exhibits to clarify a point apropos the demo or a technical question; which was a good way to de-construct some of the finalists works and re-inforce the the point of the exhibition.

L and M

L and M

 The stage area of the Minerva is still being renovated but it had a really nice ambience in its old peeling painted brickwork.
 Lighting was from three 500W tungsten work lamps ( one rear OP, two DS,P) which gave pretty adequate light, albiet with a lot of blur in the images and due to the high ISO's used (3200 - 4000), plenty of noise.

Jana

Rachel

 Apparently Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), performed on this stage as part of his world speaking tour in the C19th..... which might be a fun thing to replicate if there is a record of his raconteuring and with a costume dinner ( from a C19th menu ) all candelabra lit with tables of white Damask... Ballarat Society as a performance piece... a'la Crewdson
That would all have to be recorded on Full Plate in a hand tinted image.....
.....Oops, off on a tangent.

David shooting with his 17mm shift. Multiple images to be stitched later.

Nice young couple soon to be returning to her home country, America to be wed...Good Luck.

 ...and yours truly working with L and M.

Shot by Kristen Diemer

politics......
seems that "Big Bird" Baillieu (genus: Silvertail Incompetens) and his Liarbrils are "on-the-nose" in the Tardis State (Where All Goes Backwards) and are running 10% behind Labor... one can only speculate as to how much further down they will be after the fraudulent Geoff Shaws' obscene outburst and gesture in Parliament t'other day and Baillieu's pathetic "....it was inconclusive....." response.

Unplanning Minister, Matthew (What's a Green Wedge?) Guy has announced the resurrection of a Brumby Labor plan for the development to the City Square linking to Jolimont. Baillieu (ex architect) was scathing in his criticism of Brumby's plan and stopped it after $1,000,000 had been spent on feasibility, design etc....this sort of partisan-political waste is why pollies are so distrusted.

Under-age Indigenous offender ends up spending quite some time in solitary in a adult prison.... three Baillieu ministers invited to front and report to media, hide!
Another reason trust in our systems is eroded.
Postscript: There are at least three others in similar circumstances... ruling party is "mum" on it all.... 

Mary (Ya-wanna-have-a-go?) Wooldridge can only offer a imperious Canute like, "...we will not tolerate.....etc" as Tardis State Health Dept residential services continue to implode from lack of funding.

Peter (I-Know-Nuffin) Ryan, Police Minister still maintains he knows nuffin about what goes on in his office.... and with the Justice System in this State a shambles why should he?

Federal Labor's coolest head and "best-in-show" parliamentary performer, Penny Wong has been dropped to No2 on the Senate ticket in a backroom deal to promote a right-winger who would probably be rejected by the Liarbrils as being too extreme.... Labor's death-wish knows no end!
Postscript: No 1 has decided he's really a No2 and "for-the-good-of-the-party"  Wong is back-on-top ...though damage has still been done!

Tony (the Rabbit) Abbott is in a dark place ...unable to suffer more excoriating criticism of his stupid sexist asides, comments and rants, has nothing to say...he has no policies, so...nothing to say!
You get the feeling that now when the Liarbrils try to mount an attack " ...oooh look, three months in and there are no taxes from the miners.......failure, failure, failure..doom, doom, doom....", people are giggling and looking away in embarrassment at the lack of substance in their performance and demeanour.
It's almost as if a veil has been lifted and the public's awareness that governing must have substance and that honesty is again belatedly coming to the fore as a prime political quality.

Which leaves Craig T in a un-enviable place.

Which also begs the question .... who organised the Victorian Police to liaiase with their NSW rozzer colleagues and at the same time, "tip-off" the media to document the raid on Craigs place?
All when fraudster, Geoff Shaw is being shielded by Baillieu.
What's Shaw "got" on "Big Bird" apart from a one seat majority?
Hmmmmmm, sniff the Smell of the Tardis State!

...and I've just come away from the most appalling piece of propaganda on ABC 7:30 report. Chris Uhlmann and Leigh Sales delivered a researched set-piece, 15 minute "free-Kick" to the Liarbril Party via Clive (the biggest miner) Palmer. It was the most obvious unpaid propaganda that our "8 cents-a-day" has paid for since the IPA decided that climate change was a myth and that tobacco is good for you.... with standards like that, Sales and Uhlmann would be better suited to work with Alan Jones.

Cheers Petals,
Shane

...in search of Giselle

Shane in Ballet booties.....

Hello Possums,

Once, leaving a performance of the RSC and Peter Brook’s version of “A Mid- Summer Night's Dream”  I noticed the public on the street looking quite unreal;  ill-dressed,  poorly co-ordinated.  
The reality: A  450 year-old play had been more powerfully relevant and affecting in a theatre.  I remember Puck delivering his epilogue almost sotto voce, to a audience of 2500 with his legs dangling in "the pit"... there was not a sound from the 2500.
Magic.

 

Photographing a rehearsal of Giselle recently, similar thoughts struck me. How can a performance (ballet in particular) about young women who die before their wedding day, who come out of their graves and dance until first light, dancing to death any hapless male who crosses their path, have any semblance of veracity or relevance in a contemporary world?

Giselle rehearsal

I think  because Giselle’s  1841 creators followed Noverre’s dictum that libretto, music, choreography and staging all follow the same path. And probably more importantly, Giselle is a work of its time; a ballet which seems to encapsulate the Romantic artist’s notion of a spirit of and in nature, ethereal sentiment and otherworldly less known values that are perhaps based in a earlier animistic European culture. 

Historically then the Wilis are really very frightening. They act without reason. They are a force that cannot be interacted with, only submitted to.

Giselle rehearsal

There were moments during the rehearsal watching the Wilis surrounding Hilarion when you sensed his movements were only prompted by cold vapour rushing past, unseen but inexorable and malevolent.

Giselle rehearsal, Hilarion

 

Or when the Wilis in arabesque cross the stage in opposite lines, it felt as if a chill mist was slowly enveloping the area; draining all warmth and life away.

Giselle rehearsal, Hilarion

It may be a “Romantic” ballet and seem “pretty-pretty” but it’s really a horror story in the realm of Frankenstein, Dracula or even Alice in Wonderland or Coleridge’s The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner and fitting musically with Berlioz’s Fantastic Symphony and the art-works of William Blake. 

Giselle, in her wheeling arabesque, translating into movement a descriptive sense of being here and not here and the mental confusion of being not alive but not quite dead....

Poster for performance

In short a bloody good watch and good art.

Wombat Droppings

Ohh Possums, where to start?

Slippery Peter’s accuser, Ashby has withdrawn most of the charges he’s laid except two of sexual harassment. Queried as to why he didn’t seek to resolve his concerns “in-house” through normal channels he said he was too afraid of Slippery Pete and the Govt.

Which presumably, is why the press and opposition sighted his allegations before his accused did. 

Hmmmm ..I think I’ll start calling him Godwin. .....and Mr Whyne, on balance of evidence, a liar.

It strikes me too, that Mr.Rabbit should have been taught at some stage by his mentor Pell,  “…..that he among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone”.

Senator Heffernan (Liarbril) has been accused of assaulting an (allegedly) bent staffer and calling him a “poofter”. Heffie was in strife a few years back with another seemingly homophobic attack on the then Chief Justice of the High Court, Michael Kirby.

Mr Rabbit doesn’t think it’s a sacking offence…just a distraction thought up by the Labor lot to protect Thomo…

Heffie must be a bit disconcerted as it seems at the moment that eligibility for the Lliarbrils might well be having to be gay….. as well as vicious.

In the State of Tardis

I don’t know what it is in the air on the Peninsular but another State Liarbril down that way is in strife. This time it’s Geoff Shaw, accused of letting his tax-payer funded parliamentary car entitlements to be used for his hardware business on interstate trips.

Member for Frankston says he might have inadvertently let someone have the keys…..duhhh… and also posted embarrassing missives to his wife …too publicly.

What is it with these Liarbrils and their constant bad taste?

“The minister in charge of the state government's so-called ''integrity agenda'' has been caught withholding information from Parliament about his own portfolios.
Documents show Liberal (sic) frontbencher Andrew McIntosh has sat on answers to questions he was meant to provide - sometimes for months after his department briefed him.
The practice appears to be common for the Corrections Minister, who is also in charge of reforms designed to improve transparency and integrity in public office, including Ted Baillieu's long-awaited anti-corruption commission freedom-of-information reforms”.
“………opposition spokeswoman Jill Hennessy accused Mr McIntosh of not meeting the transparency test when it came to his own job. ''Minister McIntosh is the government leader of the house. It is very bad form for him not to be replying to questions on notice from the Parliament. Secondly, he is the minister for public integrity yet these documents demonstrate that he has dithered and delayed on providing information,'' she said.
The documents, which Labor obtained though freedom of information, show Ms Hennessy tried to get Mr McIntosh to answer questions about Victoria's prison system. When he did not provide the answers, she lodged a freedom of information request, only to discover he had been withholding the details. 

An office set up to advise the Premier on climate change policy has had its staff cut nearly in half since Ted Baillieu's election.
The climate change branch within the Department of Premier and Cabinet - responsible for dealing with Canberra over carbon pricing and overseeing the state's climate policies - has had its staff reduced from 14 before the 2010 election to eight, documents show”.     “The Age”

A recent study has found that Australia has the highest number of problem gamblers in the world and that 12% of total Govt. revenue is from gambling.
There are two gaming venues in the Western suburb of Braybrook that has a population of the most disadvantaged in Victoria but also combined revenues of $16,000,000 p.a. from the venues.

38 / 39 applications for more gaming machines are successful, despite local council opposition.

TAFE funding has been slashed to ribbons... the disadvataged will have less options for future work and as private schools are recieving more funding for 1/3 of the schoool population  ...go figure. Teaching staff will be lost, programs cut or diminished.... I did say these Liarbrils lack imagination....what they destroy in five minutes takes twenty years to re-build.   Time to re-define the BOGAN I think.

Professor Kuruvilla George, who was Victoria's deputy chief psychiatrist (former Christian missionary) a member of a doctors group known as “Doctors for the Family” made a submission to Senate inquiry declaring opposition to gay marriage stating that gays had unhealthier children than "straight" parents. He was also on the Equal Opportunity Commission  …go figure… equal what?

Deputy Premier Peter (Ronnie) Ryan (also Police Minister) said he saw no problems with George’s statements as they were only personal statements…. Really, Pete?

Police this week ordered private vehicles to be used as road blocks to stop a speeding driver on a freeway. Crash happened, many cars damaged. Fortunately no injuries to public (one man who's car was hit was in it with partner and children)… go figure what sort of mind-set had occasioned that little piece of tactical brilliance… perhaps the same sort as a Police Minister who seems not to know the difference between public office and private views.

Cheers, Petals