Matter of perspective
My mother is fond of saying that looking at exhibition allows one to see the world through someone else's eyes.
In that way I think art builds empathy.
There's a similar potential in travel, but it seems as though many people copy a product or buy one.
Here Proust reminds me of an observation in Alan Alda's book, where he talked about learning how to engage in conversation.
His conclusion was that one doesn't wait for an opportunity to speak, but has to be willing to be changed by what they hear.
Cooking with gas
For me there have been experiences where it's less about gaslighting and more about my whim of steel, after I feel strongly about something until I find an alternate perspective and can see a broader view.
That process is an internal one and not easily seen by those who would hold me to a previously held position.
Increasingly I'm learning to bite my tongue until that arrives, but it's taken years to give myself time to consider opinions.
Having kids to reflect those experiences has been a useful part of this learning.
Monoculture myth
One of the Australian political debates in recent weeks has been around returning the country to a monoculture
This has been of of those pointed remarks that stupidly aims at the country’s longterm view of being multicultural because, after all, we’re largely a population of migrants.
In some ways the Australian fear of being swamped by a foreign culture is a response to our unease about the history of the nation, which formed from colonisation of the oldest continuous human cultures in the First Nations.
It’s a potent raw nerve for conservative politicians and has been exploited in fears of “boat people” and most recently been espoused as the desire for a monoculture that was expressed by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Given my parents were both born overseas, you can likely guess where I sit in this debate.
Wherever you look in the history of Australia (or the continent before that name) it was never a monoculture -- even the centuries of rivalry between the Angilican and Catholic churches points to the conflict between English and Irish migrants from the day soldiers escorted convicts onto a sandy beach.
However, I was watching a Rick Beato discussion just now and realised the notion of a monoculture is another of the “Golden Age” type arguments that somehow propose returning to an earlier time that will never be within reach because technology now prevents it.
There’s this thing that we call the monoculture that were, where hit songs back in 2005 if you had a hit song, everyone knew the song.
It was played at the stores, grocery stores, everywhere you went. It was on the radio, right?
And then the age of algorithms started happening, right?
…And there’s very little shared music because of that.
Magic Mountain's Mr Magic
Leeton's Mr Magic seems worthy of a mention
I remember he entertained a birthday party for one of my kids soon after we arrived in town.
A
few years later and David Boyd was the sole remaining member of a
writing group and asked Western Riverina Arts to help with a
workshop to acquit funds.
There weren't many people at the event, aside from the Regional Arts Development Officer and myself.
David
was a bit critical about the content and the outcome, which I think
might explain how it was he ended up being the sole remaining member.
Later in my role as Communications Officer at WRA I wrote about Mr Magic's workshops, which were a wonderful initiative that aimed to help neurodivergent kids.
The
book details his childhood experiences of WWII and was interesting for
the somewhat dubious deals he made to support himself during those
chaotic years.
I'd need to re-read it to remind myself of the details, but the blurb on the back cover notes:
His childhood experiences gave him the ability of spotting a good business deal when one presented itself. Or to use his favorite [sic] term "A great little earner". But unlike his child hood earners, [sic?] these would all be legit.
After I read the book I
pestered David when I saw him with his dog at the local park, hoping
he'd let me proofread the second volume detailing his life after moving
to Australia.
Another funny detail to share is
that his home used to have a sign out front saying "The Boyd Nest" and
you couldn't help but read it with his English accent!
Lexical gaps
English is such a weird mash of languages that I expect some of the gaps are explained by their origins.
Giant duck?
Went for a walk at Narrandera's wetland this morning
I guess it must be a wood duck!
Now Stop
I was inspired by the idea the signage outside the Leeton Rice Mill could be a creative prompt.
It then surprised me to discover my idea coincided with my 500th video response to these Disquiet Junto projects.
Season of Cool
Great news to learn that our innovative international collaboration has been extended until 24 July
This project evolved from writing workshops into contemporary music composition and is illustrated with stellar photography.
The collaboration between Red Earth Ecology and Italian record label Naviar builds on previous projects led by Curator Jason Richardson, particularly the 'Crossing Streams' exhibition in Narrandera during 2017.
This group exhibition includes poems that were distributed with the Naviar Records community of musicians, where each inspired dozens of pieces of music linked via QR code, as well as sharing over a dozen other haiku contributed by writers attending the online workshops supported by Western Riverina Arts earlier this year.
Many of the
contributors are exhibiting for the first time and some, such as Wagga
Wagga's Anne Carpenter, are new to writing haiku poetry.
"I am now so aware of Haiku that my walks with my dog now consist of me
tapping my fingers against my leg or in the air as I count out the
syllables to describe the ever changing morning sky," said Ms Carpenter.
"It must look rather
funny to others out for their early morning walk. It has given me a new
perspective on what I see, hear and feel."
A
selection of poems were distributed by Naviar Records to a community of
musicians from around the world, who interpreted the words sonically.
"It was really emotional listening to the sound tracks
created in response to my haiku," said Capertee Valley-based artist Leanne Wicks.
"I knew it would be cool to participate
but there's something a whole lot deeper going on with this
cross-creative collaboration."
An album of music from the Stay Cool project is available to download at https://naviarrecords.
"It is wonderful to be part of an exhibition in Griffith," said Marco Sebastiano Alessi from Treviso in Italy.
"I
hear the city is known for its multiculturalism, so an exhibition of
Japanese-style poetry that brings together people from around the world
should be right at home."
Stay Cool will exhibit from 25 April to 24 July at Artspace at the Griffith Regional Theatre,
The
project has been supported by Griffith Regional Art Gallery, as well as
financial assistance from the NSW Government through Western Riverina
Arts and Create NSW
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