Like a Moth

I took these photos in the city a while back, it must have been summer as I spent most of it traipsing through the city armed with my camera, notebook and pen. I spent most of the time trying to sneak past construction workers to take shots of partially constructed buildings and rubble. Luckily for me the one time I got caught, I managed to sweet talk the lovely guy into letting me access the restricted area to get a few close-up shots.

These photos were taken in some alleyway near or around Chinatown. There was this vacant back door in a disused corner of a building with the door slightly ajar. The Nancy Drew in me couldn't walk past without having a closer look, so I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Inside was this weird epileptic light that kept flickering on and off, accompanied by a hynotic buzzing sound. I managed to get a few photos but wished I'd taken more, especially of the circular light which had a soft nightmarish quality to it.

Young Me Now Me

I've been loving this link 'Young Me Now Me', that Ads sent me. It's a photo album of pictures taken of people when they were younger and the exact photo recreated in the present time.

Gallery 3

Sometimes, I wish I was half girl / half building so I can file and store away all of my experiences, neatly ordered into categories such as 'do not open unless under extreme circumstances', 'all the things I wished I'd said but didn't', 'clever things to say in awkward situations'.

Behind The Words

Gallery 2

I've been thinking lately about memories and how they slowly fade over time or get distorted. If I think too long about it, this pervading sense of sadness envelops me, like the horn concerto No.2 in D by Haydn. I'm slowly forgetting childhood memories and even things that happened a few years ago. My dad used to like recording sounds on his micro-cassette recorder and we recently found a tiny micro-cassette tape that contained a recording of my sisters and I talking and playing, in that unself-conscious manner that little children have. My dad taped it without us knowing and for that reason, it feels more intimate and special. It feels like I've been able to go back in time and eavesdrop. The tape comes alive with laugher, giggling and these tiny voices that belonged to another time but are yet still very much in this time but only the voices have matured. For a brief moment, I feel like I've stolen a piece of time and this to me is the best present I will ever receive. It's the link to my past and family. My mum and dad still sound the same as they do on tape but eventually everyone dies and all that are left are memories, images and sounds but even these fade...

Untitled

Float

Gallery 1

I've recently taken to creating some of my original artwork onto canvas which seems so much nicer than having them sit idly in a folder on my computer somewhere. I find working with paints, glue and scissors so much more fun than working on the images using Photoshop. I really enjoy the actual process of constructing something by hand (old school cutting and pasting) amidst the high-tech gadgetry of everything. The messier things get the happier I become which doesn't bode well for my clothes, most of which have paint on them which tends to happen, despite the use of an art smock/shirt.

Echoes of Home

This image differs slightly to the original image saved on my computer. I fractured it as it seemed to suit the piece more. The original image was a single image with no breaks which seemed almost restrained but I think I prefer it better like this. I was having trouble sleeping during the time I created this piece and this probably had a great deal to do with the finished product. I kept having vivid images of broken mirrors and nightmarish images of ghosts and other gory/spooky scenes which is great fodder for my art work but not so great for my waking life. I'm still not sleeping well, seemingly this year is already proving to be the record year for the number of nightmares that I've had in my entire life (at last count, I'm averaging two to three a week which can't be normal) but I guess the plus side is that I'll never be short of ideas.

Along Came Tourists

It's difficult to see in this image but I painted big blue swirls in the background which gave it a different texture, almost cloud-like but still subtle. I made this image by mistake. It's actually a combination of two images, one image is of the seaport in Marseille that I took whilst travelling last year and the other image is one I did just by cutting up some pictures from random magazines. I accidentally copied the two on the photocopier and the end result was a mismash of both, which I grew to like. I'm still undecided about this piece as a whole. I don't know whether the image works quite as well in black and white as opposed to colour. I guess it's fun just experimenting sometimes.

Cardboard Fever

I never realised how beautiful the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton was until this weekend. It was the venue of choice for the Design Made Trade exhibition and was converted over the 4 days into a cardboard maze that contained lots of cool furniture, sculpture, bags, jewellery etc by some of Melbourne's leading designers.

I didn't realise how cold it would be in the building, despite layering up I could still barely move my arms and had to stand under the globe lights to keep warm. If only I had brought a portable heater or 'borrowed' one from the stand a few doors down.

Sunday was a lot nicer if only because the KEEC stand was close to the heaters. I had purposely left my wallet, along with the credit card at home so that I wouldn't be tempted to go on a shopping spree which despite my best efforts didn't work out as I still went shopping, kindly assisted with a loan from Ben.

There were a few people who wandered up that had come from the Design Market down at the carpark at Fed Square. One guy said that there were too many people at the Design Market, he had to jostle to get through the wall of people. I laughed when he compared it to being at a really seedy nightclub.

There were quite a few people from interstate and overseas who came specially for Design Made Trade which was very encouraging, especially when they raved about how great Melbourne design was. I tried to send as many people as I could over to North Melbourne for the Projekta 57 exhibition which hopefully will get a few more people attending.

MIDF 2008

In recent developments, Nick, Ben and I are mentioned on the Melbourne International Design Festival website, if you scroll down and keep scrolling further down, you'll find more information on the some of the things we've been working on for Projekta 57. There's also a nice picture of one of the coat hanger/racks that Nick and I collaborated on a while ago (which Nick has advised me has just been sold, so sadly that particular piece is no longer available for purchase from Design Loop).





Here's what the coat hangers/racks look like in operation:

All things Design...

This week is going to be crazy busy but fun! I've been working on a cabinet as part of 'Projekta 57' that Nick from Design Loop has kindly invited me to take part in (which I've taken photos of with my awesome 3.2 megapixal camera). Nick's project, 'Ebay on the Freeway' is an exhibition of rubbish reborn and promises to be quite inspired. I will be one of the 'artists' on site on Saturday to talk about the exhibition, so if you're interested, please come by and have a look around or just drop by for a chat.

Ben of Bamakko fame is also part of 'Projekta 57' and he will have designers on site to talk about all things design-related which will also be interesting and plus Bamakko is only across the road from Design Loop, which is very convenient indeed.

Thanks again to Ben for graciously giving up his time to pose for the shots and allowing me to use his image on the cabinet. I think Daniel Day Lewis would have been proud of Ben's acting skills. He's proving to be quite the method actor ;) Also, thanks to Ads for removing the many cabinet handles in order for me to be paint them, without Ads - the finished product wouldn't look half as good.

Also, Design Made Trade is on this weekend as well which I will also be involved in. I will be working at Nick's space on Saturday and Ben's space on Sunday, so that will just about cap off my week.

Yay!

So finally my first post, which was coincidentally motivated by a training session at work about career advancement, performance review and goal setting. While I sat there pondering the topics of the powerpoint presentation and the relevance to my job, I came to the realisation that yes! this was an informative training session if only that it provided the inspiration for me to actually get a website together for all the arty things I've worked on recently. So, a big thank you to HR for inadvertantly providing me with the impetus to actually get my act together and work on goal setting, performance review and opportunities for development...ahhh, if only I could get this motivation to drive me in other aspects of my life, such as housework. Also, a big thank you to Ben of Bamakko for suggesting that I set up a blog.