We started this morning with a train ride downtown to visit the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art. We had a private tour with a museum curator who explained some of the work and the needs of the artists. We then moved to a different floor in the museum to look at a collection of photographs by an Aboriginal photographer, Ricky Maynard. His work was really powerful and extremely moving. Combined with select quotes by the photographer, the images spoke volumes about the tragedies within Aboriginal history and their struggles for survival. I’m sure my description could never do it justice, but these photographs said more than most books could. Really powerful.
From there, we took a stroll around the harbor and past the Opera House again to visit the art gallery of New South Wales. The gallery houses every sort of art you can think of, classical to contemporary, but our focus was on a collection of Aboriginal works on exhibition. Generally, looking at Aboriginal art comes with predetermined opinions of what art is and what it should look like that cloud one’s judgment while viewing these works. Going into the exhibition with a completely blank mind and no preconceived notions of art, you realize how complex and meaningful the artwork is. For me, the patterns, symbols and imagery in this work carry a good deal more meaning than any classical landscape painting or portrait of a queen ever could.
From there, I personally went home and took a quick nap. Art makes me tired..
Then we went to a book launch for Adrian and her book, Hijacking Sustainability. It was really cool to hear her synopsis of the book and listen to the discussion about sustainability that followed. It’s nice to know that even though America isn’t doing the best job with sustainability, most people in the world do really care about the future of the planet. I’m not trying to be an eco-hippie or anything but the Earth is kinda important to me.
01.July_Wednesday
We’ll just stick Wednesday in here real quick. We just had a class discussion and met with two artists from another ARI, “Quarterbred”. They gave us more information about ARI’s and their perspective on our project and the art scene in Sydney.
P.S. The fact that it is Wednesday means it is “Wine Wednesday” and we will probably need to add to our ever-expanding collection of wine bottles. Good day.
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