After calamity ... may we be strong.

 

Maori rebel flag: Aotearoa

Ralph Hotere

Cruciform II Ralph Hotere - from Human Rights series

Colin McCahon

Tīkoki ana te waka o Aoraki!
Ko Rūaumoko e ngunguru nei!
He parekura! He parekura! He parekura e!

Ko te motu whānui tonu kua pani.
Kei te hunga kua riro ki te pō, moe mai rā.
Kei ngā makorea, he aha rā he kōrero mō koutou?

Ko te Atua hei whakawhirinakitanga atu mō koutou
hei aupehi i te mamae, ā ngākau, ā wairua.
Kia piki te ora, piki te kaha ki a koutou katoa.

The canoe of Aoraki rocks!
It is Rūaumoko, earth shaker, rumbling!
Causing great calamity! 

The nation mourns.
To those who’ve breathed their last breath,
Rest in peace.

To the survivors, what words can we possibly say?
Let the Creator be your support in this time of pain.
Be strong, get well soon.

"Te Papa expresses its sympathy for the people of Christchurch" is the title of a post I found this morning on the blog of the Te Papa Museum in Wellington , NZ's capital city. The Maori culture is wonderfully represented in this excellent museum... I'm adding this as well....

In the Wellington Foyer, Level 2 of the Museum there is now a place for staff and members of the public to express their condolences. On display is a small boulder of pounamu, symbolising aroha – love and support – for the earthquake victims, their families and friends. It has a tangible connection with the South Island – Te Wai Pounamu – as it was sourced from the Arahura River, Westland. This variety of pounamu is known as kawakawa – as are the leaves of mourning placed on the case in which it sits.

If you would like to help with the Christchurch Quake Appeal, you can do so through the Red Cross, Mayoral Fund and Salvation Army to name a few. There is also a donations box at Te Papa. All donations will be passed on to the emergency services.

A Museum publication

Alembic (The sea) -Ross James

Lava field - Grant Keith

South Westland - Russell Clark

Pam Debenham 1984

Richard Kileen 

All images above form the Te Papa online collections. Below images form Christchurch Art Gallery.

Doris Lusk - Yachts on Littleton Harbour

Doris Lusk - Canterbury Plains from Cashmere Hills

Its always fascinating to view work that comes from a particular region... despite the universality of ideas, medium and forms of art there is much to be said for pouring over the collected works coming from a particular part of the world ... it can offer another layer of experience that can be incredibly useful for gleaning insight into a place and its people.


The artist below, Ray Crooke, painted memorable works from the islands of northern Queensland and the Pacific. After viewing his work a certain yearning to visit comes over me. I found an interesting Qld State Library reference to his work here. I really hope to get to Cairns and the north this year ... the recent cyclone has left many with an incredible task ahead of them. To anyone who's trying to rebuild my thoughts go out to you... wherever you may be!

Ray Crooke

Ray Crooke - Island song

Ray Crooke

Before I head off I want to mention this astonishingly watchable film I saw with friends last night. The title of this post - "After calamity... may we be strong" - is fitting.  INSIDE JOB offers up a  brilliantly constructed analysis on what brought us to our knees globally in the Global Financial Crisis ... and poignantly makes links to the most vulnerable in this story of global consequence ...those who suffered loss of homes, livelihoods, opportunities, accees to education... the homeless and impoverished ... and for what... the greed of a few and the benefit of the top 1%.  I thought this film might be arduous... it was actually compelling and a must see... and this morning I read that the future of food is being gambled on in the same way the sub-prime housing market was. I'm just getting my head around that... there'll be more at the homage to the seed blog as soon as possible on that! This is an emerging story!!!

Inside Job is up for an Oscar... I dont know what other films it's up against... no doubt other very deserving docos... can I just say... if you have not seen this film... see it.... whether or not it wins an Oscar...

we all need to know the background to this story .... and the biggest shock for me... some of the very same people who architected the avoidable fate of so many in 2008 are back in key position in US GOVT etc. WHAT IS THIS??????

This affects all of us... artists have had a big wake up call along with everyone else. People are thinking twice about how they spend their money ... this film will make you think a few more times too!

Have a good week ... and as a wonderful blogosphere friend says:

Be safe all.  Be strong.  Be smart.  Persist.

visit Mlle Paradis here

PS I promise I'll post something lighter next time. I have finally got some huge tasks out of the way and my paints are sitting there staring at me... its been 6 weeks since i was in a position to paint... and Im missing it badly!

books, films and more rain...

I'm well and truly in holiday mode...  didn't start my day till I had finished my book,  breakfast was more like lunch ... then more reading ... then a visit to a bookshop and tonight the cinema! I bought a year's membership to the cinema club tonight! I live near a great cinema - Dendy Portside... and I decided in 2011 I have to see more films!

Its late now and a book awaits...but a quick visit to the blogosphere and I found a video at the wonderfully eclectic blog RECKON which I thought I'd share below. As a lover of circles and geometry why not? Also I'm quite a fan of the music of Philip Glass and recently enjoyed watching a lengthy documentary film on him late one night. 

In fact I was utterly captivated and found myself thinking back to memorable times like seeing his Opera Akhnaton performed in London in 1986. This had a considerable impact on my imagination... having long been sensitive to the connection between art and music. Seeing the first 2 films from the Qatsi trilogy after that (with Glass soundtracks) cemented this composer in my mind as one of enormous interest.

image from Koyaanisqatsi

I saw the film above when living in London, after seeing the Opera. Before London I'd been living on the NSW south coast in a town with a population in the hundred's.... where access to pristine environment was the reason many moved to live here. That contrast with London's millions could not have been greater really... so the film touched a raw nerve with me - much as I adored being in London! 

From the Qatsi website: KOYAANISQATSI, Reggio's debut as a film director and producer, is the first film of the QATSI trilogy. The title is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance." Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds -- urban life and technology versus the environment. The musical score was composed by Philip Glass.

image from Powaqqatsi.

This film I saw almost 2 years later after travelling in Egypt and Israel...I was in tel Aviv at the time and  in a way I felt like the things Id been seeing on the streets,  particularly in Cairo,  had somehow seeped into this film. It had such a strong impact - one that worked its way deeply into my psyche!

Qatsi website: Where KOYAANISQATSI dealt with the imbalance between nature and modern society, POWAQQATSI is a celebration of the human-scale endeavor the craftsmanship, spiritual worship, labor and creativity that defines a particular culture. It's also a celebration of rareness -- the delicate beauty in the eyes of an Indian child, the richness of a tapestry woven in Kathmandu -- and yet an observation of how these societies move to a universal drumbeat.
POWAQQATSI is also about contrasting ways of life, and in part how the lure of mechanization and technology and the growth of mega-cities are having a negative effect on small-scale cultures.
The title POWAQQATSI is a Hopi Indian conjunctive -- the word Powaqa, I which refers to a negative sorcerer who lives at the expense of others, and Qatsi --i.e., life.

Geometry and circles - this was originally put together for Sesame Street. Its quite charming if you wish to watch it - 2 mins long!

Excerpt from Koyaanisqatsi

Excerpt from Powaaqatsi

This is the film I mentioned having caught on TV one night recently - called Glass : A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. For 18 months the award winning director Scott Hicks followed the legendary composer.

To read notes from director Scott Hicks about the making of this film... click here.  Website: www.theglassmovie.com .

PS Thanks to Mlle Paradis for informing me the comments box was not working!

"The Tree" - a film based on the book "Our Father Who Art In The Tree"

Its a little late and I've just come in from the studio but I wanted to add a quick post in case you get a chance to see this film which I went along to last night.

The book that inspired the film The Tree 

Here's the first line from the first chapter of the book found at the film's website...

"It was simple for me: the saints were in heaven, and guardian angels had extendable wings like Batman, and my dad had died and gone to live in the tree in the back yard." 

Below is Simone who's story is key to the book and the film.

home in the tree

Simone... the lead character

the tree

Charlotte Ginsbourg as Dawn

Film director Julie Bertucelli in the tree

The Boonah countryside

The film is set in country not that far from Brisbane so the Moreton Bay Fig Tree and house featured in this film were quite familiar. These wonderful trees are a familiar sight around where I live.

I have only once before posted on a film here... so you can take it from me that the film was quite special! 

Read more on the film here!

timeless longing

 just opened a journal from 1989,  the year I settled in Melbourne, having returned from a couple of years in London and time spent travelling. I found this quote taken from "Sculpting in Time", a book on film theory by Russian film maker Andre Tarkovsky*. Whilst in London I'd seen the affecting film 'The Sacrifice' - the last he made, filmed in Sweden in 1986. Ingmar Bergman was quoted as saying "Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream".
I have kept notes of all kinds in journals over many years, some continue to resonate with meaning and this one this morning caught my attention. In the background is a section of a painting 'big river dreaming' from work I was doing in 2005-2006.The  early life of Tarkovsky, and the circumstances he was surrounded by make fascinating reading -click on his name* above to read. The following is from the same text.
    "...in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself. It serves another higher and communal idea. The artist is always a servant, and is perpetually trying to pay for the gift that has been given to him as if by some miracle. Modern man however does not want to make any sacrifice, even though true affirmation of self can only be made in sacrifice. We are gradually forgetting about this, and at the same time, inevitably, losing all sense of our human calling..."
Current art theory generally appears to sit in a different place to the atmosphere and thinking of a person like Tarkovsky. Certainly arguements could be made contrary to Tarkovsky's position, however, I always find going back to read what has been said by those who shaped ideas, and succeeded in bringing forward a new vision, to be entirely though provoking and useful to reflect on. Some ideas are worthy of transcending fashionable ideas of the day - at least for the opportunity they offer to engage with different thinking.