Watch the Sun

Once again, Floriade (the festival of spring flowers in Canberra) has been redistributed around the city. Here are some of the colourful bulbs I found brightening up the CBD today. They are in planters with poems written around them. The first one reads, 

"Breathing bodies swirl in your periphery

City whispers to itself." - written by Zoe Anderson and Eleanor Malbon

 

"Watch the sun set over the monuments of colonisation,

A time for new tomorrows." - Written by Zoe Anderson and Eleanor Malbon

"The city is a conversation interrupting itself,

a blur of vices and yours." - Written by Zoe Anderson and Eleanor Malbon

"We thank our doctors and nurses who

make possible Moments of untold joy." - written by Zoe Anderson and Eleanor Malbon

There were other beds planted on the university campus. 

On that walk I also encountered this sculpture of a painfully thin horse.

Undergrazing (2020)by Sian Watson

I also encountered these artworks from Insight Out, a project on the campus of the Australian National University which pairs 24 visual art students with an academic undertaking research at one of the University's seven academic Colleges: Arts and Social Sciences; Asia and the Pacific; Business and Economics; Engineering and Computer Science; Health and Medicine; Law; and Science. 

Each pair met at length to discuss the academic's research and interests and consider ways in which the most vital elements of the information could be conveyed to the general public. The artists were then given stylistic freedom to represent the research visually, in the form of a physical artwork. The resulting works traverse a range of disciplines, including painting, illustration, photography, and digital art. 

Continuing/ Wollemi Park by Sarah Murray

Continuing/ Wollemi Park is a work made in response to the ongoing research conducted by Dr Duncan Wright, Amy Wray and Wayne Brennan. They use a community approach in uniting scientific research and knowledge from the Aboriginal community in the conservation of important heritage rock art sites in the Blue Mountains, which have been affected by the recent fires. Sarah Murray writes, "I depicted the landscape and its significant history using the device of layering and line to portray the passing of time and the effect of the bushfires. I acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to Elders past, preset and emerging."

In the Space of Translation by Samantha Corbett

This mural aims to visualise the action of working together that is central to any creative collaboration. Samantha Corbett writes, "During my conversations with Dr Maya Haviland, it was clear that in any co-creativity there is the translation of (and between) culture, locations and time through acts of creative collaboration. Important to this translation is the development of relationships and promotion of shared understandings that foster the inclusion of a range of perspectives and cultural values. I hope from viewing this mural audiences can question how we choose to work together across a range of institutional, organisational and personal contexts." 

Collision by Bingxin Hu

"I was fortunate to develop my artwork based on Dr Ntina Tzouvala's research and reflection regarding the biased, contradictory nature of defining 'civilisation'. In her book, Capitalism as Civilisation: A History of International Law, Dr Tzouvala argues that non-Western cultures being forced to embrace capitalist modernity by capitalism - to reach a so-called 'civilised state - contradicts with the immutable difference between cultures. Thus, the term 'civilisation' is biased. I drew inspiration from and would like to investigate such a collision of culture and how such bias can be visualised in a semi-abstract manner."

More artwork encountered on the walk included a statue of Churchill in the university grounds (I'm sure there is heated debate about the removal of this colonising monolith) and also a work by David Jensz, called Raised Pinnacle. 

In Raised Pinnacle, broken bricks have been precisely placed to construct an elegant pagoda-like spire inspired by the spirituality of the East. Jensz creates harmony out of opposites by counterpointing the skyward surge of the spire with a reminder of earth's gravity in the steel at the work's base. 

Raised Pinnacle by David Jensz

My walk finished up passing the Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science, and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, where a small display of tulips nods to the idea of Floriade in the Community.

The Shine Dome

NAFSA

I took this picture over the fence - for overseas viewers, yes, we really do have kangaroos in our gardens. 

While the ACT has been in lockdown along with NSW and Victoria, not all of the country has been. The organisation for which I work is a caring and sharing organisation, and the CEOs had packed and distributed over 500 care packages to all the team members in lockdown. The puzzles and chocolates were well received by me, and Penelope was keen to play with the box. 

Speaking of puzzles, I have posted on my other blog about the jigsaw puzzles I have completed, but I just really liked the colours and the look of this one as I tipped the pieces out onto the table. 

Fun and innovative brewery, BentSpoke have made a beer with yeast collected from the edge of space. I'd like to make puns like astronomical and out of this world, but it isn't that amazing. It's a decent beer and a great gimmick though, so I'm very happy to support (and drink) it!

I'm not sure who created this artwork of two Canberra icons fighting each other with lasers, but I love the idea of asking the question: who'd win a fight between the Belconnen owl and Skywhale? For the record, I think it would be Skywhale: she's got more lasers and she can fly. 

I have been continuing my walks around the suburbs with the assistance of the walkcanberra.com website. Him Outdoors and I went for a weekend stroll around the streets of Coombs. Apparently the streets are named after persons notable for public service. It took me a while to work out who Jo Galong might be. 

Let’s go to Iceland

These photos aren't great, as they were actually taken through the window - but the size of those cockatoos was impressive! The cats certainly thought so; trying to hide behind the cushions as the cockatoos ate the birdseed from the hanging basket. 

It was wet and windy at the weekend, but the cycle race must go on apparently, so as we are all in lockdown, Him Outdoors raced against his fellow cyclists on the stationary trainer on the back verandah. Steam was coming off his back in the rain as he watched the avatars of the other competitors on his digital monitor. This is what cycle racing looks like in the midst of a pandemic.

And as we are still in lockdown, this is my latest book delivery to keep me amused when I have no alternative evening entertainment.

Our latest trip was to Iceland. I chose this destination because I wanted to watch Woman at War - great film - and then we worked back from there. We had a Midnight Sun cocktail, in which the main ingredients are Icelandic vodka and crème de violet. 

Our soundtrack featured The Sugarcubes quite prominently, which Him Outdoors enjoyed (also Monsters and Men, and Daði Freyr - as seen on The Eurovision Song Contest), and traditional starters, which he didn't.

There is a lot of fish on the menu and everything is either smoked or pickled, so while I tucked into smoked salmon, cod liver and pickled herring on dark rye bread, he opted for the smoked chicken and a port, brandy and liver paté.

The main meal was more fish - Plokkfiskur, which is Icelandic fish stew made primarily from white fish (we used blue-eye cod), potatoes, milk, flour and butter. Well, I thought it was delicious!

Plokkfiskur

The walk with the Walking Crew was around Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve, where we found an expertly-built hide, and a seat by a pond.