Mega Death (1999) Here I am at a Miyajima exhibition. The image was taken last year at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. The tiny specks of light are counters that constantly change, flickering from 1 to 9. Each counter moving through the numbers at its own pace. They illustrate the interconnectedness of the […]
Month: June 2017
Seoul
My memory of Seoul is always cold. They say the city can get quite hot in summer, but I have little recollection of it. We made annual trips there during my school holidays when I was young. We left summer in Australia and swapped it for the biting Korean winter. For me, the city is […]
Not so little anymore
We shared a brownie this afternoon. Both of us trying to commit to an uneasy truce after frustrations boiled over. There was an appointment we had to keep. He insisted we could go home and come back in time. I knew we couldn’t. He was stubborn. I got cross. Gone are the days of tantrums […]
Transient
It’s my favourite time of the day. That time when the sun first makes its transient way across the sky. No matter how dark the hours before, or how difficult the day just past, the sunrise brings with it a fresh start. It gives you another chance to right wrongs and holds the promise that today […]
On World Refugee Day
He plays a piano at the local cafe. A sixteen year old boy who came to this country from Aleppo only a few months ago. The owner of the cafe had an abandoned piano waiting to be played. He was a boy who once played before hundreds, but had not been able to play for […]
Ugly
I heard something awful last night. A well respected white man being obnoxious to a woman of colour. A Canadian woman whose family originated from Taiwan who has dared to open a conversation about race with us. It seemed like he didn’t want an Asian upstart coming into his country and challenging his white privilege. […]
Focus
It’s a blurry picture of a flower. Taken on my phone and filtered using Hipstamatic. If you look closely, you will also see a couple of ants chatting away. My young son loves ants. He likes the way they move and work together. He tells me they have feelings and show excitement when they find […]
A walk in October
There’s a walk that occurs each year in October. A mass migration of people from all across the suburbs to meet at a certain point, at a set time, on that day to walk together as one community. Their aim is to welcome the many who’ve come across the seas to call Australia home. To […]
Order
It’s a rainy day in Sydney. I am waiting for the train. Here I am dutifully standing behind the yellow line. Obeying the polite order. Some rules are there for a reason. To help you. To protect you. Then there are others that free you every time you break them. Rules that say salvation is […]
A friend
She was in hospital. Old and frail, they tell me A has been quite ill. I wanted to visit her, but things always seemed to get in the way. She told me a story once. I had gone to drop off a meal at her home. She sat me down and told me of someone […]
Finding her words
A was eight when war broke out in her homeland. Much of her childhood was spent fleeing gunfire, running from one village to the next. It was a dangerous time, she recalls. “If you were caught by the rebels you would be killed.” Separated from her father during the war, her family struggled to survive. […]
“Vanishing People”
Exquisite images by Steve McCurry. If you have some time today, check out his blog post. He captures the lives of people from cultures that are slowly disappearing. Moving from place to place, shifting to different areas as the seasons change. They say they are different to migrants who move countries and settle. Nomads, while […]
