Friday Five: Paintings by Sally Black

Sally Black is a visual artist in Canberra, producing works on paper with water-based mediums such as watercolour and ink. We saw her work at Strathnairn and I like seeing the familiar landscapes rendered afresh in her paintings.

She creates landscapes in monotype printmaking techniques with watercolour inks that push towards abstraction. She is also known for her pen and watercolour sketches, which detail everyday scens with unusual perspectives and distortions.

Shepherd's Lookout- study

Gruner's  Abstracted

Sally has an interest in exploring the deep connections to the landscape both form her perspective as an artist, and the connections landholders have to their properties.

Friday Five: Anniversary Dishes

For our anniversary we went to have dinner at The Boat House - great recommendation from friends when we suggested we wanted something a little bit fancy but not pretentious or intimidating. We had a set four-course meal for an expensive but reasonable price, and some of the dishes are photographed above. They include:

1. Burnett Heads tiger prawn fennel, zucchini, macadamia milk
2. Dry aged duck breast fig, radicchio, mushroom & duck sausage
3. Slow roasted pork belly fermented blueberries, butternut, parsley
4. Humpty Doo barramundi fumé, cherry tomatoes, squash
5. “Little Joe’s” scotch fillet gem lettuce, potato dauphinoise, pepper jus
6. Thai basil vacherin yuzu ganache, passionfruit, finger lime
7. Raspberry sorbet yoghurt mousse, white chocolate, Davidson plum

Back at home we had this delicious 2010 Dolce Vita from Valli that we bought before we left New Zealand and have been saving for a special occasion. I think 21 years of marriage deserves that celebratory status.

Love is Stronger than Fear. Kindness is Stronger than Greed: SIEVX Memorial

On the grounds of Weston Park where the hill slopes down towards Lake Burley Griffin, 353 painted poles dot the ground in what appears to be a random structure, but turns out to be anything but. Each one represents a life lost in the sinking of a boat crammed full of refugees that has come to be known as SIEV X. At the height of the Federal Election Campaign in October 2001, the dawn rose on what one survivor referred to as looking 'like birds on the water'.

 

The acronym SIEV stands for Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel. It was the tenth unknown vessel the navy had intercepted (hence the X), packed with refugees from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Many of the passengers were women with children who had been travelling for years and to try and find a safe place to live; some attempting to join their husbands who had already gone ahead to Australia, only to be caught in the changing political tide and locked in detention or a newly devised Temporary Visa system which took away their rights to re-unite. Left without support, these mothers and young children were easy prey for people smuggling operators.

Armed Indonesian military supervised the boarding of the boat and a patrol boat escorted it from the port of Lampong. Crowded onto a fishing boat only 19.5 metres long, packed so tightly that teenagers had to climb on the roof and mothers hold children on their laps, the passengers were terrified even before they left port. The design of the poles is laid out to represent a procession of boats and the tiny size of the vessel itself.

There were forty survivors, but 353 souls were lost, either in the original sinking or in the 20 hours spent in the water waiting for fishing boats to come to their rescue. Each pole remembers one person who died; the smaller poles for children and the larger poles for adults. They were created by over 300 schools, churches and community groups, across Australia. 

Images include rural, city and desert landscapes, native flora and fauna, and heartfelt poetry. Some of the names are known, but many aren't, and the effect of reading 'Unknown boy', 'Unknown baby', 'Unknown mother' on a plaque on the pole is incredibly poignant.

Ahmed Diya Al Saadi (Aged 6 months) - Ali, Ghazi, Mohammad, Vanessa and Sue, Perth, WA

Naima Jawad, aged 31, by the students of Bateman's Bay HS, Bateman, NSW

Rem Haidar, aged 4, by The Students of St Patrick's College, Prospect, TAS

Ahmed Al Alawy by Port Melbourne Uniting Church

This is a memorial and the thousand or so Australians who created it, many of them children, are paying their respects to those who lost their lives while seeking anew life. It is also, despite denials, a political statement. On the calm sunny shores of the capital's lake it begs to question how this tragedy happened and to attempt to ensure that it does not do so again. It is calm and peaceful, but it is a protest, and one which it is hard to ignore. An information panel alludes to these sentiments.

"You may feel the sadness of such an end for these families, and the grief of those fathers and husbands detained here in Australia, unable to help or protect them. But please also feel the hope and promise that young Australians cared so much to create this beautiful memorial." 

The intention of the SIEVX Memorial is to affirm that these lives are sacred; we will not forget them. It is beautiful, haunting and very powerful. It suggests that Australia is not a country defined by fear and greed. 

"Love is stronger than fear. Kindness is stronger than greed."

My Newest Favourite Thing: Charles Billich

When we were last in Sydney, we saw a beautiful building near the Harbour Bridge. It used to be a place for sailors to sleep; now it houses some spectacular art by Charles Billich. The canvases are crowded with images, real and imagined from the past, present and future. Cityscapes of Sydney, London, Paris, or Shanghai are vibrant and busy, juxtaposing iconic representations in a playful pastiche. As the official artist of Regatta Day, he delights in painting the Sydney waterfront, and as he is so close to it, it would seem contrary not to.

The gallery owner tells me that that the pictures don't date because they are often not real anyway. On hearing we lived in Canberra, she rushed to show us a print he had created of the capital. 

As well as cities and architecture, Billich's subjects include theatrical pursuits such as drama, ballet and orchestras, and sport - lots of sport. He was named the artist of the 1996 Olympic Games and in 2000 was the recipient of the Sport Artist of the Year Award presented annually by the American Sport Art Museum and Archives. The sports most represented in this gallery are racing, both of horses and motor cars. Billich captures the proud equine spirit brilliantly, and the paintings seem to burst to life; The World of Polo is a study of movement as realism melds into fantasy.

His Olympic portraits are stunning and often incorporate gold leaf, which shimmers from the walls and (I am assured) have no need for special gallery lighting to enhance their visual charms. Inspired by his work, The Beijing Cityscape, the official image for the successful Beijing bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Billich conceived a series of images based on the Bing Ma Yong Terracotta Warriors, engaged in sporting pursuits including fencing, rowing and archery.

Chinese masters also indulge in a series of games such as chess and other contests of skill in Billich's art. He also paints humanitarian pieces and works of religious significance. From landscapes to portraiture, classicism to eroticism, Billich has a wide and varied range of subject matter, to which he brings his inimitable style. The canvases are large and impressive, as are their price tags. A print of the Sochi Olympics is $200,000. At least looking is free.