Aliens Abduct Art Critic

We spent a lovely two days in breezy Seminyak, Bali and on the last night headed down to Jimbaran for some seafood on the beach. After being serenaded by the band playing Dire Straits, our intrepid art critic Ashley decided to take a piss in the ocean. Instead of coming straight back to the table, he took a stroll on the beach. Two hours later we were looking at his thongs and ciggies, and quite frankly freaking out. Searches by us and waiters proved fruitless, we decided to go back to the hotel without him. To cut a long story short, Steve received a call at 3am saying he had been found in Kuta. Ashley remembers walking on the beach, then hours later waking up in a police station. His phone, which unfortunately was back at the hotel, had mysterious calls from +62 11111111111 and there is scar tissue on the back of his neck. The main thing is, he is alive and well, and we have all arrived in Yogyakarta, a bit shaken up, but also alive and well.

Back to the Future!

“Shot” at the Gold Coast in May 2009 especially for my artwork in the ‘immemorial’ exhibition ^.

Title: ‘Cowboy Indians’

“Whoever the last true cowboy in America turns out to be, he’s likely to be an Indian.” 

-a quote by William Least Heat-Moon, (originally William Trogdon)

Bahasa Indonesia:

“Ditembak” di Gold Coast Mei 2009 terutama untuk karya seni di ‘purbakala’ pameran ^. 

Judul: ‘Koboi India’

“Siapa pun koboi sejati terakhir di Amerika ternyata, dia cenderung menjadi seorang Indian.” 

-sebuah kutipan oleh William Least Heat-Moon, (awalnya William Trogdon)

http://www.cybertribe.culture2.org/jennyfraser

'Best of Both Worlds' (working title) 2009

As a starting point for ‘Immemorial’ I explored family photo albums

Upon close inspection I had the stark realisation that my Aboriginal family members images had been manipulated by the photographer / printer, so they they actually looked whiter (than their white spouses!)

So much so, that they actually look like ghosts

Bahasa Indonesia:

Sebagai titik awal untuk ‘purbakala’ Aku menjelajahi album foto keluarga

Setelah pemeriksaan dekat dingin aku punya kesadaran bahwa saya anggota keluarga gambar Aborigin telah dimanipulasi oleh fotografer / printer, sehingga mereka mereka benar-benar tampak lebih putih (dibandingkan dengan pasangan kulit putih!)

Begitu banyak sehingga, bahwa mereka benar-benar tampak seperti hantu 

 

 

my blog update

the carrot joke – Hayley West blog

with some work i’m taking to Yogya if anyone’s interested

Haberfield Saga

” But they did reach the coast safely and were able to get passage on a windjammer about to sail for the colony of New South Wales. The story goes that Patrick feared the English were so close to finding him, that he and Maria ran up the gangplank, dropped the baby and broke his legs. The story also goes that, on the long and difficult voyage, the baby got rickets. Whether or not these stories are true, Richard survived the trauma. ‘ He was a sturdy little boy’. Quite…..”

Susan Stanton, The Story of the name HABERFIELD,  2008.

welcome Lashita, Caroline

I understand all the Indonesian artists have met with Sudjud to discuss the project, what are your thoughts on the project concept, have you decided what work you will create? can you tell us something of your individual position regarding the project concept?

steve

native gecko

leaf tail native gekko

Saya sudah memikirkan Darwin yang mana dan jogjakarta mempunyai di common Kami kedua mempunyai gekko ’s Yang berwarna yang merah jambu gekkos dari Indonesia sudah berakhir di Australia, kami melihat mereka terus di Darwin tetapi gekko ’s asli ke Australia adalah biasanya sedikit lebih tidak tak nyata Ive berhasil mengambil foto beberapa lately, Heres sesuatu di rumah teman saya di Tuntable Creek, New South Wales Utara Saya mencintai mereka sama sekali

 

i have been thinking about what darwin and jogjakarta have in common…

we both have gekko’s ; )

-> the pink coloured gekkos from indonesia have ended up in australia, we see them all the time in Darwin but gekko’s native to australia are usually a bit less obvious

ive managed to take photos of some lately -> heres one at my friend house in Tuntable Creek, Northern New South Wales

i love them all

jenny fraser

a dukun and me

Selamat Siang!

I’ve been thinking about this idea for sometime, but was waiting until some dialogue started on the blog… now I’ve been thinking I should just start ;P

As a child I dabbled in the world of séances frequently, but as I have grown older and more of my family have died, I’ve been a little reluctant to revisit the world of spirits. Recently however my artwork has begun focusing on death, often with my own family – particularly my younger sister, uncle, father and mother. I’m not sure if I want to head in this direction with my artwork, but the feeling that I should is quite intense. Since my mother died two years ago, my father particularly is a very strong presence in my waking and sleeping states.

I’d like to have a performative element to my work for immemorial, and have been doing research into the role of dukuns in Java. I understand that a dukun can a variety of roles, what I am looking for is a ’soothsay’ experience – that is, the consultation of dead relatives on my behalf.

What I would like to know from the Indonesian artists is – would it be appropriate for a female westerner to call on a dukun? I don’t want to be cultural insensitive in anyway. And if it is ok for me to do this, do you, or anyone you know, have access to a dukun in Yogya? I also would like to know if a dukun would be ok with being part of a wider ‘art’ context.

Any thoughts on this idea would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Hayley

hi to all the indonesian artists

we are waiting eagerly for you to join the blog to meet you, start discussion and plan our trip.
steve

the diver