Hands...

Sometimes the hands need to be acknowledged. The fingers that work hard, the appreciation for the hands, the times when they get you out of trouble and the endless work they do. Each set of hands are individual, it is a part of you that has so much poetry to them...they describe the past, they seem to be living and breathing in a life of their own unattached from the vessel they are apart of.

Helping hands are necessary, sometimes we need a break and for someone to hold our hand and pull us forward, to show us understanding, to support us...we can't always do it alone. Its hard when some hands have hurt you...someones hands have done damage to you...there is still the imprint of them on your body that then makes you sick from time to time...the energy of the past comes back to haunt like a ghostly finger it awaits and slowly tickles the wound again. Not everyone believes in ghosts, they usually visit you alone and the un-dead know how to sneak up on you, their hands are like bullets of ice that freeze you from the inside out.

Past haunts and a time travel back to my own hands...its the shadows that make the form of the hands...the markings on the hands that are only mine...at times they look familar like the hands that held me as a baby and looked after me for so long, at times I do not recognise you, at times you comfort me and at times I forget you.

Ancestry of a part of us today, expressive hands of creative ventures...I have always found the hands beautiful as intriguing as faces and the movement of them that indicates something of the soul of someone.

Healing, warm, soft hands that help and handle...that show love and need in everything they do.

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A human need to contain...

A box with 4 sides designed to contain something, to trap something, to hide something, to cover up. Can a human be put in a box? A need to categorize, to contain, to control, to understand, to put away. It makes me think about how mental illness has been treated..something that could not be understood was put away from view to begin with, out of sight, out of mind but what if this illness could be in everyone’s mind at some time? It is apart of all of us? Are we all apart of one big box? From reading about mental health how much we do not know, cannot distinguish what it is and how it is not spoken about enough, perhaps it cannot be put in a box. A book like a box, the DSM and ICD, a way to contain and categorize mental illness, however as the world doesn't stand still how can these illnesses. The constant change of self and changes in society, we are constantly evolving and moving. We breathe, we move our bodies, our brains light up, we are constantly seeing and taking in our world. And what are we? A part of the world, a part of ourselves, a part of other peoples realities, a part of the natural world, apart of the un-concious world, the dream state, a part of the past, a part of the future? To think outside of the box...to be a circle perhaps?

A directive this week was about 'Who are you?' I realized I use a blue circle to define or show myself, its something I have begun to notice this year. Circles coming together and moving through each other is the best self portrait yet! They contain light and dark and move into each other with colour and movement. I didn't want to be defined, instead of 4 sides my sides are round without an end point...sometimes we don't need to make sense but it doesn't mean we don't exist. Noticing the symbols of my art and life. Also noticing them in society, boxes and rectangles do come up alot however I feel more inclined to the circles and triangles.

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The Tree of Strength

The number 3 reminds of a triangle of balance and retreat.

Contemplation of the tree of strength lead me to a water goddess with watercolours and water. A female shape like the wisdom of the tree, a softness, a strength that has not been understood in this world. She has both heart and brain and they are integrated together, both being used like the deepest intuition from an ancient realm.

I always resonated with trees and when lonely would walk and dance around them in Sydney when I was younger and feeling homesick, I will always remember their deep wisdom. Its interesting that when thoughts of strength come to mind the words bold, tough, loud, fight, stand up for your self, compete, male, muscles and so on...have dictated this meaning. I read this week that male attendants ran the aslyums until control became less important. It was then that women stepped into these nursing roles. I see strength as the softness of the feminine tree that sits and continues in slience with a deep knowing emuating from the roots of intuition. This more mysterious, watery, malleable, adaptable, forever slowly moving substance is where I find my own power. My strenghts are not those initally thought of in this society. However I am in love with these aspects of myself and finally feel like I can move in this way.

This week was about healing, retreating and reviewing where I am at. A feeling that I can move forward in my own light, taking with me this strength that can sometimes be overlooked. I want to play my own game, no one else’s and find my own powerful flow and balance. The movement and flow of water is something I have been contemplating. Our individuality, our own freedom of self. To be able to watch our progress, to be able to trust, to be able to just be, like the tree, be like water, drifting and flowing and enjoying the ride. Stepping back and taking the window seat, watching the drips of rain on the window pane.

Journey into the realm of Art Therapy...Childhood and realizations

2 represents the passage of time in mythology, the yin and yang the duality, the two people combine to create you in this world, the coming together of, the duel off, the fight, the mirror...


Childhood and the realisation that they are all different, there is no one size fits all although there are expectations on what this life should be like, it is not like that for many and then that disconnect from the world begins when realising their 'normal' is not normal. What is normal? Who dictates this? Society perhaps, your childhood, you? The constant evolution through the ages and through time, how can normal stay the same and why are we always trying to catergorise, control everything, a natural human characteristic perhaps? Or is it something deeper or more sinister?  And when a child’s freedom is compromised what effect does this have. Many things being realised this week. Art is a language which isn't necessarily linear or moves in the same way as words or text, but can time travel and bring forth the past to be re created like your own myth or fairy tale, some of us are still using this tool to understand our state when so innocent to gain a sense of control and understanding whilst also making sense of this as adults. Perspective can act like a birds eye view, soaring above as time passes we are able to gather a new perspective for the time being instead of being apart of the story we are now the storyteller. The switch of character like a mirror from the reality to the dream like the fool to the hero. The endless archetypes and myths that are continulously played out. Im glad my parents read Brothers Grimm and swayed me away from Disney, I never wanted to be the princess until primary school when this was what most other little girls wanted. How easily our minds can be influenced.


A poem for you...


Its a way to see you

the magic within

using the darkness like a cupids bow

a machine of time like, Dr who


Remembering this show I loved as a child

you told me your childhood was red and black

a basement with one light bulb in pitch black

It clouded the yellow sun, that warmed you 

to the same colour as the doorway, blackest black


A house of no escape,

Except though the ground,

Like the birth of a child through the mothers womb you came

And reprogramed your mind

yourself,

Alone. 

New performance and film projects

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Making Music

Zombie Hearts Club my New Music Project also played at the Boots Orion Artshow.

Chester Wilshire on Guitar and Justine Keim on Synth and Vocals.

Photos From Artshow

Thanks to everyone who came to my artshow and showed me support. Appreciate it and it was a very successful night. Thanks Daniel Foote for the photos and capturing the essence of the evening. I have edited the photos playing with the lights that filled the space as I would like to explore this in future projects. Light is magic and can alter our perception, give life and colours our world....Enjoy!!!!!

Puppet Nation with Bill Platz

I have acted and performed all my life and is a necessary part of my existence. Capturing life and having an understanding of different walks of life is something I am truely passionate about. I resist the need to judge another as we all may be in that position at some point and would prefer to find an understanding and learn from this person instead of locking their souls out of our own. It is an opportunity to see more of who we are and .Perception is everything. I admire artists who are not afraid to go to 'dark places' who indulge in the grotesque and take risks. Who are open to themselves and who do not lock themselves out of their depths. 

I have lately been working with artist William Platz on some performance ideas in his studio. He is working towards an exhibition next year and has hand sculptured puppets for us to dress and act in. It is interesting the persona you take on board as a puppet. I have a particular interest in this type of performance at present and am undergoing Butoh training at Zen Zen Zo in Brisbane which influenced this collaboration. Please see some studio shots below of the process. And also some life drawings of mine. He is an exceptional artist and also art intellectual, being a head lecturer at Queensland College of the Arts. And more recently won the Marie Ellis 2017 Prize for Drawing. Check more about him here http://boszgallery.com.au/artists/william-platz/ 

Lethbridge 10000

Online finalist in this years 2017 Lethbridge 10000, with the piece 'Looking Glass. 

It is neither man nor woman. But instead looks deep past the mirror into the little room behind. It mixes with the atmosphere and its past and present becomes one or all. 

Check out the other finalists here. 

https://www.brettlethbridge.com/10000finalists.php?finalist_year=2017

 

 

 

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