Another bedridden and maybe not so interesting thought…..
…in a book the story begins at the beginning travels forward to the middle and then to the end…..in a painting we see the whole a once….in a blog the story begins at the end which will at some point in the future become the middle, but for now, the story continues backwards toward the beginning.
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On days where I feel ill and am on holidays I reread books. I’m not alert enough to take on new information but not sick enough to sleep illness off. I write this as a declaration, in case my thoughts are not as interesting as I believe them to be at the time.
Today I am rereading Herbert Read’s, A Concise History of Painting in preparation for a course I will be teaching. On page 12 he writes,
‘…philosophy defines art as a means of conceiving the world visually. There are alternative methods of conceiving the world. We can measure the world and record our measurements in an agreed system of signs (numerals or letters); we can make statements about the world based on experiment. We can construct systems that explain the world imaginatively (myths). But art is not to be confused with any of these activities: it is ‘an ever-living question, asked of the visible world by the visual sense’, and the artist is simply the man who has the ability and the desire to transform his visual perception into a material form. The first part of his action is perceptive, the second is expressive, but it is not possible in practice to separate these two processes: the artist expresses what he perceives; he perceives what he expresses.’
With such a concise definition of what I do, what others I know do, I wonder if art making can be defined this simply….maybe it can.
Three memories came to mind as I read this, the first was an article in which Vivienne Binns explained that it is while making her art that she is able to make sense of the world, the second was a statement presented in a lecture about what students need from teachers: students need teachers to direct them towards making sense of information, the third came from a year seven student who asked, ‘so art is like philosophy?’
Perhaps it is an ever- living question, conceiving, to conceive. I can’t help but wonder, why we desire an answer to a question we know can never be answered, or at least will never hold long enough to be grasped. And now I am reminded, obviously, or not depending on your preference of genre, of the number 42.
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Visit four.
I knocked on the door, a little girl answered, I asked if a grown up was home; she said yes that her grandmother was just getting out of the pool. I waited for the grandmother and it was not long before we were inside talking. I explained the project, its connection to the centenary and how it was that I came to be invited to exhibit. She talked fondly and proudly of her children and showed me an artwork made by her daughter that was hanging on the wall above the kitchen table.
After a while Diana mentioned that she was worried that she didn’t have a story to tell, that she wasn’t that interesting. Behind her on a specially made plinth on top of the bar was an Olympic torch. When I pointed and questioned her about it she quickly went outside to find her husband. It was his. Diana had secretly applied on his behalf. She told me that he had been in the Army and had been knocked around a fair bit, so she thought he had done plenty for his country. When the letter arrived, not knowing he had been nominated, he discovered he had been chosen. He ran in Dickson, from the Shell service station, the crowd went wild.
Diana loves living in this street because of the neighbours; they look out for her granddaughter when she walks to school. She feels as though this is a safe neighbourhood, which is close to everything. Canberra is a city without the bustle she writes in the questionaire. Her most memorable moments of her home all revolve around family, her daughters wedding, receiving the letter that her husband had ben accepted to run with the Olympic torch and big family Christmas dinners.
Visit five.
This visit took me only a few houses down the road. This house, like many others in the street, including my own was in mid renovation. The suburb is not the oldest in Canberra, but not the youngest either.
When I knocked on the door, Kay had visitors. She invited me in, introduced me to her family, I asked if she would prefer that I came back another time. She did.
On the next visit Kay, her husband and his mother were at home. This family are Holden fans, Summernats fans too. Kay’s enthusiasm for the upcoming Summernats was high. She told me that each year they go, last year they got there early and put up an umbrella to shield them from the heat. I asked what happens there; since I have never been I didn’t really know. She spoke about drivers showing off their cars. Cars are parked. Cars drive around. There not suppose to do burnouts but they do.
Visit six.
I met this couple in their garden; they were friendly and excited about the project. Their garden was beautiful, well-manicured, English in style with small box hedges and roses. This couple was one of the first to live in the street. ‘The real estate showed us the views of the Brindabellas, you can’t see them anymore’, says Geoff. One of their most memorable moments in this house was the day they moved in. ‘Our house is know by our family as a party house. B’Day parties, Christmas parties, Kids parties, election parties, countless dinner parties…..’.
We made an appointment for me to come back; I was looking forward to talking with this couple further.
When I arrived on the day of the interview only Kate was at home. I was hoping that they would show me some of the places they have travelled to. In Canberra the streets in each suburb are themed. This couple is visiting all the rivers where a street has been named after it. Kate showed me a map of the next rivers they would visit and also showed me the urn they take with them, , they take photos of themselves in front of the river, they plan to engrave the names of the rivers on it and will give the photo album to their grandchildren.
I knew I would enjoy talking with Kate and she didn’t disappoint; she told me another story, a story about her dog. He died some years ago, when they were burying him they through all the things he wasn’t allowed when he was alive, ‘like chocolate biscuits’, she said. I love that. They ended up digging him up however; his ashes are now sitting on the piano.
Visit 7.
Canberra is a city of cycle paths. When I first met this couple, it was the afternoon, Paul had just arrived, he cycled home from work. At their front door on the floor was a small aquarium; inside it were baby blue tonged lizards. I told them I had a lizard too, an eastern bearded dragon. They told me the story of how they came to be breeding lizards, of coming to Canberra for jobs and lifestyle, of feeling the ground move beneath their feet because the gum tree in the backyard was preparing to fall.
They were lucky they said, that day there was a storm building, the SES came and cut it down for them so that it didn’t fall on their house. They showed me where the tree had been and the lizard enclosures along their back fence.
Their house is on the high side of the street, on the top of a hill. Paul tells the story of sitting on the roof watching the fires in 2001; he said they came pretty close. Maggie remembers her son playing with matches.
Someone said to me the other day, ‘you like a theme, don’t you’, I hadn’t really thought about it, but I guess I do. This project, The Kitchen Table, has got me working in a way that I wouldn’t have imagined I would. I really have enjoyed meeting my neighbours, hearing their stories. I was explaining the project at dinner the other night to a friend, he says to me that it sounds like a project that’s got legs, and I think it does too. The portraits I have made are loose, small. I think I would like to spend more time developing the concept; my deadline was uncomfortably close. The paintings were finished with two days to spare. Anyway we’ll see.
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Visit one.
It occurred to me as I walked out my door that I was about to enter a stranger’s home. I knew nothing about this man, nor he of I, except that we lived in the same street. When I arrived at his door there was an exchange of nervous greetings, he asked what it was I needed. I told him that I would like to take a photo of him at his Kitchen table and a photo of the outside of his house. He asked me to wait outside. He tidied his table, then moved his car.
Once invited in, he introduced me to his girlfriend and informed me that his two roommates were not home. He had a thick accent, maybe Italian. When I asked him where he was from, he replied, ‘Wagga’.
We talked for a bit, I asked questions. He was studying his last semester at ANU, economics. His roommates are students too. His girlfriend whom I met briefly when arriving was staying for a few days. We made small talk about parking difficulties at ANU, he told me that he parks in Dryandra st and walks to uni.
I took the photographs at the end of the meeting. The lighting was difficult in this position, though I didn’t mind. It was at this moment that I realised I wanted the position from where I took the photos and the position of the model to be a decision they made not me. Over the course of the project I didn’t instigate a conversation about seating, I just let them sit where they were comfortable and I sat where they offered me a chair or if they didn’t I sat opposite. So, Renato sat in front of the window and I sat opposite.
I gave each sitter a questionnaire to complete after I left, if they wished. Renato had lived in this house for 2 years and in Canberra for 4. He likes the quiet, peaceful nature of the street and their beautiful eucalyptus trees. His most memorable moment was meeting his girlfriend at Gus’ Café.
Visit two.
I’m not at all used to knowing those who are in my paintings and drawings. Usually the photographs from which I work are taken in public spaces, sometimes with a telephoto lens. The figures are anonymous; they are symbols for any person occupying space, their individuality serving mostly to balance compositional colour and shape. As a result I was still nervous meeting and talking with complete strangers.
I began this meeting like the last, considering the oddness of walking into a persons home whom I’ve never met. But nevertheless I did walk up the street, with the nervousness still lingering in my belly and when I arrived I knocked on the flyscreen door. My nervousness disappeared within seconds of meeting this couple, once stepping my first foot onto their threshold it was clear that musicians lived here. They were young, energetic, welcoming and kind. Such lack of inhibition and self-consciousness is rare and refreshing and attractive.
Walking past their lounge turned recording studio, they invited me into to their kitchen/dining room. On the table was a vast array of condiments, CD’s, a piece of clothing. Their kitchen still had the original patterned tiles; in fact the whole kitchen was original. They too sat on the side of the windows; waves of light poured over them. I sat opposite them.
We talked for a long time. My favourite quote of the day, hands down easily be, ‘We are probably not very good tenants. A few neighbours have complained, but it comes with the territory. We try to play at sensible hours. Its hard to insulate the place particularly because we are renting’. Brendon tells me that this house has been a music house forever and that he has just gone corporate. ‘Me too’, I say. He used to teach while trying to make it as a musician.
I received back the questionnaire from Brendon and Sian a week later. He had answered the question, Why did you move here? ‘I followed an ex-girlfriend. I fell out of love with her, but in love with the city’. He likes living in this street for similar reasons as Renato, for the gum trees and quietness of the street. His response to the question of most memorable moment: ‘To choose only one moment would be an injustice to all the other moments. This house has seen so many incredible musical gatherings. There is something in this house which seems to bring out everyone’s innate musical talent’.
Visit three.
I had two meetings with this family and was not nervous since this was the only group whom I knew already. Almost every year our neighbours across the road put on a street Christmas party. I had met Paulina and her husband Craig the year before.
On the first visit we talked but took no photos. I found out that Paulina was a trained dog psychologist, like Caesar Milan and that her children liked Ben 10 very much. Craig was busily paving an area of their backyard.
On the second visit Craig was ill. I came at dinnertime to take the photo. The children found it very hard to concentrate on their meal. I took many photos and left so that they could eat.
I found myself thinking about just how open and kind and generous people were. They were opening their homes, sharing their stories and although I am their neighbour, until now we were strangers who probably wouldn’t even recognise each other if we walked past each other at the local shop. I wondered if someone had asked me to be part of their project if I would have put my hand up, I wasn’t sure. I also thought back to art school, where a number of times we were required to make projects that connected in some way to the outside world, creating a connection that didn’t already exist, mine never really did.
I am enjoying this project very much. I am enjoying meeting people, talking with them and quite overwhelmed with their generosity and kindness. The paintings I am making from the photographs I have taken are not in anyway the most interesting part of this project. The people I have met are.
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As one who lives in the nations capital may know, 2013 is the centenary year, and I have been invited by curator Emily Casey, to make work for The Kitchen Table project. Her concept is based around what Canberra was and is, told through stories living in those who call Canberra home, ‘…In 1928 Canberra had a population of 7,000, there were big open paddocks separating impressive buildings, which Canberra would grow into. Two generations later, Canberra has outgrown many of these buildings and has expanded to a population of 300, 000…’ says Casey. I have noticed this growth too, I haven’t been here that long, but when looking north now, much of what is there now wasn’t when I arrived.
And I must say I am excited to have a focus for the beginning of the year and delighted to have the opportunity to show work amongst such of a group of fabulous artists: Angela Bakker, Kate Barker, Alexander Bell Moffatt, Katherine Griffiths, Bettina Hill, Waratah Lahy, Eric Leo, Sarah Murphy, Ruth Oliphant, Julie Ryder and Amelia Thompson.
So here’s what I have decided to do…..
Take a photo of every house in a suburban street in Canberra.
Ask those residents to consider having their photo taken at their kitchen table.
Six have accepted, three I have spoken with already.
Although I have only just begun, I am really enjoying speaking with strangers, who are generous and kind, allowing me into their homes and sharing their stories. I have begun making sketches from the photos taken so far.
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