We only spent three days in Cairns. And I liked it. It is one place in Australia I would re visit.
Why did I like it? Well - there were a lot of young people there. Lots of young in the street. Lots of young people behind counters. Lots of young people with money. Lots of Asian people. Lots of Americans and Europeans. Admittedly most were tourists. Maybe some of the Asians were here to run businesses. And good on them I say. If you can make a profit out of tourism good on you. This prompts the question - am I ageist? Well probably yes. I admit that my prejudice is that all people older than me are suspect politically. Why did they vote as they did in 1966? Why did they vote as they did in 1975? Both elections where old people proved they were overwhelmingly immoral. Why do they all think we should have a one party state and that the one party should be the National Party? I liked the terrain and the landscape that surrounds Cairns. The land is more undulating than down south. Tall steep hills are close by. The vegetation is different. There is much much more of it for a start. Lots of trees. Lots of vines. Lots of leaves. Lots of grass. The trees are big. The Palms are large. There is obviously more rain. Lots of clouds in the air. Lots of rain. More water everywhere. Water is everywhere standing in large puddles. Although it is a fact that one suburb is called Freshwater. Obviously where they had to go to get freshwater when it was first settled. Water must become scarce during the dry season. Lots of evidence as to the hardships endured when the town was set up and the railway to Kuranda put in. There was however one thing that depressed me enormously. Defeated me really. And that is the continuing local attitude of whites towards aboriginals. I have a photo taken at Kuranda at the village green. The whites all congregate on one side. The blacks on the other. I had a good look at the aboriginals. There were 3 even maybe 4 generations. The generations obviously interacted. A young male turned up late and another young male greeted him as a leopard would in that he imitated a leopards greeting. Maybe he didnt mean this exactly this but it was different. The question is - why are the blacks the other side of the village green? Will they ever come over to the whites side? (I no longer like using the term black. What does it mean. And also the term white is meaningless as well. Although my prejudice is that whites are infinitely more prejudiced than blacks. Whites set the terms. Whites define racial terms and in effect define what races are.) It is depressing to try and analyze this. And people think I am pretentious in even mentioning it. Yet it is self evident. It is an important matter. Aboriginals live parallel lives to light skinned Australians. The two peoples don't mix. They stay apart. When will this stop happening? I did not see many aboriginals in Cairns city. I saw a man and a woman sharing a bottle of wine in the street. I made note that the wine was not the brand I would drink as it was one of the fake brands that are sold in Aldi. I saw several aboriginals using computers in the Cairns Library. These aboriginals were middle aged males and the computers they were using were in a separate part of the library seemingly away from other computers. My impression was that these computers were placed in a position where they would be separate from the rest of people who used computers in the library. I saw an aboriginal boy using the computer in the Information Office to download a computer game to his mobile phone. I spoke to an aboriginal family at the main bus stop but these people told me they were Torres Strait Islanders. Mother and four children. In Kurrunda I spoke to three or four young men who were busking outside the businesses selling aboriginal art. All playing didgeridoos. All painted up. Not a lot of conversation possible. But they were pleased to talk. Or gave the impression they were pleased I made contact. I tried to speak to the men who gave a concert in the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. These were men in their 30's and sang songs and danced about matters relating to aboriginal cultural totems - birds - kangaroos etc. After the concert I asked one singer if there were any aboriginal songs that were solely dedicated to pleasure. He didnt really understand my question so I tried to make it clearer by asking - in aboriginal culture were there any entertainers as such who sang songs simply to give pleasure to the audience? This threw him a bit. He tried to answer by saying that he could only sing these songs in this area - he would not be allowed to sing them in the Northern Territory. I guessed that he was saying that some songs are tied to country. He was not comfortable in answering my query. I made note that the Cairns Council seems to have a policy of not employing aboriginals. There are lots of workers in council uniforms - street cleaners - road repairers etc. Not one of them appears to be aboriginal. Why is this? Why doesn't the council have an affirmative employment policy that favours aboriginals? An affirmative policy may not solve any problems but it should at least be tried. Will ever such a policy be implemented. Probably never. Will aboriginals ever be included in policy making bodies? Will they ever be allowed to make decisions of real import? Will they ever be allocated power that will affect light skinned people? Will light skinned people ever accept dark skinned people into the main stream? To be part of the wider society? What do you think? I am not confident that light skinned people and dark skinned people will mingle soon. I know that the dark skinned people know that the light skinned people do not want them to come across the square and mingle with them. They know they are not wanted so they are not inclined to make an effort that will result in them being rejected and hurt. The light skinned people are not inclined to cross over because they feel they would be entering an unknown foreign territory and there would be something considered shameful in what they were doing.
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Doug Moran National Portrait Prize Finalists at the Gallery
The Gallery currently has on exhibition the 30 finalists in the 2015 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize competition. U3A Art group held its monthly appreciation meeting in the Gallery and were privileged to listen to a short lecture by Catherine Bennetts-Cash discussing some of the portraits. Catherine’s lecture concentrated on a small number of the portraits with which she had some familiarity and was able to provide a greater understanding of both the artists and the portraits. Her favorite was The Hat Maker-Rosie Boylan by Evert Ploeg. Catherine explained the concept behind the winning portrait and handed out Photostat copies of the 16th Century painting under whose influence it had been painted. The 2016 winner by Warren Crosset is entitled Self Portrait after St Jerome Flanders. Warren Crosset is a Commercial Artist who won the prize with his first ever entry. It is fair to say it is one of the small number of standout portraits amongst the 30 finalists. It has elements of both Caravaggio and Da Vinci in it and it depicts the artist pointedly resting his left forefinger on an envelope with him looking pensively off to the right. He is dressed in modern dress but his surroundings except for the envelope are from the Reformation. The original painting on which it is based is attributed to as being in the Style of Joos Van Cleve who painted in the 16th Century and this painting is in the NGV. It is not often that modern painters can successfully include past references in their paintings but in this case Warren Crosset has it spot on. The envelope representing the skull has a modern stamp with a skull instead of the Queen and a fly is resting on the envelope. There is Cyrillic writing on the envelope which I presume makes mention of a skull. Instead of placing himself in his own house he has placed himself in St Peters in Rome or somewhere similar and he has a mediaeval bible on his desk. The value of this painting is that these influences are not readily apparent on first viewing and when they are obvious they do not look out of place. The central point of the painting on which the viewer’s eye is drawn to is the artist’s hand which is both resting and pointing to the envelope. Hands are often featured in portraits and this painting captures the hand completely. The other 29 finalists are all of a certain standard with 3 or 4 standouts. One or two of these are exceptionally well painted and only the classical references in the winning portrait set it apart. The following rate a special mention – Sacrifice of the Model, David Bichard of Carpathian, On the Verge of a Sudden Realisation and The artists Mother. If you visit the Gallery I would advise close viewing of all these paintings. Benalla has been fortunate to get this exhibition and a special effort to visit the Gallery is recommended. We thank Catherine for her interest in U3A and look forward to her next lecture on Monday 4th August. |
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