S'mo Sydney

Sorry for the lack of posting for the past few days but i figured nobody would be that interested in our 6 hour classroom sessions. Although - i will say that I highly recommend anyone interested in D.H. Lawrence watch the movie Kangaroo, a film based on the auto-biographical novel he wrote about his time in Australia. Its one of the only cases I can think of where I've enjoyed a movie better than the book it was based on. Of course that might be because I HATED the book but in any case...

Back to more exciting things - I spent today exploring some new neighborhoods in Sydney as well as revisiting some I'd already been to. First I cruised up and down Crown Street in Surrey Hills - an area recognized for its cool vintage shops and cafes. It is also baby central! I can't even tell you how many stores I wandered into only to find a hipster mom trying on a Furry leopard jacket while her son or daughter (in baby Ray Bans, of course) hid amongst the moth eaten tye-died t-shirts.

After about an hour, I decided I'd smelt enough mustiness for one day and made my way to Padington to see Pieter Hugo's exhibition on Nollywood, the Nigerian Film Industry, at the Padington Center for Photography. Here's the snippit on the exhibit from the website which articulates what i saw far better than i could:

"In the Nollywood series, Hugo explores the multilayered reality of the Nigerian film industry. Photographs from the series were included on the exhibitionDisguise: The art of attracting and deflecting attention at Michael Stevenson in May 2008. Hugo has subsequently returned to Nigeria to extend and deepen this body of work, and the series will be published in book form by Prestel in October 2009.

Nollywood is the third largest film industry in the world, releasing between 500 and 1 000 movies each year. It produces movies on its own terms, telling stories that appeal to and reflect the lives of its public: it is a rare instance of self-representation on such a scale in Africa. The continent has a rich tradition of story-telling that has been expressed abundantly through oral and written fiction, but has never been conveyed through the popular media before. Stars are local actors; plots confront the public with familiar situations of romance, comedy, witchcraft, bribery, prostitution. The narrative is overdramatic, deprived of happy endings, tragic. The aesthetic is loud, violent, excessive; nothing is said, everything is shouted.

In his travels through West Africa, Hugo became increasingly intrigued by this hyperactive industry, in constant production. He compiled a list of the iconic images and scenes that had attracted his attention, and imagined photographing in these settings. Initial attempts to photograph on actual film sets however failed, in Hugo's mind, to capture the intensity of the situations. He decided to take his interpretation of these staged realities into another realm by assembling a team of actors and assistants. He asked them to recreate the stereotypical myths and symbols that characterise Nollywood productions, reproducing the dynamic of movie sets.

The tableaux of the series confront us with a verisimilar world: the situations are clearly surreal, although they could be real on a set; furthermore, they are rooted in the local symbolic imaginary. The boundaries between documentary and fiction become very fluid, and we are left wondering whether our perceptions of the real world are indeed real."

To put it in simpler, more concise terms: this was one of the most haunting, bizarre set of photographs I've ever seen. Here are some highlights:

 

Chris Nkulo and Patience Umeh. Enugu, Nigeria, 2008 

(This one is by far my favorite. It almost makes me think of the Devil and God)

 

Thompson. Asaba, Nigeria, 2008

 

Escort Kama, Enugo Nigeria, 2008

This one is actually Hugo himself - a fact that he didn't draw attention to in any way. I almost didn't realize and then i saw the name plaque. Very sneaky Mr. Hugo, very sneaky.

After I'd gotten my fill of zombies, ax murderers and crazy colored contacts I hopped on the express bus to Circular Quay - the area on the harbor around the bridge and the opera house. Having exited the bus i noticed a small crowd forming around the boardwalk and decided to see what the fuss was about. It turned out to be these aboriginal musicians, whose digeridoing (probably not the right way to spell that...) I loved so much that i bought their CD "Koomurri Dreaming". I just listened to a few tracks and have determined that they sound like a fusion between traditional native american music and techno (an absurd but surprisingly catchy mix).

But back to the purchasing of it - I was a little unnerved when i went to pay for it and a man in a business suit took my $10. That along with the man on the left's exaggerated performance (whenever i pointed my camera at him he would wave and hop around wildly) made me feel like maybe the suited man was exploiting them in some way. In any case, i didn't have much time to wonder about it because after one song they packed up and went home for the arvo (you guessed it, Australian for afternoon). 

Aboriginal Musicians

Abandoned by my Aboriginal pals, I made my way to the Opera House which I find increasingly stunning every time I see it. Not only did it force me to remember where I am (the english-speaking, accents aside, makes it very easy to feel like I'm back in the states) but getting to see the the detail close up and tracing the curves of the structure made me appreciate it the Opera house's architectural complexity even more.  

Harbour Bridge

Proof that I was there!

Curvature of the Opera House

Details of the Opera House

After the mobs of screaming school kids became to much to bear, i sought refuge in the Royal Botanical Gardens that abut Circular Quay. Stumbling on this sign at the entrance, i decided to take it up on its invitation to walk on the grass, smell the roses, hug the trees, talk to the birds, and picnic on the lawn. 

Don't mind if i do...

Tree Huggin'

Walkin' on the grass, NBD. I noticed that passerby looked very confused as to why i was taking a picture of the top of my head.

Picnicing on the Lawn

Smellin' Some Roses

This little sucker (i have NO idea what kind of bird this was. I would dub it Pinnochio for obvious reasons) was too fast for me to get in a picture with but I assure you we did chat. 

After i completed my tasks (flowers were oddly hard to find for it being a botanical garden...), I ambled around  (walking solely on the grass of course) until my feet got tired and I camped out on a bench to wait for the flying foxes to make their mass exodus which they do every night at dawn. But since it was 4 and I'd been out since 10 am, my non-academic ADD got the better of me and I hopped on the bus home, leaving the foxes (which are more similar to bats than foxes) for another day.

I'm excited its the weekend and look forward to getting to poke around more. Things that i (tentatively) hope to get up to this weekend:

1) Padington and Glebe Markets

2) Bridge Climb

3) Luna Park: a coney island-esque preserved amusement park

4) The Art Gallery of New South Wales. I sat in front of it today but by then my feet were so sore from all the walking I'd done, the thought of compounding my pain by strolling around a gallery was not appealing.

5) Coggee to Bondi Costal Walk: a scenic walk along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. 

6)The Puppet Shop at the Rocks: supposedly a thoroughly creepy shop filled to the brim with puppets of every type. I'm hoping this specialty shop will live up to my expectations where the cuckoo clock shop in Omeo failed. 

We'll see how much I get to! I'm hoping a lot of it but I have to start writing my pieces for class too....