Artistic Images of Life

As a visual artist I appreciate anybody who can take an artistic photograph and create an expression that hits your emotions. Occasionally my fabulously wonderful children delight me with their antics. While they are having fun they can also produce some very interesting imagery that reminds me of how beautifully artistic photographs can be. Check these out?

I love this image. It is my youngest child having fun with her friend who took this photograph with her phone camera. Very artistic image. I can see the playfulness in her eyes yet it has a sense of disturbance about it all at the same time.

This is the dinner that my son cooked and served up for me one night. Made me laugh I have to say....lol

  

   'Learning to fly' Life imitating ART. (Image of Cockatoo by Patricia House). 

How wonderful is this. My son the majestic bird. When I first saw this image of the cockatoo photographed by Patricia House, I instantly connected this to my sons antics on his bike. How amazing the similarities.

Art is a fascinating journey of life and it never ceases to amaze me how the relationship between art and life lives a parallel existence. 

Enjoy!

Life is good! 

Destruction of Aboriginal Heritage Sites

Recently I was updating on issues surrounding aboriginal heritage in Western Australia, in particular the destruction of aboriginal heritage sites by FMG. A close friend of mine passed on through my email network some information that distressed me. 

It appears that FMG have destroyed aboriginal heritage sites, either deliberately or not, during the clearing of land for the construction of the Solomon Mine. 

I spent the day at work on Thursday pondering the consequences of what FMG had done and why? I also spent a lot of time trying to get over my anger. Why is it that we denigrate aboriginal history so easily and not think about the consequences? Why is it that aboriginal ethnography is considered to be unimportant because it is oral and not written lore. I found that the destruction of aboriginal heritage sites made me feel sick in the stomach. And even though it is not my particular country that the sites are in I feel as though I have been moved aside because I am unimportant. The reason I feel this way is because aboriginal sites are about our lore, our culture, our lifestyle, our law and our survival. It is the one thing that teaches us how to live and survive. It is who we are. 

Interestingly one of my colleagues who is also aboriginal, asked me how I felt about the destruction caused by FMG's lack of care and lack of due diligence. At the time I felt miserable. My response to the question my colleague had asked was 'I feel distressed'. It distresses me that money is more important than culture and heritage. It distresses me even more that FMG are trying to get out of being prosecuted by laying the blame at the feet of the archaeologist who conducted the research. I am distressed that our Minister for Indigenous Affairs signed the section 18 consent in direct violation of the recommendations of the ACMC. It distresses me that the heritage that has been destroyed is not retrievable. It distresses me that we continually allow mining magnates to dictate the rules of engagement and that those rules change when ever it suits them not us. It distresses me.

Why do we have an aboriginal heritage act if it is allowed to be misused? Why does our government pretend to care when this particular chain of events has shown that this government does not care at all. I am distressed by this and I am in pain. I have lost my faith in government, again.

In previous blogs I have tried to share the feeling and importance of being one with country and how that connection is within ourselves as a people. Aboriginal australians no matter where they live are born with this genetic inheritance of connection to country, nature and life itself. We are one. I cannot describe the pain that the destruction of heritage sites has caused me. I fail to understand the stupidity of this act that violates the Yindjibarndi people. Words are failing me in my distress.

I have attached some links for you all to check out. Please make the effort to check out the links. Changing the world requires us to sometimes raise our voice in protest even if that goes against our usual way of doing things. For if we do not raise our voices this senseless destruction of aboriginal heritage sites will not stop here. Eventually it will come to your town and it won't be aboriginal, it will be a heritage site that is of importance to non-indigenous people and government will dismiss it as unimportant because the drive to make money will over ride the desire to preserve the important things in life.

Don't wait until its on your doorstep. Raise you voice in concern for the lack of decision making by our government that affects all our lives.

Links to check out:

http://yindjibarndi.org.au/yindjibarndi/

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/323674/no-legal-action-for-fmg-over-sacred-site-desecration/?cs=12

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-12/fmg-admits-indigenous-sites-were-damaged/4256466/?site=indigenous

Today life is not so good! 

Less is More

I have opened this page a couple of times this week and sat staring at a blank page. I am struggling to write. Not sure why. I have so many writing tasks to do yet the page remains blank, stares back at me and my mind is empty. I cannot seem to find a single word to write. I have closed this page several times, then opened it hoping that the magic will happen and words will spill forth from my thoughts splashing onto the page filling the void with thoughts of worth and value. I can not seem to be coherent yet my mind is filled with the personal little things of the mundane. I cannot seem to get out of the daily routine of thoughts of triviality yet I function to meet the responsibilities of my day. As I write this I wonder what it is that has sent me to this place of routine. A rote list of daily tasks that need attending to. Its interesting how the little things manage to become the most time consuming chores when you are feeling as though you are moving around in a fog. Thats probably not a good description but basically it's just that I am having difficulty sitting down long enough at my desk to write and when I do I think of other things that I could be doing or I get side tracked and start researching other interests and not attending to the matter at hand and that is getting on with my thesis. Its not that I haven't written it, I have. The problem is I have to edit it and I am procrastinating.

I searched the internet to inspire me to get on with it, but alas I sit here sharing my inability to string a coherent thought together. It is a little frustrating yet I also find it interesting that I am in this position. Normally I would have just sat down and got on with it. Lately I have not been able to focus. What is on my mind you ask? Good question. Everything from work, to my children to my life in general. The only thing not on my mind is my thesis.

So having said that maybe I need to take a break from it and I shall come back to it with fresh eyes and new enthusiasm in a few weeks time. Who knows. What I do know is that I have taken deliberate steps to go to Uni on the weekend and spend hours working on it. I am hoping that the atmosphere of the University will create the thought processes that I need to get out of this slump of thoughtlessness that I currently exist in. 

I shall not complain for my life is running smoothly and I love my job. I am grateful for what I have, but I ask for universal intervention when I say 'please send me coherent, clear thoughts that meet the requirements of my thesis' in order for me to 'get on with it....sigh!

Less stress, life is good!