Every month, I tempt you with the promise of a short blog post, complaining about time pressures at the same time. This month this might actually come true. Or we can see if I am just incapable of refraining from rambling. I do have some deadlines that I should really be attending to. And so I thought that I’d keep this one visual by showing you some artwork I’ve seen around Sydney over about the last 10 months or so, so that I can then put this batch of photos aside in preparation for this upcoming summer with new exhibitions starting everywhere.

First of all, here are some inflatable pieces. Those colourful humanoid figurines were an exhibition called The Aunties by Jenny Kee (as you can see for yourself in the photo), one of the power-women in Australian fashion design. These two inflatables are actually Auntie Marge and Auntie Una, who inspired her to take up sewing from a young age. At around the same time earlier in the year, many of you in Sydney would have noticed these other inflatables, white rabbits that marked the Year of the Rabbit around the time of the lunar new year. These rabbits were created by Amanda Parer, another female Australian artist, back in 2016 when it was not the year of the rabbit at all. The bunnies have since toured a few other places on other continents, but have returned for this auspicious occasion.

Speaking of white rabbits, the White Rabbit Gallery (as you would have seen in a previous blog post) is one of my favourite art spaces in Sydney. They have a new exhibition of contemporary Chinese art every 6 months, so I reliably visit them twice a year. It’s always quite interesting for me because of the early years I spent in China where conformity is valued far above originality, and drilled into you from even before kindergarten. I even failed a grade 1 art task (they get into the world of pass vs fail even at an early age, but luckily I didn’t fail the entire subject) because I drew people with noses like I had seen on TV in Japanese anime, and not the way our teacher said that noses had to be drawn. I complied with the requirements of art class after that incident, and so I am always impressed by all these people in China who have managed to keep that creative spark alive despite the heavy discouragement.

And of course, I have to mention THE new art space in town, the newly-opened modern art building (the North Building) of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I can’t believe it’s almost been open for a year now. I’ve visited several times already and I’ve seen all the inaugural free exhibitions. I’m waiting eagerly for these to be refreshed. One of my favourite pieces is in the photos: Regalia, by Reko Rennie, a Kamilaroi (one of the many Australian Aboriginal groups) artist. I’m not quite sure why exactly, but I like how the graffiti-style symbols communicate a message about colonialism. And I agree with everyone that the bunker part in the basement is a particular highlight. It’s a space from the Second World War, where massive navy ships used to be refuelled, that has now been repurposed and illuminated with moving search lights only. Sculptures (themselves stationary) almost jump out at you with the moving light. It is so much fun. And now back to work-related fun that involves the other half of my brain! I do actually mean that. I like using both sides of my brain, but the corpus callosum in between them most of all.