Melbourne's Merry lanes

On a recent trip to Melbourne I decided to explore its tiny lanes and arcades and it was the perfect time to do this as there was a festive spirit everywhere with the lanes beautifully decorated for Christmas and with happy patrons finding the ideal gifts or taking time off from the shopping to have a great coffee or snack. I started from Federation square and I made my way up Flinders Street to the first laneway which is called Degraves St, once William Desgrave's flour mill, now buzzing, almost bursting with little restaurants, the cafes doing a roaring trade and the shops welcoming you in to browse.

From there onto the beautifully preserved Block Arcade, where Melbournians were known to take a walk or do the block around the fashionable streets of Collins and Elizabeth. This is not far from the Royal Arcade the Oldest arcade in Australia dating back to the 1869.

 The iconic trams on Flinders street with the horse drawn carriages taking tourists.

The Block arcade with its mosaic tiled floors  

The Royal Arcade  

 Baubles and wooden dolls

 A fashionable number in one of the shops

 One of the many hip little bars and eateries

 The wonderful intricate paving in the Block Arcade

 I loved the Cut throat shaves on Degraves !

The lovely Christmas wreath and a message to say Merry Merry Xmas everyone ! 

Eucalyptus gold

After seeing Cai's wonderful exhibition, in particular his exhibit of the eucalyptus tree, it had the effect  on me he wanted - it sparked my interest - to find out more about them, to notice them and appreciate them. I grew up with eucalyptus trees, they were brought to Cyprus to fight off the swamps and the malaria and they did very well in that dry mediterranean climate. They have a distinct smell and I always associated them with the ancient ruins of Salamis and areas around Famagusta where they grew in prolific numbers. Having moved to Australia now I find them again here, and whereas in Cyprus I knew of one species here I need to acquaint myself with 700 ! 

They are thought to be 35 to 50 million year old trees. Their oils make them inflammable but their barks make them hardy so amazingly while fires spread horribly with them, they are also the reason for quick reforestation. There are so many varieties here it is actually fascinating to find out all about them. Colloquially they are called "gum trees" because of the sap they produce, but there are spotted gums and red gums, grey gums and black gum, not to mention scribbly gum. The barks can be dark and rough, smooth like silk, greenish, pink, cream, or grey. The leaves have that characteristic oval shape and are silvery green for the most part. Of course their name is from the Greek which means well covered. This refers to how the flower is concealed. Their wood makes exquisite flooring. 

They have been used by the aboriginals to make their didgeridoos, by others to extract oil for medicinal purposes. The oil acts as a natural insecticide and last but not least it is the favourite tree and food for koalas. These are ones we saw in the wild in Great Otway National park at the weekend.We spotted them high up on the trees eating and sleeping the two things they do best. One walked across the road so we stopped to look and he/ she looked back at us with a sweet welcoming face.

 A family, mum and baby above and dad snoring away below.

And the curious one in the wild looking at the wild things in front of it.

Perhaps the most interesting fact of all is that eucalyptus trees draw up gold through their roots and deposit them as tiny particles on their leaves. It is certainly a new way to check the gold deposits of the earth. These trees are golden in every which way and Cai saw exactly that when he chose to exhibit a eucalyptus tree in his magnificent exhibition. 

Cai Guo Qiang- "Falling back to Earth"

Contemporary art and I often struggle and it is a toss up of whether I view it and go away a little disillusioned and disappointed or really fired up and challenged.More often then not it is the former that wins out.

I have never been so fired up and challenged as when I walked into a conversation with this artist who for ease of purpose I will call Cai - (pronounced as in sigh ). My sister and I were lucky enough to go to the opening weekend of this massive seminal exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art ( GOMA) in Brisbane which is on until May of 2014. Don't miss it.

It is difficult to convey the beauty of it, but also the special angle given to it by having the artist there. The conversation was conducted in Mandarin with an able translator and watching Cai answer the incisive and probing questions was music in itself as he related to us how he had rebelled against his father but also took from him the fact that he decorated small match boxes. Perhaps a lot to do with his decision to use gunpowder in a few of his works, one of which, some years ago in Brisbane ended in disaster with the gunpowder blowing up. He spoke eloquently of his development and his creations all over the world and one can truly call him an international artist. He was gracious and humble in a way which resonated with the audience and the use of his hands to add emphasis to what he was saying was not lost on us. His red socks lighted up his dark suit but his face said it all. Radiant, open, smiling and able to listen and take in everything anyone had to offer.  I suppose what really impressed me is that he travels to countries with an open mind and then uses the people and the places, in Queensland its unparalleled nature, to create the amazing works he exhibits. He connects with the people and the places and his art is relevant to each. 

He has returned to explore the beauty of Queensland and to bring to GOMA his unique style and probing mind. One of the exhibits of this exhibition is so magnificent in its simplicity that I will write a separate blog about it.

A little about him. He was born in 1957 in Quanzhou in China and studied stage design in Japan. He lived there from 1986 to 1995. Since 1995 he has been based in New York. He has had a number of solo exhibitions but this is his first one in Australia. He was responsible for the Visual and Special effects in the Beijing Olympics and has won numerous awards for his works and creations.

He created three works in three of the main exhibition galleries: 

"Eucalyptus 2013" 

A massive eucalyptus tree, such a symbol of Australian nature, one that was earmarked for removal. He placed it in the gallery - a massive reclining tree, taking the whole length of the gallery, with small tree trunks that you can sit on and contemplate it. Its beautiful bark and shape, its size, its meaning for Queensland and for its people, its planting, growing and its demise and perhaps its future too. A symbol of this landscape and of its resilience and a way to connect us to nature and all it has to offer.

The next gallery is entitled "Heritage 2013" and again the work takes it over completely with the installation of 99 replicas of animlas from all over the world drinking form a Blue lake which is the image he took away with him from visiting North Stradbroke Island off the coast of Queensland. He is recreating a pristine place, almost in the form of a lost paradise where animals and people can come together to share the same tranquil space. 99 is symbolic - it represents long lasting in Chinese numerology but also leaves room for completing. A single drip into the recreated lake sets out a ripple from the centre to the edges of the lake and is the only noise that disturbs that tranquility. Predators and prey congregate to enjoy this and take sustenance from it. 

In the last gallery is "Head on 2006" which was inspired in part by Berlin's turbulent history. The Berlin wall is depicted through the glass panel in the gallery and the wolves leap into the unknown only to fall back, as they encounter obstacles, ideological blind spots and moral dilemmas. Some survive and carry on, others do not.

Finally through a tea ceremony we were invited to taste the wonderful teas coming from his home state and to contemplate our own harmony with nature and our ability to relate to others. This was followed by the Sounds of the Earth through the collective and incredible harmonies of William Buxton on dideridgoo, the Taiwan born musician Wang Xinxin on her flute and other Chinese instruments and the Voices of Birralee, a childrens choir emulating the sounds of the forest. 

Here he is with the performers.An absolute must see whether here or anywhere else in the world you might be lucky enough to come across his work. 

Tis the season

No sooner has the city and its suburbs unfolded its natural festive colours than the season officially kicked off last night at St George's Square in front of Brisbane City Hall. What to me is remarkable is that the place was packed with young families for as far as the eye could see and Brisbane doesn't disappoint its citizens. There was opera to start with, followed by a traditional welcome to country by an Aboriginal group and then a children's Christmas choir. The Mayor Graham Quirk came on stage accompanied by a giant turkey and a fat pudding who delighted the children and had with him two little girls from the charity Starlight which does a wonderful job looking after the wishes of very sick children. Appropriate, touching, traditional and inclusive -with that final aaah moment of the christmas tree lights coming on and even they had their beautiful Ozzie angle, 1600 lights all solar powered. 

Hats off to you Brisbane.

The beautiful City Hall with its magnificent Parthenon- like- pediment but no Greek gods here, only depictions of a cloaked woman representing progress and enlightenment and settlers on the one hand and Aborigines on the other hand sculpted by Daphne Munro in the 1930s.

 Packed in every direction as far as the eye could see. 

 Christmas colours for City hall 

 The solar powered Christmas tree, the biggest of its kind. 

Out with the blues, roll in the reds

And I am not talking about football colours or clubs but the fact that Brisbane is an unfolding panorama of colours and one worth talking about. Sometime ago I showed you the beautiful Jacaranda in my garden. Most of them had flowered slightly early due to some unseasonably warm weather. A couple of storms and the roads are a carpet of blue. I look up in the sky I can see thick fleshy green buds just bursting to take over.

The reds are rolling in, almost as a precursor to the Xmas season that is just beginning, to decorate the city with vibrancy and vitality. The Poinsianas flower throughout the month of November and streets, valleys and riverside are splashed like canvases with this shock of red. They are trees from Madagascar and they take a long time to mature and flower but when they do this its worth waiting for. There are other trees and shrubs that add to this spectacular array of reds in the city. 

Red Pea ?

Bottle brush 

 

 Poinsiana 

 And the view from my deck with a pink flowering frangipani in the foreground and the Poinsiana coming out behind.