Out to Space

One mission in Thailand trip was to retrieve my works in the past. When I decide to moved to Sydney, I was stupid to think that I could go back soon and left behind my art pieces that made me proud. Unfortunately, 6 six years on, the house I lived was sold, my belongings were stacked away in many places and I had no idea how they ended up. There were three items I missed the most: two artworks from high school and a film from university. However, they were found in the neighbour’s who was very generous to keep my stuff in their house.

Back in high school, I chose to study the program that taught both visual arts and science to aim for university entrance exams in architecture. (Do not ask me any chemistry now.) It was the best intuitive decision I had ever made because it cracked my vision potentials and also served my curiosity about how things worked.

Third Point Perspective Exploration

Poster colour painting for the final mark in Composition class.

Hay Inspiration

Mixed Media work for school art exhibition

It was a mixed feeling of joy and sadness when I rediscovered these long lost babies. Nevertheless, I decided not to bring these two works to Sydney and took pictures of them in their environment with the camera phone instead. It should have been enough to place them in my fond memories. Looking at the past, whether happy or painful, certainly helped guiding my lost soul to the future.

George Bush impersonation at Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade 2007

It is my little dream comes true to have my works exhibited at Australian Centre for Photography even though it is just a part of the slide show of Mardi Gras: the Slide Show last year. Quote from the press release:

Last Mardi Gras season, a group of budding photographers drawn from Sydney College of the Arts and the Sydney Photobloggers group (who reside at flickr.com) were brought together by Robert McGrath of MG Photographic with the aim of capturing the originality and exuberance of Sydney’s Mardi Gras season.

Morgan Carpenter says that my photos have changed over the year. It is essential to explore retrospectively on your own works to see how it has shaped in a period of time. This small exhibition gives me a chance to look back at myself and I start having a flashback.

Late 2006 I suffered from a drawback feeling. Things went not too well on the year for all sorts of reasons. And I found that that my photography was stale, especially in the contents. So I decided to have a theme to focus on. The idea was to capture Sydney’s diversity through its community events and celebrations.

I was looking at Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras to kick off the concept. Fortunately, Mardi Gras: the Slide Show was looking for a handful of photographers via Sydney Photobloggers Group for the project. My Fair Day series impressed the producer, Robert McGrath and got me in.

Best of all, this art project gave the photographers their own space to express the creativities. The event pushed my limits technically and creatively as I tried to approach it different ways from what I saw Mardi Gras photographs and from my own comfort zone. The day after I was still exhausted mentally and physically. The award from the project was just an extra, the experience that I could share to the larger audience and got me this far was the real deal.

Damien Eames, Head of Brand and Creative Strategy at Mardi Gras says.

For the first time I feel we have a body of work that can convey the complex magic of Mardi Gras to those who’ve never experienced it directly.

The Slide Show is presented at Video Lounge, Australian Centre for Photography until 8 March.

It’s dark, kinky and funny. The Fabulous Punch and Judy Show is the Aussie extreme adaptation of this classic puppet show. This medley of sex and murder scenes portrays the violence and turns into a cabaret as if out of this world. On the other hand, they could be found in the news everyday: wife beating, child raping, gay bashing and so on.

No wonder why I felt very intense after the first time visiting this play as a photographer on the final run-through. While I was concentrating on visions through the camera, the violence came straight into my brain without diluting with punch lines. It is comedy, anyhow. Once I saw it again as an audience on the opening night, I could laugh with its wits and outrages. Surreal tone went along perfectly with the wacky performances. Especially, the cover version of Aussie pop classic was the most adorable.

The Fabulous Punch and Judy Show is a part of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival 2008 and currently playing at Cleveland Street Theatre until 29 February.

Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is about to kick off in a few weeks. And I will be participating as one of the photographers in one of visual arts programs, Mardi Gras: the Slide Show.

Last year event was a big break for me, not only to stretch my photographic actions but also to have the big names, like Dick Quan and Robert McFarlane, to see my works and appreciate them was huge flatter. The award is just a bonus. Big thanks to the project producer, Robert McGrath.

Although my visual style is far from usual Mardi Gras photos, which is the practice of the project, this image from last year is probable the most compromised to be use for this year web site. And another good news is Australia Centre for Photography will be showing the limited selection of last year slide show too. Hopefully, some of mine will get into the show. That would help my little dream comes true.

Have a closer look at some of the likay performers on the night I visited them.