First published in Daily Life, August 2015 Nancy Larrick had a knack for asking timeless questions. In her landmark 1965 essay ‘Children’s books: Still an all-white world?‘, the American educator and founder of the International Reading Association surveyed 5,200 books published between 1962 to 1965 and found that only 6.4 per cent included African-American characters in […]
First published in Open Skies magazine, January 2015 It only takes a moment for a place’s contradictions make perfect sense. In Sydney’s Newtown, this is on weekend mornings when the light bounces between the punks sipping espresso outside faded terrace houses, the long-haired stallholders brushing dust off well-loved vinyl and a mural that superimposes a […]
First published in Museum magazine Issue 1 September 2014 In a hip-hop landscape packed with commercial appropriations of ghetto life, Chicago’s trigger-fingered drill scene – which emerged somewhere near 2010 and exploded into the mainstream shortly after – still strikes a deathly chord. Drill rattled through my bones before it reached my ears, hijacking the well-tuned frequency […]
If Keef, who makes the kind of hedonistic party music that could soundtrack the apocalypse and is regularly arrested for weapons charges, represents the tension between authenticity and bankability that’s as old as hip-hop itself, then Herb, whose acclaimed recent mixtape Welcome to Fazoland ⎯ named for a dead friend ⎯ tempers bleak portraits […]
Image credit: Julian Meagher
When Carole De Senarclens makes her first visit to Sydney this week, it won’t be to immerse herself in the city’s water vistas or the sleek curves of the Opera House. Instead, the Singapore gallerist is bound for the industrial elegance of Carriageworks, home to the newest event on the international art circuit. “We’re really […]
Published in Scoop Homes & Art, Spring 2013 A culture that spend decades creatively shackled is experiencing a new revolution, with an enormous talent pool of Chinese artists finding purchase in the West. In China, contemporary art is the product of a collective moment rather than the talent of individual artists. The death of Mao […]
The 60th edition of the Sydney Film Festival is a cinephile’s dream It may not have the Riviera glitz and glamour of Cannes, but there’s plenty to love about Sydney’s own tribute to celluloid gold. The Sydney Film Festival, which unfolds over 12 days in June, is known for unearthing cinematic talent from Australia and […]
Nothing beats the buzz of creating something out of nothing. Like the thrill of road-tripping your way around the US without seeing the inside of a hotel. Or publishing a genre-defying indie magazine without a decent editorial budget, advertising revenue or cigar-toting publishing mogul in sight. Chris Ying and Mauro Bedoni are familiar with this […]
Published in Broadsheet, January 2012 Curious and irreverent as ever, MONA’s Festival of Music and Art returns to Hobart with a star line-up and a festival experience that is anything but ordinary. You would be forgiven for mistaking a subterranean art lair built by a collector with a thing for gambling, an ex-bassist turned Zen […]
Published in Broadsheet Redfern’s grimy energy stops short at the pocket between Phillip and Baptist Streets. Here, concrete Brutalist architecture gives way to rows of Victorian terraces, and a tin shed juts out of the storybook setting, lending an otherworldly shimmer to the sepia haze. For Jane Smith, it was this precise quality that drew […]
Published in Broadsheet, January 2013 Anish Kapoor’s new exhibition at the MCA proves that the pull of irony is no match for the power of poetry. There’s a brand of contemporary art that can make you feel clever just by being in its presence. The kind of cool, cloying work that helps you master your […]
Published in Broadsheet Bosky is feeding our terrarium fixation with miniature worlds that blend horticulture and art. There’s something comforting about terrariums. The miniature greenhouses might represent a charming combination of horticulture and art, but they also offer a type of pleasure that’s a world away from the concrete thrills of city life. Maybe that’s […]
Published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Sun-Herald The swift uptake of tablet devices has set the stage for a new wave of magazine publishing, without the glossy pages. f you believe the online revolution couldn’t be further away from the tactile thrills of your local newsagent, you may want to reconsider. The tablet […]
Published in Broadsheet, Spring edition September 2012 Contemporary dance was included in the Biennale of Sydney’s artistic program for the first time this year, with Carraigeworks unveiling a compelling new work of equal parts art, dance and spectacle. For most of us, music offers a soundtrack to our lives, imbuing the best moments with greater meaning […]
Published in Broadsheet Global design critic Alice Rawsthorn from the International Herald Tribune will give the keynote speech at 7 Kinds of Happiness: Conversations on Design and Emotion, presented as part of DesignEx in Sydney next week. Like good design, good writing is effortless. A well-written piece of criticism can make an ambitious idea seem […]
Published in Broadsheet A new North Melbourne cafe combines good food and coffee with hopes of giving new exposure to local creatives. When you live in the type of city that elevates its coffee to high art, the pleasures of caffeine consumption can get a little lost in the process. That’s why the Sketch & […]
Image credit: Dear Patti Smith
Published in Broadsheet A new artis-run contemporary art space in the Paterson Building on Smith Street is driven by the possibilities of transience. Smith Street’s Paterson Building sits somewhere between Fitzroy’s working class past and its redeeming present as the heartland of the Melbourne art world. The former 19th century furniture warehouse has been part […]
Published in Relative magazine A few weeks upon my return from an extended overseas foray, I found myself at an event that halted the driving force behind the extended overseas foray. The event was a launch of a street press so obscure, so purposefully underground that it did not take the form of paper but […]
Published in Metro magazine Television series Flight of the Conchords tackles the serious task of subverting stereotypes while still making us laugh, writes Neha Kale. In April 2006, Bret McKenzie, one half of New Zealand folk parodists Flight of the Conchords, told Time magazine: ‘Musical comedy sounds awful – I guess I’d describe what we do as understated […]
