BOLLYWOOD DREAMING

Photo thanks to:
http://www.tandanya.com.au/ed10/message-sticks-2008-indigenous-film-festival/

I recently saw this cute little documentary about an Aboriginal African-American teenager – Jedda Rae Hill from Broome, Western Australia. Jedda is into boxing, skating and dreams about being a Bollywood star.

This is a must watch for all Australians. The film has successfully toured the short film circuit but it needs to be seen more by South Asian Australian communities who are normally at a loss for not connecting with Aboriginal peoples and cultures.

Director: Cornel Ozies
Producer: Dot West
Writer: Mitch Torres
Duration: 7mins
Genre: Documentary
Year: 2007


Here is a link to the film on youtube
Enjoy!!!


BOLLY WOOD – The name given to India’s hugely successful Hindi speaking film industry. Some time wrongly quoted to include other film industries in India as well. India has a thriving Tamil, Telungu, Bengali, Malayalam and other flilm industries with an international and domestic reach.

DREAMING/DREAM TIME - To put it simplistically, Dreamtime is Aboriginal Australians contemporaneous worldview.
“There are at least four aspects to Dreamtime – The beginning of all things; the life and influence of the ancestors; the way of life and death; and sources of power in life.
Dreamtime includes all of these four facets at the same time, being a condition beyond time and space as known in everyday life. The aborigines call it the ‘all-at-once’ time instead of the ‘one-thing-after-another’ time.”

http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/australian-aborigine-dream-beliefs/

ART? or BEGGING?

Man kneeling and stooped over begging
Photo CAT

If you happen to be in Sydney CBD during the day, you may have come across this man begging. Always kneeling…arms outstretched with a baseball cap for collecting money. As the day goes along he stoops over and by the evening his head is lowered, still keeling but with his bum resting on his feet. Confronting, disturbing and pathetic at the same time this guy makes me feel uneasy but yet strangely captivating. I have never plucked up the courage to speak to him but so many questions go through my head.

Laden with heavy Catholic symbolism, I wondered if this was some kind of endurance art.

Endurance art - An artistic expression through acts of physical pain, trauma, survival or deprivation.

Tehching Hsieh, a well known endurance artist's 1978 performance statement is as follows

STATEMENT

I, Sam Hseigh, plan to do a one year performance piece, to begin on September 30, 1979.

I shall seal myself in my studio, in solitary confinement inside a cell-room measuring 11’6” x 9’ x 8’

I shall NOT converse, read, write, listen to the radio or watch television, until I unseal myself on September 29, 1979.

I shall have food everyday.

My friend, Cheng Wei Kuong, will facilitate this piece by taking charge of my food, clothing and refuse.

Sam Hseigh


Tehching Hsieh in his cell.
Photo: Cheng Wei Kuong

Is the begging man performing endurance art?
I want to know about him. But my own inhibitions stop me from doing so.
His style doesn’t necessarily lend for conversation.
Maybe that’s how he wants it to be.
May be he is saying some thing about us by our inability to engage with him.
Or he is pshycologically damaged and needs help.
Maybe it is his trade mark begging style.
May be is an artist.
Or is this him 'working' for his money - a hard days labour.
Is it displaced religious convictions playing out in a macabre way.
Maybe he is simply poor and just begging.
What do you all think?
Iam confused.

For other readings on performance endurance art please refer to

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/19/art-marina-abramovic-moma
http://www.one-year-performance.com/

NSW PRIME MINISTER LAUNCHES PARRAMASALA ARTS FESTIVAL PROGRAMME

Parramasala - Australia's latest arts festival programme was launched in the historic suburb of Parramatta in Sydney on Monday 9 Ausgust 2010. Over a period of four days in November 2010, what it set to become Australia's largest South Asian Arts Festival, Parramasala will feature free live music concerts, theatre, dance, photography, film, club nights, a fair, sport and the stunning transformation of the streets of Parramatta. Artists from India,Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, UK and home grown talent will be on show.

Festival highlights include Nitin Swahney(UK-Music),Kailash Kher(India-Music),Twenty 20cricket match, Anadavalli(Australia/India/Sri Lanka-Dance),Popcorn Taxi(Film).

The prgramme was launched at the Roxy Hotel with NSW Prime Minister Kritina Keneally, various MPs, festival director Philip Rolfe and a host of other dignitaries present.
This is a major development in the Australia's arts scene and please check out the website for more information.

"http://www.parramasala.com"

Photos Courtsey of www.parramasala.com/Press