Sydney: New Year fireworks

Katoomba ... summer

gum in the mist ...




growing tip of wollami pine ... click to enlarge

Katoomba: clouds rise in the valley

sunlight through the fog

the cat sat ... on the road

Deborah Kelly billboard: Sydney

After 18 months of trying to buy a billboard space in inner Sydney, artist Deborah Kelly's antinuclear work finally went up in Chippendale on Wednesday 14 November, 2007.

The artwork was originally made for the 2003 Venice Biennale, and shown there as part of a collaborative project between Kelly and US artist Martha Rosler.

But in Sydney, no billboard company in the city would accept the work, funded by musician John Butler, citing mysterious "commercial conflicts", if they responded at all.

Company after company were very keen to take Ms Kelly's grant money- until, that is, they saw the artwork. Then , silence.

In desperation she approached her local council, and local politicians, who "became involved when the free speech issue highlighted the flimsiness of our democracy", she says.

Katoomba summer fog

Iraq war protest wins Turner Prize

Mark Wallinger won Britain's 2007 Turner Prize for art at a ceremony in Liverpool.

Wallinger, 48, was honored for his work 'State Britain', a reconstruction of peace campaigner Brian Haw's anti-Iraq-war protest in London's Parliament Square.

The jury, in an e-mailed statement, said 'State Britain' "had immediacy, visceral intensity and historic importance. The work combines a bold political statement with art's ability to articulate fundamental human truths."

Wallinger paid tribute to Haw: "A remarkable man, who has waged a tireless campaign against the folly and hubris of our government's foreign policy."

The room erupted in cheers when the award was announced.

more pics

HOWARD THROWN OUT!

more

Katoomba storm

Nippon Club

green tea ice cream

sushi

shed in Megalong Valley

more blooms

more blooms ... after the rain

100,000 march for climate change action

Australians in 60 cities and towns have taken to the streets today to ask the major political parties to make a stronger commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The national day of action has tried to draw attention to global warming and pressure the political parties to address the issue.

The Nature Conservation Council says about 100,000 people took part in Walk Against Warming marches across Australia.

In Sydney, a crowd of about 30,000 gathered in the Domain where they were addressed by Greens Senator Bob Brown and Federal Opposition Environment spokesman Peter Garrett.

Purple shadows

Ned Kelly rides through Sydney

http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/media/current/nolan

Collen Z Burke: Book launch

Colleen's website

New Theatre: 75 years

newtheatre.org.au

from Reedy River
'My Old Black Billy"

"Charley Mopps"


Tom Uren cuts the cake

Hans Blix: Sydney Peace Prize winner

Dr Hans Blix was welcomed to Sydney's Town Hall tonight as a hero by a close to capacity audience. He was applauded by the throng for his courageous stand agianst those who derided his investigation that showed Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were the reason given by George Bush, Tony Blair and of course John Howard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. An invasion that tens of millions of people around the world tried to stop by demonstrations their bellicose leaders brushed aside. Howard described the close to million Australian demonstrators as "the mob".

Blix of course has long been proved correct while those who denigrated him remain in power still convinced they can win the war that they started. Blair has had to leave and this month may prove the demise of Howard, while Bush is openly derided in the "super power" United States both there and around the world.

Read Hans Blix speech here

Blooming garden