undergraduate research award down under!

I know...It has been a long time since I've posted on here, but it doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything! During this time I have been working hard at Uni and I'd like to say that I just found out that I received Honorable Mention for my application to the UC EAP Undergraduate Research Award for my Art HIstory project here at La Trobe University in Australia. I will receive $500 dollars as a reward as well as a published article in a issue of Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. http://www.frontiersjournal.com/

The title of my project was "Surfacing the Australian Desert: The Local Environmental Art of John Wolseley."

John Wolseley at Work in the Desert

Abstract:

"Australian identity is a complex conversation of ownership, language, myth, and environmentalism. Landscape art is a powerful way to access the core of Australia’s complex national identity. In each painting there are several narratives, dissolving and overlapping with one another, some dominating and some repressing a desire to reveal the beauty and fear of the Australian landscape. John Wolseley’s contemporary landscape art, unlike traditional landscape painting, addresses the discomforts and ambiguities of the Australian landscape by using a multiplicity of styles and mediums. His local environmental art becomes a microcosm for the shifting identities and environmental diversity embedded in the layers of the Australian desert. Through a discussion of Wolseley’s desert landscape art, issues of colonization, archeology, and environmentalism become visible and the complex consciousness of Australia's identity becomes perceivable. The paper will also discuss the following questions: How were British ‘ways of seeing’ transferred to Australian landscapes? How did this contrast with Aboriginal conceptions of land? How can artists synthesize the European conception of the land with Aboriginal beliefs to make true “Australian art”? With this is in mind, this research paper will open up discourse for different ways in which Australia’s contemporary identity copes with preserving and archiving the Australian environment through art. `

Through this project I was able to visit the Australian desert and speak to the artist, John Wolseley himself, about his goals with art and how he aims to synthesize European and Indigenous ways of understanding the landscape through art.

John Wolseley,"Dunes Climbing A Mountain," 1992-3, Pencil, Chalk, Ink. Australian Galleries

sounds down under

Waking up to the sounds of La Trobe University is my favorite part of the day. The sounds of Australia are vivid, fresh, and new- they reiterate the fact that I am currently "down under". Having only been here at La Trobe University for three weeks, I have felt as though I have been here for two months. The campus is active with sporting clubs, picnics, and movements of students just beginning classes. I do find, however, that it is great to escape the movements of campus by taking a tram ride into the city of Melbourne for an evening or day- it is the most beautiful city in the world. The tram ride into the city is about 45 minutes, but it goes by fast- and once you are there it is worth the crowded tram ride. My favorite food to get in the city is sushi (It is the cheapest food here- can get 2 rolls for $3.00!). The best place I have found to eat, however, was in Fitzroy (just about a 10 minute tram ride out of the Melbourne CBD (Central Business District)- a Thai restaurant called "Patee Thai." There I took off my shoes and sat on the floor to enjoy a delicious lamb curry after an evening of exploring Federation Square.

Exploring the night life in Melbourne city is unique because you have to use your ears rather than your eyes to find your way around. Often, the (good) pubs are hidden away out of view- you have to get lost before you have a good time. The other night, two of my friends and I walked down Fitzroy street to find a pub that I I looked up on google. The street was dark and just as my friends were beginning to second guess my google map research skills- I heard a subtle sound of laughter and a Carlton Draught sign began to emerge from the darkness. After a 30 minute trek, we found the Standard Hotel. A lovely place, with an authentic bar and lively beer garden. The atmosphere there was fresh and there was live music playing. It was a great way to end the day before another long tram ride back to campus.

There is so much to do here at La Trobe University. On Monday Nights, there is $5 meals from a pub called Father Flannegans, (only a 25 minute tram ride from campus), throughout the week there are events at the on campus pub ($2 pints of goon(Boxed wine) and juice- not the most classy drink, but fun to socialize with), and there are also heaps of clubs that I have joined such as the Mountaineering Club and Scuba diving club that offer kayaking trips and diving trips. But my favorite thing to do is just to listen- to listen to the environment that surrounds me. To let the sounds inform me how far I have come and how much there is still to hear and learn. To let the sounds slowly reveal the beauty that comes into focus. I have included a digital montage with sounds of my travels- sounds down under. Listen. G'day mates.