We had a great night at our mini exhibition, Social Signs, on Saturday Night. This is a little about our project taken from our website.
Do you know your neighbour?
What about that man with the walking stick in the shopping isle?
Or the lecturer in the pink top rushing from her car this morning?
Did you answer no to all of the above? That’s no surprise.
As society becomes more reliant on social media to communicate and interact we are slowly losing the true human social behaviour. “Hello, how are you?” has turned into likes and digital comments, while goodbyes are replaced with gtg. I don’t know about you but that makes us sad.
We are blue monkey installations and we are here to introduce social signs. For us Social Signs is our own personal interpretation of digital communication crossed with physical interaction. How and what you say? Well..
Social Signs is a group project that aims to connect people with people. We often walk, shop and drive with people who have challenging journeys, impacting stories, and insightful knowledge. Our project’s mission is to introduce these people of Townsville to Townsville. A project inspired by Brandon’s Humans of New York, Social Signs will take portraits and stories from people all around the city. These images will be transformed into artworks and presented in a one night event at Movimiento.
It was developed by 4 James Cook University students as an assessment piece for Creative Exchange.
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| The Social Signs Team |
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| Some of our walls |
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| They are posters of people we photographed. We then invited those people to the night to meet the other faces on the posters, and we all had a really good night meeting new people. |
I have loved poetry since I was a little girl.
One night at our grade 3 awards night, in 1999 (when I was falling asleep), I received an Australian Poetry book. Apparently I was good at writing.
I cherished that book even though it was hard to read (I wasn't that interested in panning for gold or herding sheep).
However, nowadays, when I think of great poetry, I think of that book and the illustrations it contained.
Men breaking their backs over creeks that whispered of gold. Riders cracking their whips over slow and dumb sheep. Adventure.
At the time I received the book, I lived in Boggabri, New South Wales, the land of nothing. However, as a kid I ran through paddocks of old rusty cars, and bounded through barbed wire like it wasn't even there. I climbed trees filled with bees and wasps, and crawled through muddy, tadpole filled creeks. My favourite thing to do was search for horse shoes. I was obsessed. My collection was 20 strong and growing. From huge draft horse shoes to tiny miniature horse shoes. Whatever the shape, I would claim it. I believe my childhood was filled with the adventure one can only find in Australia.
Anyway, I mention all these things because they are connected to that poetry book of mine.
The great mountain ranges around Townsville also give me those feelings of history and adventure.
That is why I have decided to make a book just like my poetry book. Though, this time it will be about Townsville, and the landscapes which surround it.
I have called out for interested Poets. I have received some response.
My plan is to take photos very soon, and after that, the story will unfold.
Click here to see the end result
A life long love of mine is old books. Their covers, their texture, their pages, their stories, their authors, and their lives.
Every Saturday morning my dad would drive us all to the library. We didn't have much. No games and not very many movies. We had the beach and the library.
We probably had more than that, but thats all I can remember.
I remember winning the book reading competitions. And getting excited when a new book came in. The day I was finally old enough to accompany my mother to the Adult Fiction section. The day I discovered Terry Brooks. The day I realised I could buy my own books. The day I finally gave up my collection of Saddle Club and Pony Pals to the school library. That was a big step. The day I realised I could stay up past midnight reading and still make it to school. The day I realised I could read during English and Economics and no one would stop me. The day I graduated school. The day I got my first car and realised I could drive myself to the second hand book store. I remember the moment I realised I really loved books.
My two favourite books are my fathers dirty copy of The Hobbit, and an old magical thesaurus. Both have inspired me greatly. I have used the thesaurus to write many songs, and to think about words I may never have come across in todays world. Both books inspire wonder in me. I love books because of the utopia I find in them, an escape, a refuge. In my drawings I aim to create the same feelings, only these feelings are accompanied with exploration and creation. When I read, I go into their world. I want my artworks to push on the borders of my mind and imagination. Creating reality and substance.
Here are some quotes I found that really resonate with my thoughts on reading and books:
“What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.” — Anne Lamott
“Be awesome! Be a book nut!” — Dr. Seuss
“I owe everything I am and everything I will ever be to books.” — Gary Paulsen
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” — Confucius
“Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.” — Vladimir Nabokov
Thanks to Emily Temple for the collection.
