Australia Day - almost...

 

Back into the light

 

The image on the right,  Back into the light, is a response to the image on the left, Through the floodgates, which I posted a week ago. (The first image was a reflection on how the grim reality of the Brisbane floods, had broken through a previous happy mood. This image in itself was a response to an earlier image, feeling joy, which I posted on 8th January.) Are you still with me?

In the second (or should that be third?) image, I reversed the dynamic of the previous image, so it now depicts breaking through from the dark foreground, which looks like a wall, to the bright and colourful background. What I wanted to do, was play with the idea of contrasts, or what you might call positive and negative, and to see how this could change the mood of the whole image. I am also interested in exploring the idea of an image being a response to another image (and another...). And how moods change, over and over again.

What I then noticed, when I turned the image on its side, is how similar the central shape is to the map of Australia, give or take a peninsula or two. Well, sort of...

 



This surprising similarity, so close to Australia Day tomorrow, made me think about how I feel about life in my adopted homeland, and what I appreciate about it. After all, the image was originally supposed to represent positivity breaking through from a dark place. So here is my unpremeditated short list of thirteen Australian things I am grateful for (I love lists!):

• bright sunshine on so many days
• rain on the tin roof (but not when it doesn't stop)
• the Pacific Ocean and the Barrier Reef
• the expression 'That's un-Australian!'
• multiculturalism
• indigenous art
• the rainforest
• enthusiasm for life and BBQ's
• parrots
• we said 'sorry'
• islands - Straddie, Tassie et al.
• great food and wine 
• the vast scale of the landscape

 
I finally had my Angel interview yesterday. It was for the Pyjama Foundation, which sends volunteers to read to foster children. The volunteers are called 'pyjama angels'.
 
More later.