On Saturday, I ventured into the city of Melbourne to join a group of cyclists as part of the Melbourne Now program. I met the group outside the NGV Federation Square and we set off to see the city from a different perspective. With Aaron Roberts an architect of Room 11, as our guide, he would stop at various buildings, or voids and even bridge structures, to speak of his vision. He spoke of how the city might utilise these spaces, consider other demographics and their needs, or challenge what our government generally considers belongs in an urban centre. The group of cyclists was such a lovely, friendly bunch, which made the experience so enjoyable. I am going to join another similar expedition next Saturday, exploring Melbourne on a bike. I think you should consider joining us too. Check out The Squeaky Wheel, they have lots of really interesting events around cycling. My shirt, called “What if I could change the world one revolution at a time..” was commented on and now resides in Twitter sphere.
Meanwhile I have been working on the painting, ‘The Thirsty Dove’. A challenging painting as it turns out. I have changed my original structure and tried to make it more dynamic and integrated. I am also trying different colours, so as to separate the image and avoid it from being too illustrative. Try and abstract it somewhat. The idea came about after I came across a newspaper article in Israel about a man whose dwelling had been deemed illegal by the authorities so his home was destroyed. The photograph shows him offering a thirsty dove water, his thoughts for the needs of the bird more than for his own difficulties. I was so struck by this and decided to use it as a metaphor for the current conflict over land. The dove is a symbol for peace and by placing a soldier and an ordinary man and a dove between them, both men offering the dove water as a way of uniting the commonality of us all. Our basic human needs, shelter and water.