Day 79 - Museum Day

I don't know if we really went to all these museums today, but I'm gonna clump them anyway. Righto. I don't remember as much of today for whatever reason, probably because to be perfectly honest it was just not as interesting as the other days. We went to an art museum to look at a specific exhibit, some Aboriginal art. I was disappointed that we didn't get to look at the other art but honestly I was so sick of museums after the first three months that it was easy to be fairly reticent about this one. The art was beautiful, of course - there's a certain sort of expression that Aboriginal and other Indigenous art can achieve that the contemporary art I'm used to can't. And I love the clearly handmade look about it; it's so very real and material and human. The colors are great, and the art is captivating, in the same way that native American art is captivating, but in different ways too, because the themes and everything are so different. We didn't get to stay long and on our way out Liz and I had a strange conversation with the Asian guy working there - his English wasn't that great but he wanted to talk to us, asking where we were from and if we were students and how long we would be in Sydney. He was very friendly, but Liz seemed uncomfortable, and we were already a little late to meet Frank and the group. I've had a lot of these strange impromptu conversations on this voyage, with people on the street or working behind a counter somewhere or driving a cab. It's strange to have such short interactions that then stick with you, and to have so many of them. I'm getting a little less shy, that's for sure.

Australia museum

Anyway we also went to a Natural History and Cultural museum, and if not for the whirlwind tour, it would have been really cool. We had to put on headphones so we were completely at the mercy of the guide and not distracted by all the background noise and other tours, and she rushed us through there so fast I hardly got to look at anything. There was some really cool stuff though, like emus made out of barbed wire to symbolize humans' control over them and endangerment of the wildlife in general. And we saw some amazing videos of Aboriginal dance and walked through a darkened room with stars and the constellations in the Southern Sky and the Aboriginal legends about them. There was some amazing music playing and I just took my headphones off and figured she could deal with it. I wish I had taken some pictures so I could remember what we saw! There must have been some interesting history in there too, I know there was some stuff about the people who "discovered" Australia, and the convicts who settled it, and the Industrial Revolution in Australia and things like that. Frank bought us lunch there, and it was this huge process to get all 12 or whatever of us food. They guy behind the counter was not friendly at all, and I just ordered something really easy and small to avoid having to talk to him or navigate the crowd. Then I was hungry. Whatever.

functional and beautiful

Outside the museum, but still part of it, there was this amazing piece of installation art that I wish I had hours to look at and study. It had all sorts of shapes and colors on it, and it had water and stairs and ladders - but you couldn't get to them, they were symbolic or something. And all over the ground and the sculpture and up the stairs and under the water was the word "home" written in just about any language you could think of. I couldn't find it in English, we didn't have enough time and it could have been out on the art somewhere we couldn't get to anyway. There was a path that led through and past the piece, in red, that went out to the front of the museum and continued in a roller-coaster-like spiral and off into the distance toward some sacred point - I can't remember the name of it now - symbolically showing the museum's connection and identification with that spot. I wish I could remember the details. It was so cool. Definitely the coolest part of the whole museum.

gift shop

I honestly can't remember what else we did that day. There must have been other stuff. Must not have been that exciting. Weird. This is why I should journal the day these things happen instead of waiting until I've forgotten everything.

Oh wait there was another gallery. I think we did this on the gallery day but I'm going to put it here anyway because this entry is so much shorter. We went to a gallery of Aboriginal arts. They had all kinds of different mediums and styles, and I can't remember if it was one artist or many but I think it was many. We were allowed to take photos in this one, I think. My favorite was a painter, but it's not the same as what we think of when we think of "paintings" - they're drawn with paint out of a bottle, like Henna almost, and it's all an elaborate series of lines and dots and squares and to tell you the truth I couldn't ever do it because my hands shake so much. The lines are so straight and so perfect. It was amazing. They had a lot of "artifacts" too, like digeridoos and totem-style things and this funny little dog carving that looked like it was about to eat you. We didn't spend much time in there but we did get into the gift shop, and that was fun; I was debating about buying this notebook with a really cool painting on the front that reminded me of Starry Starry Night (Van Gogh) and Gabriel bought the same one and convinced me to buy it so we'd match. We decided we'd use it for the end of the voyage for everyone to sign in like a yearbook and put their contact details in. It worked out great.

Heart's Road

And it still doesn't feel like we did anything today. Whatever. Some days are just not as exciting I guess.

home installation

home installation 2

home installation 3

Jon looking at art

line painting

Liz in the gallery