Dom leaves me the sweetest presents

Testing: my tribute to Home and Away

So I've been writing an article for Soapbox about how important (in terms of social cooperation and personal development) it is to not let yourself fall into the trap of watching TV to relax as something familiar, reliable and undemanding. This specifically applies to rewatching old TV shows.  It would be better to do new things - to stimulate yourself and get ideas by being outside your comfort zone; to get accustomed to, and interested by different and unfamiliar things.

BUT this is a hard demand; people need to balance trying, with their tendency to switch off. And soap operas are the answer, which you will read when my article comes online soon.

So these prints are just some tests and messing around with some Home and Away characters; especially the characters' tattoos because tattoos can act as a focus or as an escape for the owner's mind (which soap operas do too).  Some other prints about the teamwork that a cast of a soap opera must need to learn; just exploring how the solidarity we see on screen of the tight knit towns in soaps, is indicative of they way the actors have to cooperate while filming constantly; literally having a double life (rather than filming an leaving like feature films require).

There are also some screen shots of Home and Away interiors and colours; they are so great. I might do some prints. Based on the comforting value of knowing the world of a soap opera you watch.

And also there's a crap painting of Tamara and Kyle from H&A, but focusing on the window (another escapism/daydreaming metaphor).

WRITING

Soapbox Press asked me to write for them again (actually this is a few months old - i've got another deadline for them in 2 days, eek). It's a lot like some of the things I talk about in my thesis, and relates to a few little photographic and film projects I've half done, and also to one of my final pieces at uni. Find it here: Walking: Rituals and Time

Co-operativeness and tables

Been bashing out some mono-prints around my ideas of cooperativeness: a cooperative economy being a better social style (basically) and how the humble table (it's form, construction and use) are a perfect metaphor, methodology and medium for such a thing. If you have the time to decipher my messy mono-printed handwriting you might understand a little more!

The picturesque life of Sophie Chatellier

I went into her room to find her, and instead I found 4 pears on the floor and a lemon on the windowsill :)

Thank you Sophie 

Olive Picking - Umbria

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

And the moral of the story - leave the city

"Baby this town rips the bones from your back

It's a death reap, it's a suicide rap

We gotta get out while we're young

'cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run"