A little while ago, I had the privilege of taking a day trip to Melbourne to drop off a small painting for a group exhibition, A-4 Addict, which is currently on show at Addict Food and Coffee in Fitzroy. I had to get going before dawn and thought you might enjoy a short video of the light breaking over the landscape.

Miraculously a friend and her family were visiting from Western Australia and happened to be in Melbourne the same day. Joy! After a meet up outside David Jones we trundled off to Haigh’s Chocolates in an arcade close by.

With an abundance of choice ranging from artisan truffles at the counter to dark chocolate plum infused bars, to giant frogs and fish and much more, the choice was difficult. I eventually opted for a box of 4 truffles including a dark lemon myrtle cream, dark mango chilli truffle, dark plum liquor and an absolutely delicious apricot one which I can’t remember the name of. On top of this the friendly customer service team member gave us a couple of free gin chocolate tasters, which we very gratefully received. After a bit of a look around at the arcade we found a cafe in a nearby lane and chatted for a bit.

Waving my friend and her family goodbye, I set off to ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) on Flinders Street to see an exhibition by London-based collective Marshmallow Laser Feast. On the walk there via Russell Street, I came across this street art piece by the artist Heesco on Beaney Lane. Heesco has a short video of the making of the work on his website. I like how the orange text wraps and weaves around her in a similar fashion to how her hair adornment wraps and weaves and how both interconnect with one another. Looking closer is the orange actually text, similar to how street artist writers design complicated interweaves, or is it a reference to this style and not actually text at all? Either way it is a beautiful piece and it would be interesting to know more of the idea behind the design. I also find it interesting how a street artwork may transform over time with layers of graffiti and marks made by others that may change the meaning of the original work. For example. the hand written graffiti overlaying this work may impact on the viewers interpretation of this work compared to the viewer’s interpretation without it.

*Beaney Lane street artwork,* artist Heesco

Once at ACMI, I excitedly paid for my ticket to Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature. I realise now the show closed a few days after I saw it so I was lucky to get in. The exhibition was stunning and a special place to ponder the wonders and intricacies of nature. On arrival each person was given a cardboard disc that you digitally logged at each artwork point so you could log in to your device at home and view the artwork you “collected”.

*We Live in an Ocean of Air,* artist Marshmallow Laser Feast

The first work seen on entry to the exhibition was Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest, the first of a number of mesmerising large-scale video installations on display. The size of the tree on the screen and the way it transformed back and forth between tree to a depiction of the flow of internal systems within the tree was fascinating and magical. The systems were like golden threads - powerful, rejuvenating and giving hope to what sometimes seems like a hopeless battle for restoration of nature to its former glory. Following this a 10 minute meditation was available where you could sit on a big comfy bean bag with headphones on.

Virtual Reality (VR) was also an additional added extra to the ticket if you so desired. I didn’t due to my schedule, but as I walked by the VR section I think I might have regretted my decision a bit.

I took this photo of one stage of Marshmallow Laser Feast’s video installation We Live in an Ocean of Air which was the last large scale work in the exhibition. Per the Marshmallow Laser Feast website “We Live in an Ocean of Air is a large-scale video installation where the invisible connection between plants and humans is revealed through breath.” This work had similarities to Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest in that there was a mind blowing transformation of the outer to the inner tree and with it a stirring of the otherworldly taking place in my heart.

Post exhibition, logging into the ACMI site using the disc has been really interesting and informative. For example, We Live in an Ocean of Air includes a write up by ACMI, poetry by Glasgow based writer Daisy Lafarge, some of the background process and interviews to make the work and an artist video of Ersin Han Ersin among the Victorian landscape. You can see images of both Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest and We live in an Ocean of Air on the Marshmallow Laser Feast website.

After a good hour at ACMI, I headed off to Hello Chicken at Southbank for a Korean original fried chicken combo and a can of Bong Bong Korean Grape Juice. I do love my K-dramas and wanted to try the Korean fried chicken they frequently eat in them.

There was also a kimchi dish I wanted to try but given the size of the combo, I figured I would leave it to another time. No problems, just gives me something new to try the next time I go there.

Feeling refreshed, next stop on my itinerary was the Hellenic Museum on William Street to see the Memento Mori, the trio of artworks by artist Steven Nuttall, known as 'Ox King', depicting three sisters known in Greek mythology as the Moirai, or The Fates. Per the Hellenic Museum write up on the artist talk, “the Moirai remind us of the transient nature of life and ask us to consider, are we really living?”. This trio of murals are currently situated in the museum’s forecourt. On the reverse side of the structures are three feminist portraits, titled Well Behaved Women, by artist Loretta Lizzio, depicting Hydna of Scione (swimmer), Anyte of Tegea (poet) and Agnodike of Athens (physician). To quote the Hellenic Museum’s website, “Loretta specifically chose these three women to depict; paying homage to women who broke away from the traditional gender roles associated with women of the time and made an indelible mark on history and myth.” Interestingly, when looking at both the trios, it struck me that there was a strong connection between the theme of Memento Mori and the portrait of Agnodike of Athens. While I assume that the skull was used in Agnodike of Athens to portray her ground breaking role as a female physician in the ancient world, the fleshless skull compared to her youthful face clearly spoke to me of the meaning of that Latin phrase Memento Mori “remember that you must die”. There is so much tragedy, war and suffering in our world, this is something that is on my mind frequently. But I need to remind myself that love and good is also very much ever present and reaching out to embrace us.

I left the murals and headed down Little Lonsdale Street on the way to the State Library of Victoria. About halfway there, I came across this amazing mural in Heape Court, reminiscent of anime and the Astro Boy I remember as a child. I like that even though time has chipped away at her mouth (to me it seems a power feminist image), her expression remains the same - that cool assessing look. The bold lines and pairing down of colours to capture the mood and pose is compelling. I thought you might enjoy seeing it. I don’t know who the artist is, but if you do, I would really like to know.

I had planned to see World of the Book at the State Library of Victoria but the only way to access the Dome Galleries appeared to be the lift and there was a long slow moving queue in front of it. As I had to be at The Corner Studio later that afternoon to drop off my painting, I decided not to wait and checked out another exhibition on display Luminous: A thousand years of Hebrew Manuscripts. This was an interesting exhibition. The size of a scroll from 1700s China on display made me think of one of the Psalms where it says “Here I am, it is written about me in the scroll…”. I had never seen a scroll that size before, so its physicality somehow illuminated those words to me. The other manuscript that also drew me in was another 1700s piece, the Perek Shirah (an ancient hymn of praise of existence), made with approximately A6 sized pages. A google translate of Perek Shirah from Hebrew to English is “a poetry episode”. I loved the tiny animals painted in a delicate manner on the page on display - a lion, horse, deer, bear, wolf, sheep, a cow, a dog (from what I could make out - you may see different and more animals on inspection).

Worried that I wouldn’t make Fitzroy in time for the painting drop off, I left the State Library a bit earlier than planned and caught a tram down to Spencer Street, got a bit lost, then found a bus that went pretty much directly to The Corner Studio. Yay! I tried to take some photos of the cool murals painted on The Corner studio outer walls but the light was in an annoying position so they are not that great sorry! You will have to go check it out for yourself to get a proper look.

I made it back to Southern Cross in time to catch the train and grab a tea. The tea was super hot so whilst waiting it to cool down I took the opportunity to watch two seagulls eating scraps from the floor and hovering close to a man eating a burger. Thankfully there was just enough battery left in my phone to take a few snaps of the action. Here is a close up of a section of my watercolour painting inspired by these seagulls.

A Little Art Tour, Melbourne, Victoria

Geelong & Werribee Open Range Zoo, Victoria

Port Fairy & Portland, Victoria