Australian artist Hannah Bertram makes incredible, impermanent art installations with dust. She collects her material on site, then uses it to create these intimate, intricate artworks on various surfaces. Read about her latest project, the silence of becoming and disappearing on her website, and be sure to click on each of the installation links to see her process and creations. The project is also apparently featured in a 3 page article in the current (Sept/Oct) edition of Vogue Living.

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found via all the mountains.

Back in July, when I found the beautiful photography portfolio belonging to Australian photographer Olga Bennett, I was intrigued and inspired by her images (seen here above and below) of fashion stylist Kim Kneipp a.k.a the sustainable stylist. Doing a little research online, I soon discovered that Kim and I share the same passion and ethos – we are both striving for sustainable style in our everyday lives with the hope to inspire others to consume less. But while my work and focus leans toward interiors and homewares,  Kim’s focus is fashion. She not only works as a personal stylist  – which includes teaching you to “shop your own closet” (love this idea!), accompanied shopping trips, colour & style consultations, and tailored alterations –  but Kim also facilitates sustainable design workshops, teaching people how to refashion their tired garments into fabulous new ensembles. The idea is that you bring a suitcase to the workshop packed full of old favourites that you are no longer wearing, and for 3 hours or so, you  “unpick, drape, reconfigure and rework your old friperies.”

I love the idea of these workshops, it is something I’ve been looking for for years in fact. The sustainable stylist workshops are currently held on Saturdays in Daylesford and Trentham in Central Victoria, Australia where Kim has recently set up home having moved from Melbourne. Click here to find out dates and times. I’ll definitely be going along next time I’m in Oz…

more gorgeous photos of Kim and her home, photography by Olga Bennett

Kim has also started a blog and although it is only a few months old, it is already filled with lots of great tips and ideas. I’m so excited to have found her, and I can’t wait to see more from her in the months to come.

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For more information and contact details for the sustainable stylist, click here.

All images in this post are by Olga Bennett, click here to view her full portfolio.

view from plane, looking over central australia. photo by me, pjb.

Lara Damiani is a young australian filmmaker whose film-making adventures  I’ve been following closely over the last few years. I first heard about her through the Tibetan community in Dee Why, Sydney –  it was early 2007 and there was a rumour going around that this young woman had plans to go into Tibet to film. I was intrigued and inspired, to say the least. After doing some research I found out the rumour was true – Lara sold nearly everything she owned to set off for Tibet, risking her life to make a documentary about the plight of the Tibetan people. That documentary was Tibet’s Cry for Freedom, you may recall I wrote about it upon its release, right here.  Since its release, Tibet’s Cry for Freedom has been acquired by two international television broadcasters, and has screened at 14 film festivals across the world.

Lara has just embarked on another film making journey which I’ve been wanting to share with you for some time, this one is a little closer to home. Banjo’s War follows the story of the Alyawarr people of central Australia as they attempt to create a self sustaining community from mulga scrub on their land at Honeymoon Bore. It’s a story about self-determination, freedom, dignity, human rights and why the Government’s Intervention is wrong. The doco will be centred around Banjo Morton who led a successful walk-off back in 1942 and now, 68 years later has led another in protest against the Government’s Intervention.

collecting bush plums. photo by rusty stewart.

Filming has begun – last week Lara and her crew went to Alice Springs to attend the Gathering of the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People. Here is a snippet from Lara’s account of the event:

“As I sat, filmed and listened to the stories from the Traditional Owners of their experiences after the Government’s Intervention, I came to fully understand their struggle. I couldn’t help but think of the thousands of years of history, tradition and culture that were standing before me over the course of the week – elders, children and other Indigenous Australians – and how little mainstream Australia really knows about the issues and the struggle affecting our Indigenous People. How rich Australia is to still have our Indigenous people. How sad it is that they are struggling to survive.”

This is a story that needs to be told, and I’m more than thrilled that Lara has taken this doco on board. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying seeing Lara’s photos and video journals come through from her visits with the Alyawarr people, and I thought I’d share with you one of my favourites below. It’s a little clip of young Jesse-Lee showing Lara how to find and eat bush banana – brilliant, check it out…

The completion of Banjo’s War relies heavily on donations, so if this is a topic that you are passionate about like me, you can help make this film happen –  for more info click here. And to see the film’s teaser trailer, click here.

Well done Lara, your work is awe-inspiring and I hope to meet you one day – even better, work together. Until then, as they say here in Holland, succes!

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

It’s been awfully quiet here in the (blog)house this week, perhaps a little too quiet for your liking, my apologies. I’ve been on deadline and was really in the zone, writing day and night, night and day. And when I did manage to lay my head on my pillow to catch some zzz’s, I was editing and writing in my sleep. Right now, my brain feels like it is melting from the inside. Not a good feeling but I’m hoping it will all be worth it in the end.

In not so quiet news, I’ve been wanting to tell you about some super cool events happening down under this month…

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

Do you remember a few months ago I wrote about the fab rachel khoo and foodie partner in crime frankie unsworth’s edible immigration tales in sydney? Well this month they are embarking on a new adventure in edible story telling, this time of the tapestry kind…

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

Frankie and Rachel will be creating a series of dinners at the Australian Tapestry Workshop – an amazing space specialising in hand-woven tapestries (click here to read more about it).

photo courtesy of australian tapestry workshop.

For the past few months rachel and frankie have been busy making all sorts of edible weaves and hand dying edible threads (like saffron dyed homemade pasta, for .e.g. miam!). They’ve been testing out all sorts of other edible tapestries in their Paris and Sydney kitchens, skyping the results to each other. Rachel is now on her way there from Paris as I type. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for these special dinners –  if I was samantha stephens, I’d bewitch myself over there in a flash.

The six-course dinners will be held over 3 nights – friday, 23 July, saturday 24 July, and sunday 25 July –  as part of the state of design festival. The tickets are $110 per person. There are limited places available still for the Friday night and a couple on the Sunday night (saturday night is sold out). To make a reservation email rachel and frankie by clicking here.

For more info about the event, click here, here and here.

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photos by me, pjb, from this post.

And in Sydney this Sunday, at the ever-lovely vaucluse house, there is a special event called colonial gastronomy: the lost art of ‘potting’. It sounds awesome, here is the blurb from the events page:

“Potted, collared and jugged foods were standard items in the C19th larder. Rediscover these lost arts, from a time when a well-to-do Victorian breakfast table would be graced with “neat little white pots, with a crust of yellow butter suggesting the spicy treat beneath, beef, ham or tongue, handiwork of the second or third kitchenmaid…” Elizabeth David, Salt, Spices and Aromatics in the English Kitchen. Potting was a method used to preserve and extend meat and shellfish, traditionally served on toast for breakfast or supper. In this hands-on workshop you will make butter in the dairy and your own potted treat to take home.”

photo by me, pjb, from this post.

The workshop is from 10:30am-12noon this Sunday, July 11. Cost is $35. there will be another session from 1:30pm-3pm as well. I’d really love to be there so if you go, please be sure to tell us all about it.

Also on at Vaucluse House at the moment is a display by guerilla knitting group Knitting the House. They have infiltrated the house and knitted up a storm! Have a look-see at this little video to have a sneak peak of some of the knitted pieces on display. What a fabulous idea.  The display will be on throughout the house until July 18.

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And then there’s one more thing I noticed while perusing the historic houses trust website: at the Museum of Sydney there is an exhibition on at the moment called skint!making do in the great depression. It might sound depressing, but it’s far from – it’s all about how people in the 1930’s survived the tough times by finding thrifty ways of reusing and recycling commodities, growing vegetables, raising chickens, bartering, sharing recipes and resources. The exhibition runs until July 25th.

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That’s my news for you oz birds down there. Up here in the north, the city of Amsterdam is gearing up for Sunday’s football final – Holland vs Spain. The past few weeks here have been unbelievable already – while I’ve been tucked up inside my little boat, writing my heart out, I have heard the city roar at random intervals. When I look outside during the match, the streets, apartments, canal is deadly quiet – there is not a soul to be seen. But then, all of a sudden, there is this all-mighty roar and that’s when I know they’ve scored a goal. It’s insane. Even though I haven’t been watching the games because of my workload (but also I’m so not the sporty type – remember, piano and reading books was my thing as a kid), I will make the effort to watch the game on Sunday. It would be unpatriotic of me not to do so.

I hope you’ve all had a terrific week. Enjoy your weekend, mes amis.

xx

PS it is stinking hot here. I love it!

Standing in the depth of the forest is one of the most magnificent “I’m alive” moments to be had. Being amidst the trees, the birds, the insects, the soil, the air… it always sends a tingle up my spine. My racing mind stops. And my heart fills with light, and life. It is so real yet so magical.

Would you like to take a moment with me today, and stand right in the middle of the rainforest? We can stand in one place and look around to see what we might see, and hear what we might hear. We can pretend we live in a treehouse, high up in the branches.

Please click on the play button to listen while you scroll through the photos below to be whisked away to the depths of the rainforest with me. Enjoy…

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Have a wonderful weekend mes amis.

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+ soundscape and photographs taken on a walk through Lamginton National Park in Queensland, Australia, January 2010.

+click here for more soundscapes.