6/4-5 Report from Kioloa

We've all been working in the field the last couple of days here at Kioloa, which means we wake up and go our separate ways to work on our projects. Some of us have ideas already, others are developing ideas as we go. Yoshi has been working on a project using collector tea spoons referencing specific places and towns in Australia. The theme behind the work is tea as a symbol of colonization. Joseph has been taking video footage of waves, and Cedra has been painting. I have been doing some actions and sketches. Bill is doing a walking project where he's mimicking the constellations, and John just showed us a terrific video he'd just finished. In this piece, John dressed up like a proper academic complete with nice shoes and briefcase, walked to a rock at what looks like the base of a ravine and sits down on the rock. He then reclines to lay on his back, but since it's an awkward spot for this, he struggles for a while, still holding the briefcase. This goes on for a couple of minutes. Eventually he is able to get in a position like a snapshot of him walking, except that he's still on his back balancing on the rock. The strange context and awkward physicality is what makes the piece. After holding this position for awhile, he then calmly collects himself and walks out of the frame. It is a terrific a piece.

Next stop is Eden. We'll be there for a little over a week and will apparently have limited internet access.

6/3 Kioloa

Today was an introduction to the surroundings of our camp at Kioloa. John Reid took us to the coast, which is just over the ridge from our cabins, just a short walk away, and then into the woods where we saw many spotted gums (type of eucalypt). We saw evidence of ancient man-made grooves in a sandstone riverbed. These were possibly to used to ground Macrozamia fruit into flour after leeching out their poisons by soaking them in the river (Macrozamia is the spiky-leafed plant that looks like a big fern or low-growing palm in some of the pics). The forest looks utterly primeval. The spotted gums shed their bark to reveal a bone-white skin, which makes its snaking branches easily visible even from a great distance. We came across several 5+ ft. tall termite mounds. At the waterfront, waves were massive, and a recent storm had washed ashore innumerable Bluebottles — tiny, bluish Man-of-War. The Rainbow Lorikeet is without question the most brightly colored bird I've seen in the wild, and that's just one of the many exotic birds one can see here. I'm amazed at how many kangaroo there are here too. More pics.

6/2 En Route to Kioloa

After picking up Joseph from Sydney airport, we began our leisurely trek to the ANU camp at Kioloa, a journey of roughly 153 miles. Once we'd arrived at the restful accommodations at Kioloa, Bill and John made dinner. Pics of the day.