Nomadic exhibition first for Australia!

Through her online connections, local Street photographer Maree Tonkin is bringing a unique photographic exhibition to Bendigo.

The exhibition, to be hosted by the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre from 2-16 October will showcase the work of approximately 100 international and Australian professional and emerging photographers.

I went along on Saturday to see this exhibition and arrived just as the last of 50 people who had attended the opening were leaving. The exhibition is well worth visiting, situated at the very rear of 121 View Street, out in the back where the regular visiting artists in residence usually reside.

Images from all ’round the world line the walls, mirrors and any other spare space (including the artists in residence bed) showing a great variety of street photography.
A favourite of my friend who came along with me was the image of a group of elderly women staring at a bikini clad much younger woman. What they were thinking could be as varied as only the imagination can let it be!

There were some poignant imagery, more humorous ones and a mix between.

Maree Tonkin was very happy with the attendance at the opening.

Ms Tonkin said “The Stravaganza is a global collaboration between photographers who want to share their work. The exhibition is 100 % DIY and self-funded , so I’m really grateful to La Trobe University for supporting me to bring this exhibition to Australia.”

The project was initiated by a group of passionate photographers connected through social networking site Flickr and supported by online collective Mindfist. The exhibition, titled Dr Karanka’s Print Stravaganza, was first shown in the lounge room of Joni Karanka in Cardiff, UK, then took on a life of its own travelling to London, then on to Bologna- Italy, Gilwice- Poland, Arles- France, Kuala Lumpur- Malaysia, Singapore, Tokyo- Japan, and now in Bendigo before heading off to tour the USA.

Dr Karanka’s Print Stravaganza can be viewed Wednesday to Sunday between 10am-5pm. at 121 View Street Bendigo.

Strath.& Dist. Enterprise

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Strathfieldsaye and Districts Community Enterprise covers a large area of the communities south east of Bendigo in Central Victoria. More »

Bendigo poet newest book.

Bendigo poet Lorraine Marwood

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When Australian’s think of poetry many would probably immediately recall Banjo Patterson’s Clancy of the Overflow or perhaps Dorothea Mackellar’s immortal lines from her poem ‘My Country’- I love a sunburnt country, poets of whom lived in another lifetime from many of us.

Bendigo author Lorraine Marwood is a passionate poet who brings to readers of her latest two books from Walker a perspective of life how it is in contemporary rural Australia.

Her background of life in rural Victoria (she was born and raised in rural Victoria and has lived for most of her married life on a dairy farm with her husband and their six children) is evident as the hardships and joy of living in the country is portrayed in her verse.

Marwood’s poetry usually does not rhyme and such is the case in her latest book A Ute Picnic. Her use of succinct language is richly woven and instils diverse imagery in the mind of the reader that is at times poignantly evocative such as in ‘Tree, a Portrait’ (p 46) where the life of a tree is described as being ‘…a community house’ or a ‘…a balloon lung, breathe in carbon dioxide exhale oxygen, fresh red blood’; or the lovely tribute to an old dog on page 62.
The book has been divided into various thematic chapters, with many children’s first choice probably being the section entitled ‘Cow tracks and fact and other poems about animals and manure’.

After reading this book I then wanted to and read her previous work, ‘Star Jumps’, a children’s verse novel set on a dairy farm during a drought and told through the eyes of a young girl. I was left with a lump in my throat at the end.

‘[A Ute Picnic took me] …18 months or more to come together,’ Marwood told me via email. ‘I’m thrilled that Walker are willing to put out a collection from one poet- and that a children’s poet. [There are] -lots of new poems in this collection, but a couple also collected from ‘Redback Mansion'[a previous poetry book by Marwood.]’

Marwood is an award-winning poet who has been widely published in literary magazines across
Australia, as well as magazines in the UK, USA, New Zealand and Canada. She is the author of several children’s novels and collections of poetry; she has been the Australian editor of the UK literary magazine Tears in the Fence and is a writer of poetry ideas and teaching plans for The Literature Base. She also conducts workshops on poetry and story writing skills and is a judge for many writing competitions, including the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards.

‘A Ute Picnic and Other Australian Poems,’ by Lorraine Marwood, (2010) Walker books, RRP $15.95 paperb