Our visual sociology for the end of the year sees lots of change for this intrepid visual sociologist. From interstate travel to lots of Christmas lights everywhere, to women’s art. November-December 2016 was never-ending with surprises.
Sociology of Hotel Art: Cairns
4 November: Travelling back to back for work, from Canberra to Melbourne to Cairns. This is not the worst hotel art, by far. I was in Cairns for a workshop I ran on the health impact of intimate partner violence for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women elders, community and health workers.
Diner
Step into an Aussie re-imagining of 1980s middle America. 6 November
Christmas panda
Remember the Christmas Panda from the Mandarin Centre from last month? Now on 6 November, we’re reconnecting again. He’s been working hard and still has over another month to go before Christmas.
Bright lights
People watching in Sydney. 7 November
Angels, stars and trade secret. 7 November
Museum Station, Sydney.
La Dolce Vita. (Dendy Cinemas Circular Quay) 16 November
Oh what fun it is to sing! Leichhardt Expresso Chorus. 26 November
Sociology of Trolleys: fridge friend
Moving into 6 December, the highlight of my Sociology of Trolleys career: an abandoned shopping trolley with an abandoned mini fridge. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Primavera 7 December
Primavera exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. With great difficulty you will fight back the impulse to walk across the ladder as you remember that you are, in fact, *not* a trapeze artist. 7 December
Louise Herman
Louise Hearman’s hypnotic works inviting us to dive inside our inner abyss and reflect back our souls. Also it’s Wednesday. 7 December
Run tiny dancer. At the Louise Hearman exhibition.
Eleven
8 December
Sydney Christmas
Christmas tree goals. 13 December
Towering above the city. Cue ominous rain clouds please. 17 December
The Queen Victoria Building Swarovski Christmas tree has shattered all the Sociology of Lights entries out of the water. 17 December
Chopstick etiquette
Instructions of how to eat with chopsticks! 16 December
Bodies in time
18 December: Barbara Cleveland, “Bodies in Time.” This collective of artists who revive and reimagine the work of their namesake. “By further translating the action into video, they construct a dialogue between the body as volatile form of ‘living architecture’ and mediated status of performance documentation, which foregrounds the multiple levels of authorship at play in the work.” This work is wonderful for many reasons. One particular way it speaks to me is that it shows that although art history favours White men especially from Western Europe, the only thing stopping the art world from changing our understanding of what art is worthy of attention is to go back and really see all the people of colour and White women artists that created but did not get the recognition they deserve.
Carols in the Domain
18 December: Holy holly! Sydney is serious about Carols by Candlelight… erm I mean Carols in the Domain. Props to the awesome humans who pitched tents. The sky has ideas about how tonight should end. Unfortunately there’s no good food.
Festive city, 20 December
Egyptian mummification
24 December: Cultural diversity in Egyptian mummification. Under Roman rule in 30 BCE, Egyptians lived alongside Greeks and Romans with many people adopting (or forced to use) Greek names. Techniques on mummies evolved including the use of wooden panel “portraits.” European artistic styles also prevail with more traditional Egyptian art moved to the back of coffins. Egyptian Mummies exhibition now on at the Powerhouse Museum.
Sociology of trolleys
Managed to sneak one more in before the end of the year! This stranger wanted to be in my photo for the #SociologyOfTrolleys. This is taken in the centre of the Sydney CBD with the closest shopping centre at least 10 minutes walk away. That’s commitment. 26 December
Tatsuo Miyajima
Our Tatsuo Miyajima flag flies proudly. Does yours?
The Other Sociologist 