Aboriginal Families Seek Action Over Uranium in Drinking Water

Racist policies are making remote Aboriginal communities sick. At least three communities in central Australia have levels of uranium in drinking water that exceed health guidelines, with dozens more not meeting good quality.

“It’s an international scandal that this is allowed to happen in a country like Australia — a rich country like Australia… If that was happening in Victoria, you’d have a hell of a row… Because they’re bush people and not a concern to politicians, they don’t worry about it.”

Continue reading Aboriginal Families Seek Action Over Uranium in Drinking Water

From Hermitage to the Skies

In this visual sociology installment using Vine, we go from Melbourne to Canberra to Brisbane. Hold onto your seats, it’s your visual sociology for September, October and November 2015! We’ll see opulent art and enjoy the simplicity of kite-flying and the soothing power of water.

Melbourne

From the Hermitage exhibition, Catherine the Great was inspired by the archaeology of Rome. 6 September

Continue reading From Hermitage to the Skies

Art Meets Science and Loneliness

A special visual sociology from the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Sydney.  We start with the Energies exhibition and then explore the nature of loneliness in modern life. We end with our return to Canberra’s art precinct.

Energies: Haines & Hinterding

Below is ‘Encounter with the Halo Field,’ by David Haines and Joyce Hinterding.  These Australian artists live and work in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. They blend experimental and traditional media to investigate energetic forces as well as the intersection of hallucination and the environment. 23 August 2015

Continue reading Art Meets Science and Loneliness

Visual Sociology of Art in Melbourne

Visual sociology of Melbourne’s art for August-November (filmed on my Vine!).

Street art in Melbourne. 31 August 2014

[Video: street art featuring original comic characters. Public takes pictures]

Continue reading Visual Sociology of Art in Melbourne

Visual Sociology of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne

Visual sociology of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, Australia: Caroline Springs is a relatively new area that had a bad reputation about a decade a go. First because the media sensationalised illegal cock fighting as something that was endemic of its residents. It wasn’t; it was a tiny minority of unethical people treating animals illegally. Second, I was struck by the number of people who lived in the longer established outer suburbs in the West who looked down on the families who moved into these new estates. Continue reading Visual Sociology of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne

Visual Sociology of Caroline Springs

Caroline Springs is a relatively new area that had a bad reputation about a decade a go. First because the media sensationalised illegal cock fighting as something that was endemic of its residents. It wasn’t; it was a tiny minority of unethical people treating animals illegally.

Second, I was struck by the number of people who lived in the longer established outer suburbs in the West who looked down on the families who moved into these new estates.

There was both a class and racist undertone as it was predominantly young middle-class non-English speaking migrant background and working class people from various ethnicities who first flocked to this area. Now this suburb has expanded greatly and it is relatively expensive compared to prices only a few years ago.

It will be interesting to see whether this area becomes gentrified in the near future with house prices ever increasing. I’m ever fascinated with the need to construct artificial lakes in these new estates. This lake is a central feature along the centre of the shopping precinct, compete with ducks and a “do not swim” warning.

Visual Sociology of the Western Suburbs

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos (@othersociology) on

 

A visual sociology of the Western suburbs of Melbourne, with an artificial lake behind a shopping centre. Like so many new shopping centres and estates in this area, we must have water and ducks surrounding us. The asthetic presumably brings us closer to nature and beautifies the ever expanding buildings.