tasmanian tiger sighting (32)

evidence of the proliferation of tasmanian ex-pats in the nation's capital. urban art project on city walk, civic. part of canberra's current community art & theatre project 'you are here'.

what does it all mean? (22)

some interesting street art at lyneham shops. ned kelly as jesus on a cross. does the artist think ned kelly was the son of god with some moral lessons to impart to us? or that jesus was actually a common criminal who was asking for it and who has been culturally elevated to god-like status posthumous? what do you think? i think you can probably guess my own personal thoughts about it (if you know me).

shady characters in dark passageways (14)

it might be modern times but there's silhuoetted terror still awaiting in the old dark passageways between and behind old terraced buildings in the old sydneytown area called the rocks.... in the form of a cantankerous amanda brown who doesn't find wandering through endless market stalls as fascinating as i do.... that is until she found the liquorice stall ;)

the toilet and the tower (8)

this is a sight common to me in my bicycle commute to work. while it's ordinary as it comes, and it is probably a really boring photo for others, there's something i really like about it. well i like the view itself, which is what i've tried to capture. the juxaposition of a toilet block with the black mountain tower. to be honest i probably like the look of the toilet block more, oddly enough. at least it's been gentrified to a degree with some interesting and colourful graffiti, whereas the tower is still a plain grey concrete 1970s spaceship-like object propped atop a hill called a mountain. canberrans like naming big hills mountains. which is quite endearing in a parochial way. this photo also shows something else i love about canberra - the abundance of green in the form of nature reserves. this location is a mere 5km maximum from the city centre. lots of green makes for serene living.

collins street

printouts on paper glued to a wall to form murals in an alleyway off collins street in my home town, hobart.

knitting nazis

or rebels or renegades or something like that. a friend of mine does this kind of carry-on down in hobart. nice to know there are similar crazies in the nation's capital. i took a big detour on my ride from work this morning to take this photo. i was late to work. oh well. happy birthday jen :)

extra ordinary

this is a lovely bit of stenciled street art on a fusebox cover down at my local shops in lyneham. it's of aviatrix, nancy walton-bird. she was australia's first female commercial pilot - and a fully qualified pilot by the time she was 19, no mean feat given she was a female born in 1915. hooray for australian feminist pioneers.

old school advertising

appealing streetscape in prague. ordinarily i loathe the painted brick look but this is stylish. which is saying something given it's a billboard for foul pepsi. i wonder if mands would love the painted brick in our living room so much if i did it like this. somehow i think not :)

twisted innovation

some very funky and cutting edge architecture we came across on one of our wanders through the eternally beautiful and interesting city of prague. this was, later research uncovered, built in 1996 and is nicknamed 'the dancing house' (originally titled 'fred and ginger' after fred astaire and ginger rogers). if you happen to be in prague and are looking for it, it is on the vltava river, upstream from charles bridge.

art comes in a spray can

i am a total fan of graffiti when it is not offensive, not watant vandalism. in fact i wouldn't even call it graffiti at all, i would call it street art. banksy does street art. stupid bored teenagers do tagging which is graffiti. one of the many reasons i love melbourne is that it has loads of awesome street art. i can't help but take photos of it every time i'm down there. this particular one was in a little alley off flinders street which i took while waiting for friends to go to a tapas bar. the character looks a little 'where the wild things are' max-like.