Monthly Archives: March 2009

Events, Photography

Building Mardi Gras

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The original plan for this shooting was to capture the moment when took the main floats apart and transport them to the location just the day before the Mardi Gras Parade. However, they found the way to do that without dismantling the float so they were just finishing them up. But I was not a waste of time, I found that the construction is interesting enough by itself. Moreover, that day a breakfast show from a television network came in to cross promo the event. It gave me another story in the morning.

I believe I have covered around the aspects of this year Mardi Gras Parade: from this construction to the cleaning up. There are more angles to report, I am certain. But for now, this is what I am quite satisfied with them.

Exhibition, Photography

Metropolitan Skin

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Metropolitan Skin Street photography is my outlet to perceive life. I try to get my head around the complexity of cultures that are drawn together in Australia. It is fascinating how people with different backgrounds express their identities. I have learned a lot about Sydney just walking around on the main streets and back lanes, at dawn and dusk, day and night.

My latest slide show exhibition is just about those themes I have been working on for 3 years. Robert McGrath, Vitek Skonieczny and I take turns showcasing how we see the city at World Square. In their words:

Metropolitan Skin is a photographic exhibition, presented as a slide show. It presents the differing visions of urban engagement by three photographers ? Robert McGrath, ?Pong and Vitek Skonieczny.

Robert McGrath
Screening between Monday 16 March | Wednesday 25 March
persona | passion | communality
Through his photo essays, Robert has photographed a wide range of milieus and activities across Sydney. He is interested in photographing events which draw people together based on a common activity, talent or passion. How people present at such events, says a lot about how they see themselves, which we experience as their persona.

‘Pong
Screening between Thursday 26 March | Saturday 4 April
fusions | unready | entropy
‘Pong is particularly aware of the many groupings that are uniting in modern Australian cities. These groups often only exist within a sheer layer of each other. Weaving between those layers, ‘Pong juxtaposes aesthetics and understandings to create a truly contemporary view of our urban environment. He has a strong sense of visual irony which allows him to reveal the amazing world of human minutia within the ?unexpected? city.

Vitek Skonieczny
Screening between Sunday 5 April | Sunday 12 April
cellular | organism | lifeblood
To Vitek, the city is alive. He shows human activity transforming the inanimate city into a living, breathing, shifting life force. The flow of its people and the patterns they trace, is the lifeblood of his constantly evolving ecosystem. He sees the massing of people into an unconscious, yet structured organism, flowing determinantly towards a mysterious, yet predetermined destination.

The show is curated by Robert McGrath and there will be some that I have put on this blog but some that haven’t seen the light before. Metropolitan Skin is on at World Square upper level (big screen) and lower level (on Sony plasma screens) until 12 April.

Events, Photography

Cleaning up Mardi Gras

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It is Saturday night and marks the end of summer in the southern hemisphere. Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is one of the biggest parties in Australia. Streets are closed for floats to express and promote their messages. After the show, the Parade is over but the party has just begun. The barricades are taken away and the spectators flow into the streets. The parade route is full of milk crates, broken chairs and garbage. People keep on partying elsewhere whilst some are still wandering around.

It is the works of City of Sydney and NSW Police to turn the chaos back into order. They clear the footpath, sweep the rubbish, pile it onto a mat and scoop it up into a truck while the police patrol up and down, making sure everything goes smoothly. Within three hours the streets are almost spot and ready for normal traffic.