A few weeks ago (ie mid-May) I read this headline:
‘Some of the coldest temperatures of 2025 so far to hit southeast cities this weekend.’
Without thinking about it, that sentence suggests something a little out of the ordinary and yet, when mid-May comes around, here in Sydney, in the southern hemisphere, we’ve had summer and are nearing the end of autumn, so of course we’re going to be feeling colder temperatures than we’ve had in the year to date. Now, had we been in the northern hemisphere, that sentence might have been worth writing.
And so it got me thinking about the power of language. I have no doubt that the aim of the writer was to sensationalise something that was really very ordinary; to make a story where there wasn’t one. And that sort of thing is happening all the time. This is just one small example, but I can’t help thinking that the damage being done to young people as they’re exposed to this kind of sensationalist language must be contributing to the despair they’re feeling at the world they’re growing up in. I despair at the world they’re growing up in, but not because of the things we’re being warned about, rather the people who are doing the warning.
But I’ll move on, because trying to make sense of the world and so many of the people in it does my head in!
As for my art, all is going well! I was thrilled to win the Hangers’ Prize at the Members’ Exhibition of the Hornsby Art Society recently, with a new little painting I’d done called ‘Windjana Gorge’. The comment from the hangers, which read: ‘Which just goes to show that good things come in small frames!’, was lovely!
At the same show, one of my little paintings from The Gumleaf Collection (‘The Three Sisters’, pictured above) was also awarded a prize, and it came with another lovely comment from the judge: ‘A fascinating design that presents a familiar subject in an enchanting new light.’
And so while there aren’t too many shows I’m exhibiting in right now, there are certainly many that I’m working towards, so no doubt when I return next month there will be more dates for your diary!
For now …
A4 Art Australia, Herring Island Gallery, Melbourne (Vic.), online until Monday 31 June
Small Packages, Sherbrooke Art Gallery, 62 Monbulk Rd, Belgrave (Vic.), Saturday 19 July to Saturday 23 August
Until next month!