francesca & anthony

Yesterday, I was given the link to The Woodmans - a video about the Woodman family which included one of my most favourite photographers - Francesca Woodman. I tried not to watch it... but after a couple of hours I gave in and watched half. She is amazing. It was really interesting to hear her parent's talking about their own work and then also reflecting on hers. I still haven't finished it.. I don't really want it to finish. It's almost the same feeling I get when I know the end of a good book is approaching. They shared parts of her journal through text on the screen and it was pretty... i don't know... well, it felt special and i kind of wished i could read more of her thoughts. I suppose I felt a connection to some of the words... or maybe that's just what I want or what i'm making up in my head. Anyway I got super sad at the point where they were talking about her days before her suicide. I think I might buy her photography book I saw at the NGV bookstore after uni is finished for the sem.

Today I stumbled upon Anthony McCall's projection work and I went into a crazy state of adoration. If only I had found him sooner. Why didn't it occur to me to look up projection artists? Ugh maybe because it was so obvious to do so that I didn't until NOW. I watched a bunch of his videos on podcasts/youtube and I suppose I like him already because he speaks so calmly about the work & his work seems very tranquil, simple and beautiful. I died because I found out he has a permanent exhibition at ACMI so I went to the city feeling SUPER EXCITED and i got there and they told me that the renovators upstairs had hit a pipe and it had burst in the space where his work was. That was the worst feeling ever. I was so ready to immerse myself and this sudden flood of disappointment came over me. It's probably also just pms that's making my emotions so cray and extreme. Anyway, multi-diciplinary when it is fixed (probably in a couple of weeks) I am going to check it out. I also loved him because he talked about light being a sculpture and how people move around it and interact with it. He is a artist who works with - film, installation, sculpture, drawing and performance. & all this comes into his light projection works. It's amazing.

I can't wait till the end of semester. There are new things I want to do.

I was looking back on photos of past times in Taipei and there were so many photos of sunsets and I remembered all the effort that went into running after the sun and all the happiness that filled me. I climbed to the rooftop of the apartment and the wind was so strong and it moved around me and I breathed it all in and i felt new and happy and everything seemed beautiful at that moment. I let the colours pour into my eyes and it felt so good.

I remember, so fondly, this one time Sarah (of the crab family), Glen (Czech boy) and I took the train out of Taipei to a pottery making village about an hour or two out of Taipei. We were inside a museum when the sun started to set and, without saying anything to the others, I ran outside and into the vast pottery garden. I was filled with so much joy to see the sun setting and the birds flying in the distance. I kept taking photos for an hour or more as the sun slowly set and the moon started to rise. I remember getting a phone call from Glen who said, "Izzy! Where are you! THE SUN IS SETTING!!" and I was yelling back, "ahhhhh! I KNOW IM OUTSIDE IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!" I actually miss Glen a bit. We had a short friendship together (because I left to Australia) but it was really comfortable and nice because he was so supportive and happy to see me super happy about the sky. He'd grab out his camera and take lots of photos too.

BACK TO WORK!