The Room with the Blue Feather

The Pie Shop, Apparently...

The Serpent's Egg.

At work.

The most sacred.

I took three roads to get to the rock. The Ballardong Nyoongar people know it well. I drove past a Wedge-tail eagle balanced on the flank of a sheep's carcass, moments before I reached a dirt road that eventually brought me to this place. When I filled my tank at a neighbouring town, the storeman said that he hadn't heard of this place: perhaps I had only dreamed of it. The day was 'Makuru' but the season was 'Djilba'. 

Despite the wind and the rain,when I got here, I felt happy. Climbing Dingo hill, the vast area of cracked rock became more immense and I could feel a presence on the expanse of stone. Between the pools were small moss-filled areas and patches of tiny, wild flowers... small sheets of butterfly food.

Pondering the purpose of the larger, carefully placed stones in the shallow rain-filled water pools, I imagined a child collecting water a thousand years ago, using the stones to stand on for safety, then throwing the smaller stones to scare off  wild dogs. I had never been here, yet I had been here a thousand times before.

I stepped over three little droppings as I left the rock... I had been watched.

Leda's Facet of Dioscuri

Pumpkins and Pin-cushions.

                                                                                                         pin                             

                                                                                         paper

Things that You Won't Find in your Soup....

photograph from Marcos (the "Venerable")

This beautifully crafted work is by Marcus of Melbourne.

Taboo - as - Tattoo.

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Recently, it was proposed that an Australian tattoo register be made: this has led to varied reactions; mainly disbelief. Why would someone with a discreet tattoo wish to be linked to criminal social elements on a register that is obviously meant to be a tool to assist in the prevention of crime?

Looking at the changing face of tattoos, this version of adornment or beautification is creeping a little too close to a deliberate act of maiming and disfiguration. My recent exposure to non-mainstream tattoos on young females, sometimes by "famous" artists, has revealed a hideous side to the art. If the intention is not to beautify, according to an individual's personal taste, is the intention to disfigure?

Thirty years ago, a Point Road tattoo artist, in the red-light district of Durban, told me that the best tattooists had a code of ethics, which included not tattooing faces and hands. 

Yes, a tattoo register could be a useful social tool but not for the tattooed...I think that every owner of a tattoo tool, tattoo kit, or tattoo business, and any person performing tattoos, should be on a register with  a code of ethics and national regulations.

Tattoo crimes are happening today, but it is as taboo as the tattoo.