three images

a: creative work

This is a self portrait that I handed in as one of the pieces for the 2009 HSC art body of work. I find this image 'interesting' (one finds using that word about their own work somewhat pretentious - especially about a self portrait) mainly due to the layered effect that I attempted in the piece - the first layer is a photograph of myself, followed by a layer of clear contact and, on top of that, details in gold, red and black ink. What I liked most about it is the way that the clear contact - onto which i had outlined my photograph in black ink - had melted around the hand and distorted the black outline, making it look like the face is being peeled away.

b: great piece of architecture
(image courtesy of Wikipedia)


When asked to name a great piece of architecture, perhaps the first image that pops into ones head are the colossal metallic bodies of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum or his Disney Concert Hall - however they are perhaps great only in size for they are somewhat symptomatic of a culture submerged in the beauty of the shiny and new whose balance between functionality and design is askew. To me, greatness, and thus beauty, comes with the ability to counterweight the two, to join them in a simplistic yet imaginative manner such as in the 'Stari Most' (Old Bridge) of Mostar. Built in the 16th century by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin the bridge retains within it a sense of immortal elegance and integrity. An interesting fact? Apparently the architect Mimar was ordered to build the bridge (which, at the time, was the largest man made arch in the world) on pain of death and was planning his funeral on the day the scaffolding came down.

c: something beautiful


Nature is essentially beautiful, and when you live in an apartment building any access to the natural world is even more so. Thus, 'something beautiful' for me would be the tree which grows next to my balcony and frames the view of the street below, providing a somewhat gentle contrast between the built and the natural. Perhaps its greatest novelty lies in the fact that it grows within arms reach yet it does so quietly.