If you’ve been following my journey, you might know that I came to visual art via a rather circuitous and scenic route, making stops in the field of science and then the performing arts. Along the way I gathered up degrees in one and used up a lot of adrenaline in the other, until finally coming to a rest (quite …
The Sneaky Upside to Fear
There were bodies everywhere. All over my loungeroom. Relieved, happy bodies, draped over every bit of furniture, everyone spent from a kind of post-performance exhaustion. We had opened to a warm, appreciative, sold out audience and everyone remembered their moves. No one was more surprised than cast and crew that we actually pulled it off! It was 1995, and I …
It Began with the Pink Satin Dress
I come from a travelling kind of a family. My father worked for the World Health Organisation, advising some forty or so governments on their oral health programmes. He was used to thinking on a grand scale, and he travelled constantly. So did my mum. Separately and together, they visited weird way off lands: The Khyber Pass. Tuvalu. Bhutan. Nauru. …
The Possibility of Cheese
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells… it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” -Dr Suess. We have two little black dogs. They are noisy, smelly and annoying, but they make us laugh. The truly remarkable …
Love
Love is underrated. Not the romantic kind, that gets far too much rating! No, the kind of love that got my husband, Greg, up THAT mountain, and back down again. Safely. When Greg starting telling people that he was climbing Bluff Knoll on Nov 4th, it seemed like an impossible dream. He was so sick with chemo, and he had …
Not Quite What I Expected
Yvonne is one of my closest friends. Many, many years ago, one hot summers day, we decided to go out for a swim. Yvonne swam like a fish. I did not. After watching my efforts for a few minutes, she observed, “Mal, you swim like a drowning rat!” (It’s been over 25 years and we’re still friends – but …
Something is Happening to My Art
The other day my big sister glanced round my house and commented, “Your art has become a lot more colourful, hasn’t it?” I dismissed her observation, wondering briefly if what she actually meant was, “you used to do such DULL work!” But then I started noticing things. I’d reach for some bright orange or blue and a voice in my …
Plum Puddings, Everest, and Serving Humanity
I left my mother crying at the railway station as she waved me goodbye. Feeling slightly guilty that I couldn’t wait to get away, I was leaving my home in Penang for the first time, to finish high school in a special college for students intending to study in Australia. There were new and exciting things on the horizon – …
Sleepless
The past few weeks have been a bit of a wild ride. I’ve been navigating some curious emotions that have stemmed from a combination of turning fifty, confronting my own ageism, and engaging in episodes of extreme sports (getting my taxes done and reflecting on my life). That last bit has made me realise how spectacularly blessed I am. BUT. …
