APRIL

I have returned to Bangkok after an intense studio period in Myanmar. Yangon the capital is a large and attractively shabby city that made strolling about its wide streets and meeting the many polite and graceful people most enjoyable. Burman, Mon, Khmer, Shan, Thai, Chinese , Indian and others all somehow construct this land called Myanmar(Burma). The numerous black or brownouts in town seemed to shrink Yangon considerable also making portable generators noisy and necessary for those able to afford them. There is a busy little art community there surviving under the awful weight of poverty, strict censorship, lack of materials, teachers and support. I found it a land of enormous beauty and potential unfortuntely run by a highly disliked military regime. I would have liked to see more of Myanmar but the studio was operational and too enticing to escape from. Work made there dealt with stopovers, dislocation, foreigness and travelsickness in all its forms. All very homely topics for me. Strangely my brain is still wandering about the Antarctic ice floes but my body is enjoying the extremely hot tropical dry season. I guess that makes me some sort of geographical deviant or perhaps just another globally lost fool. For those in the Philippines my Antarctica exhibition at the Australian Centre, Manila opens 6.30 pm Tuesday 23rd april and runs until the 7th June. Part of this show will then relocate to the Green House Effect gallery in Baguio (the summer capital of Philippines.) opening 14th june. See you there.