2021
DECEMBER
The world I live in heats up both local and globally. Everyone seems to see and feel this fact but where is the immediate direct action as opposed to the tsunami of verbiage streaming out of most politicians mouths? We see bushfires about Broome but no sign of rain. I can barely recall what those wet water droplets falling from above actually feel like. What to do?
While we patiently wait for a Wet season to arrive I invited 25 local art/film lovers to have a peek preview of my TRAVELESS film while still in the post production stages. This small test screening was held one hot evening at the Short Street Gallery bungalow space with the simple intention of gathering some feedback from an array of people.
A split screen version was shown with refreshments and from the questionnaire handed out the film was enjoyed. In number terms I was awarded an average of 8.2 out of 10. Here are some of the comments found on the forms.- “an existential crisis or the getting of wisdom?,” “Creative and quirky,” “..the mental monologue was rad.” “legendary and rogue.” “frustrating.. I wanted to help you.” “suspending and very covid era.” “unusually pleasing and engaging” and “solopsistic and hilarious.” It seems that we managed to avoid making something awful, obscure and tiresome.
While we patiently wait for a Wet season to arrive I invited 25 local art/film lovers to have a peek preview of my TRAVELESS film while still in the post production stages. This small test screening was held one hot evening at the Short Street Gallery bungalow space with the simple intention of gathering some feedback from an array of people.
A split screen version was shown with refreshments and from the questionnaire handed out the film was enjoyed. In number terms I was awarded an average of 8.2 out of 10. Here are some of the comments found on the forms.- “an existential crisis or the getting of wisdom?,” “Creative and quirky,” “..the mental monologue was rad.” “legendary and rogue.” “frustrating.. I wanted to help you.” “suspending and very covid era.” “unusually pleasing and engaging” and “solopsistic and hilarious.” It seems that we managed to avoid making something awful, obscure and tiresome.
After this event Carolina returned to Argentina to visit family and friends and to dive into the Argentine world as it has been a long, long time since she was in her homeland. This trip however Covid complex was very much needed. Last I heard from Carolina was something about a wild BBQ and some red Malbec wine which the Argentines do both very well I recall.
Short Street Gallery in Broome, West Australia has been a space where I have had a number of exhibitions over the years. Since 2000 I have held eight solo exhibitions in this small remote town all at Short St. Gallery. The gallery recently presented an online “spotlight” to display works of mine in the stockroom and included this brief overview -
Eastaugh’s working practice is an enquiry into place and space; wondering and wandering, he seeks extreme environments and circumstances, navigating the margins, peripheries, and borders of landscapes both interior and exterior. Eastaugh makes material the poetry of being and his lifelong exploration of roots and routes – a series of works carved into mother of pearl shells collected by his Dutch biological father in the 1970s explores the depth and darkness of human histories and the psyche. His works utilising mixed media abstract the terrains and textures of the Kimberley and those lands further afield, dizzying composite horizons sewn together via rustic embroidery, embodying freedom in motion
https://www.shortstgallery.com.au/artists/75-stephen-eastaugh/works/
I headed 2000 kilometres south to give myself a break as I have been working intensely in the studio for months. It is now getting too hot and humid to think clearly and intelligently. (not too sure if I have been able to think clearly and intelligently in any environment actually)
Often a climatic and/or geographic change is wise for both brain and body. In Perth I met family, artists, gallerists, friends and strangers. The Art Gallery West Australia with its charming new rooftop space, PICA and the Fremantle Art centre were all visited plus other galleries around the city. It was good to indulge in city life for a bit, sadly there was too much running about to see all the people and places I wanted to but time is always tricky these days. Now it is time to return North to work in a studio which is not unlike working in a very large room that has a similar micro-climate to inside a pizza oven. I just heard that there was some rain in Broome so that will please the garden and perhaps cool down the town. Let’s hope I can cook up some nourishing art over the Wet season in the oven.
Eastaugh’s working practice is an enquiry into place and space; wondering and wandering, he seeks extreme environments and circumstances, navigating the margins, peripheries, and borders of landscapes both interior and exterior. Eastaugh makes material the poetry of being and his lifelong exploration of roots and routes – a series of works carved into mother of pearl shells collected by his Dutch biological father in the 1970s explores the depth and darkness of human histories and the psyche. His works utilising mixed media abstract the terrains and textures of the Kimberley and those lands further afield, dizzying composite horizons sewn together via rustic embroidery, embodying freedom in motion
https://www.shortstgallery.com.au/artists/75-stephen-eastaugh/works/
I headed 2000 kilometres south to give myself a break as I have been working intensely in the studio for months. It is now getting too hot and humid to think clearly and intelligently. (not too sure if I have been able to think clearly and intelligently in any environment actually)
Often a climatic and/or geographic change is wise for both brain and body. In Perth I met family, artists, gallerists, friends and strangers. The Art Gallery West Australia with its charming new rooftop space, PICA and the Fremantle Art centre were all visited plus other galleries around the city. It was good to indulge in city life for a bit, sadly there was too much running about to see all the people and places I wanted to but time is always tricky these days. Now it is time to return North to work in a studio which is not unlike working in a very large room that has a similar micro-climate to inside a pizza oven. I just heard that there was some rain in Broome so that will please the garden and perhaps cool down the town. Let’s hope I can cook up some nourishing art over the Wet season in the oven.
OCTOBER
I have presented a number of works of art in a few public places in West Australia over the past months. At the Shinju art festival here in Broome, the Above 26 Degrees group show of assorted Kimberly artists and a selection of works were exhibited at the Mandoon Estate ℅ Linton and Kay gallery in Perth. Geographic space has shrunk in size somewhat from my usual excursions elsewhere. This has been both good and bad and I am constantly surprised that I am not frothing at the mouth and pacing about the studio like a caged animal. We have been very lucky here in West Australia in terms of limitations and restrictions due to COVID. Remoteness seemed to have worked in our favour.
LONG WAY. (2020) Broome. 35 cm X 423 cm. Acrylic, cotton, wool, canvas, assorted fabric and threads, Belgian linen.
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BIRDHOUSES (2017) Norway. 28cm x 25cm. each. Acrylic on leather
My primary activity the past months has been the construction of a multi screen film-work. TRAVELESS contrasts confinement/stability with instability/wanderlust. In some ways this film is an experimental road trip but without a road as thematically the project is a tale about travel as well as the inability to do so. Underlying the strolling scenes are meditations on movement and the concept that imagination is a fabulous extension for our common desire to move about and explore. It seems to me that we are all nomadic as nothing really stays still for long. The finished film will be a four-channel polyphonic video work 21 mins duration. A short teaser version is available to watch on Vimeo.
https://vimeo.com/635959530
Big thanks to the artists below -
Carolina Furque. Video/stills. (Argentina.)
Malcolm McKinnon. Film maker. (Aust.)
Steve Heather. Musician. (Aust.)
Claire Vanderboom. Actress. (Aust.)
Per Teljer. Visual artist. (Sweden.)
Su Hui-Yu. Video artist. (Taiwan.)
https://vimeo.com/635959530
Big thanks to the artists below -
Carolina Furque. Video/stills. (Argentina.)
Malcolm McKinnon. Film maker. (Aust.)
Steve Heather. Musician. (Aust.)
Claire Vanderboom. Actress. (Aust.)
Per Teljer. Visual artist. (Sweden.)
Su Hui-Yu. Video artist. (Taiwan.)
The intricate and many technical processes required to make a film are rich and often tricky to gel together especially while one is attempting to construct an organic creative work while in production but as the captain of this project I try my best to hold the vessel on a stimulating course. Luckily I have a pretty good compass, fine sailors and a fairly strong idea of the destination but like all adventures there are unseen hiccups, occasional obstacles and even the possibility that the destination desired for some reason or another just disappears. Onboard there are always plenty of other charts that may be of help if an alternate course is needed. There are many paths. There are also many lands to visit. That I do know. I cannot expect to see land for a few months as production of the many aspects of this project will continue but I shall certainly keep a firm hold on the steering wheel and a constant lookout for dangerous reefs, doldrums, helpful lighthouses, seductive Sirens, squalls and the rest.
It is now another season in this bit of the world. Meaning the humidity begins to climb upwards and the temperature stays high all the time. As I write this it is 43C in my studio. It is the beginning of the Wet season which often is actually not wet at all. It is also the time when mango trees begin to fruit. Fruit bats go crazy over the fruit as do most humans. Green mango salad is already on the menu and very soon there will be ripe and sweet mangoes ready to pluck.
The heat will slow me down for a few months but I shall paddle onwards using an unwieldy but professional dog paddle style. Slowly but surely. We were planning a visit to Melbourne over the Austral summer period but I don’t think that will happen as COVID-19 still seems to be far too messy and unpredictable to set dates and make plans. Nevertheless Carolina is planning to travel to Argentina sometime soon but for me to drag out my passport and remove the dust covering it in preparation to move far …well that may take me a while to work out what to do when and where. I think first I best move to the bathroom and have a cold shower then to the shop to buy some Durian cakes. That may be enough travel for the moment.
The heat will slow me down for a few months but I shall paddle onwards using an unwieldy but professional dog paddle style. Slowly but surely. We were planning a visit to Melbourne over the Austral summer period but I don’t think that will happen as COVID-19 still seems to be far too messy and unpredictable to set dates and make plans. Nevertheless Carolina is planning to travel to Argentina sometime soon but for me to drag out my passport and remove the dust covering it in preparation to move far …well that may take me a while to work out what to do when and where. I think first I best move to the bathroom and have a cold shower then to the shop to buy some Durian cakes. That may be enough travel for the moment.
EPISODES. (studio image) 2021 21 x 30 cm each. acrylic, wool, water colour pencil, silver paint, assorted fabric, pindan dirt, watercolour paper.
AUGUST
AUGUST
After receiving a grant from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC) here in West Australia. I am now able to create a complex digital film work. This project will consume the remainder of 2021 and no doubt some of 2022 so I best focus and get to work.
I must consider all this at once - Lights, camera, mic, set, costume, voice over, ambient sound, framing, continuity, synching, rewrite script, shooting order, take 1, 2 and 3 ect and some serious catering requirements involving dumplings and buckets of coffee. Ohh and don’t forget a few still shots. I must thank my assistant Carolina 1000 times as with so much to sort out my brain begins to ache a little. I need plenty of help and I acknowledge all those that are involved especially the DLGSC.
I must consider all this at once - Lights, camera, mic, set, costume, voice over, ambient sound, framing, continuity, synching, rewrite script, shooting order, take 1, 2 and 3 ect and some serious catering requirements involving dumplings and buckets of coffee. Ohh and don’t forget a few still shots. I must thank my assistant Carolina 1000 times as with so much to sort out my brain begins to ache a little. I need plenty of help and I acknowledge all those that are involved especially the DLGSC.
SET 3…COS.3 . TAKE 5. MUSIC ON /TV ON… ACTION ON WEST……. ENTER FROM SOUTH…… THEN TURN OFF…ON TABLE…..TAKE OFF SCREEN…. MUSIC OFF. V/O FROM EAST…
Scene 24
”Over all that time and geography theres always a lot of undirected scenes. …”
Scene 25.
“ Then there was that time when you wallowed in a sort of spontaneous trance state…. You lost and found yourself…..”
This film is totally based on a true story, well sort of, a bit, actually not at all.
I do wish to also thank Xavier de Maistre for the initial spark that tempted me to create this project.
Scene 24
”Over all that time and geography theres always a lot of undirected scenes. …”
Scene 25.
“ Then there was that time when you wallowed in a sort of spontaneous trance state…. You lost and found yourself…..”
This film is totally based on a true story, well sort of, a bit, actually not at all.
I do wish to also thank Xavier de Maistre for the initial spark that tempted me to create this project.
When not filming or working on this project I watch blue tongue lizards attack each other in the garden. Not sure why they do this but it must be due to food, mating behaviour or territory instigating the fighting. A bit like humans really.
JUNE
The Broome Fringe Festival has come and gone from this small remote town. The event that I was involved with was the open studio or art trail which enabled me to fling open the studio doors, clean out the space and make a short term gallery situation in the normally hot and messy green studio shed. The Festival went well as lots was on the program and I did enjoy the feedback as well as a few sales from visitors both near and faraway.
On the other side of the world in the Netherlands I shall be exhibiting some of my pearl shell work in a group show in Den Haag at Pulchri as part of a contemporary art biennale - Latitudes of Art. I thank the Suzanne Biederberg gallery for this opportunity. If anyone is in Den Haag from the 10th July to the 1st August do drop into the Pulchri.
On the other side of the world in the Netherlands I shall be exhibiting some of my pearl shell work in a group show in Den Haag at Pulchri as part of a contemporary art biennale - Latitudes of Art. I thank the Suzanne Biederberg gallery for this opportunity. If anyone is in Den Haag from the 10th July to the 1st August do drop into the Pulchri.
I am soon to embark on a filmic project that will see me very busy trying to manoeuvre myself around unusual skills like script writing and prop making. Thoughts about homeliness and that rabid wanderlust syndrome which I have had for a long long time will both be somehow digitally strangled and polished. I shall also pick apart the concept of staying still. I will be needing a fair amount of time to work that out, to gather all the bits including a large chunk of creativity and possibly a nice costume as well.
Time has been rather naughty lately so I hope it is not so elusive over the coming months as I require loads of it.
Time has been rather naughty lately so I hope it is not so elusive over the coming months as I require loads of it.
MAY
I was high above the ground in a metal thing called a plane watching the sunset and wearing a mask some weeks ago. A lovely view like that happens almost every day at that altitude I believe. We all love a big view. This image was taken during our return trip from Perth. Now we are back in Broome, back in the studio, back in the tropics, back in the studio, back in the reddish pindan dirt and back in some kind of cosy/constricting routine. We are back in Broometime. “Broometime” is a well used term here. A delightful word that refers to the pace of activity here in Broome. Looked at in a negative way it can mean something along the lines of - “I can’t be bothered to do that as it is too hot and humid” Sort of the equivalent of the Spanish “manana” (tommorrow) or it may be more to the tune of. “Just relax it will be done, there is no hurry to do anything at all.” The mellow tropical zen attitude as a response to all is likeable and I do use the term but I hope that I am not regarded as a lazy outback character who avoids chores that need to be done. There is always stuff to do but how to prioritise is the question and must I really wash and paint this shed wall today. Maybe tomorrow or next week or next year.
One thing I did do recently was to go fishing and mud crabbing with friend in a small boat up the mangrove and mosquito infested crab creek. We did get a couple of fish and as well as mud crabs so the expedition was successful. Watching many Snub-fin dolphins cruising about Roebuck bay was also fabulous.
One thing I did do recently was to go fishing and mud crabbing with friend in a small boat up the mangrove and mosquito infested crab creek. We did get a couple of fish and as well as mud crabs so the expedition was successful. Watching many Snub-fin dolphins cruising about Roebuck bay was also fabulous.
Besides the rare fishing excursion I have been in the studio fishing for ideas and once I have located them I spend many hours realising, visualising, reinventing and wrangling with the materials to complete each work. It is a never ending adventure this art hunting.
Soon there will be studio show so I must clean up the space for possible visitors. The studio will turn into a part time gallery for a few days. Interestingly the other week I was sent an image of an exhibition I held at John Batten Gallery in Hong Kong back in 2007. The show was large and included over a dozen 150cm x 150 cm mixed media works. Titled - FINDING YOURSELF LOST that show was 14 years ago when things were different. It was so long ago that the image is in black and white (ha ha ha) but one thing has stayed the same as I am still finding myself while I am definitely still lost in this funny thing call existence.
Soon there will be studio show so I must clean up the space for possible visitors. The studio will turn into a part time gallery for a few days. Interestingly the other week I was sent an image of an exhibition I held at John Batten Gallery in Hong Kong back in 2007. The show was large and included over a dozen 150cm x 150 cm mixed media works. Titled - FINDING YOURSELF LOST that show was 14 years ago when things were different. It was so long ago that the image is in black and white (ha ha ha) but one thing has stayed the same as I am still finding myself while I am definitely still lost in this funny thing call existence.
APRIL
The occasional electrical storm has been grand to watch above my stinking hot studio as such weather brought a small but measurable amount of rain. The sky above can also be far better than watching TV. On the nightly news there seems to be plenty of chaos across the world which makes the telly rather painful to view. We are lucky here in this bit of the planet for many reasons this I know but I also feel that it is extremely surprising there is not more chaos given the population of humans across the planet. Many of those humans are certainly very strange and some very dangerous. The technical term for this population of odd-balls is “batshitcrazy” or as my mother would describe them “silly sausages.” and they sadly grow in numbers each day.
Speaking of silly sausages, one of the first things I managed to do in 2021 was to consume a little too much Russian vodka and subsequently fall off my bicycle on the way home from a local party. I really must concentrate a bit more regarding what to do with the body and how to move it around successfully. Luckily there was minimal damage to body, bicycle and brain so there will be further peddling in the future. The big question is …how far will I be able to peddle to this year? Will Covid be contained and travel as I knew it in the good old days resume? Will I travel interstate? Across international waters or will I stay local for the next year or two and watch my passport go mouldy? Nobody knows.
Speaking of silly sausages, one of the first things I managed to do in 2021 was to consume a little too much Russian vodka and subsequently fall off my bicycle on the way home from a local party. I really must concentrate a bit more regarding what to do with the body and how to move it around successfully. Luckily there was minimal damage to body, bicycle and brain so there will be further peddling in the future. The big question is …how far will I be able to peddle to this year? Will Covid be contained and travel as I knew it in the good old days resume? Will I travel interstate? Across international waters or will I stay local for the next year or two and watch my passport go mouldy? Nobody knows.
Carolina and I have not moved far afield the past year so it is about time we at least got out of Broome for a break. It is not easy being static in body and ultra nomadic in the mind but I have actually survived such an internal battle fairly easily. The mind continues to imagine packing the bags, booking hotels, chasing buses and meeting new people while the body just grunts a mellow mantra - “you-are-here-chill-out.”
Anyway we head south to cooler climes. Time for some dry heat as opposed to the gooey, lumpy tropical humidity I swim through in the studio. This troppo climate has morphed my brain into what feels like a thick, sour smoothy beverage made from lazy nerve cells with crushed organic neuron nuts on top. A concoction that utterly inhibits cerebral and physical movement. It really has been a naughty brain recently as I am sure only about six or seven neurons are actually working properly. The other 90 billion seem to have melted into mentioned goo or gone on holidays. Lucky them.
Holidays! Yes it is time to head to the city of Perth. A city with a population of two million people and a rather easy going climate. A likeable place for many reasons. Isolated in terms of geography but that seems to be a good thing these days. We have a few people to see and a few places to visit. The Art gallery of West Australia, the incredible Kerry Stokes art collection, the very new and impressive Perth Museum / Boola Bardip which is looking good both inside and outside and the charming Fremantle art centre. I managed to catch up with some old Antarctic mates which was loads of fun. We even had a lovely Swan river trip which involved wine tasting and subsequently scenic fuzziness.
Anyway we head south to cooler climes. Time for some dry heat as opposed to the gooey, lumpy tropical humidity I swim through in the studio. This troppo climate has morphed my brain into what feels like a thick, sour smoothy beverage made from lazy nerve cells with crushed organic neuron nuts on top. A concoction that utterly inhibits cerebral and physical movement. It really has been a naughty brain recently as I am sure only about six or seven neurons are actually working properly. The other 90 billion seem to have melted into mentioned goo or gone on holidays. Lucky them.
Holidays! Yes it is time to head to the city of Perth. A city with a population of two million people and a rather easy going climate. A likeable place for many reasons. Isolated in terms of geography but that seems to be a good thing these days. We have a few people to see and a few places to visit. The Art gallery of West Australia, the incredible Kerry Stokes art collection, the very new and impressive Perth Museum / Boola Bardip which is looking good both inside and outside and the charming Fremantle art centre. I managed to catch up with some old Antarctic mates which was loads of fun. We even had a lovely Swan river trip which involved wine tasting and subsequently scenic fuzziness.
We also managed to drive south of Perth to visit Augusta, Pemberton, Denmark, (the one not in Scandinavia) and Albany. All very likeable towns and I must say I do love the WA bush. Especially the fabulous Xanthorrhoea or Grass tree. The fine beaches and the Kauri Forests were not too bad either. Unfortunately we had limited time to see an expanse of land the size of Spain. West Australia is actually larger in size than all of Western Europe so there is plenty to see.
Back to Broome-time and with luck the humidity will decrease as the Dry season is on its way. Back to the studio for a bit more art creation.
JANUARY
Hello 2021. So far I have noticed that it is wet. It is a new year. It is hot. It is sticky. It is wild. It is all a bit fuzzy. It is unfair and it continues. I am sure 2021 will do many things and I know we have a LONG WAY to go. We shall see…or not.
I have below a short essay for anyone in the Northern hemisphere who is wrapt up in some form of winter reading mode as it is much safer in bed with words than anywhere outside or this essay is for those in Southern summer climes who are wallowing about on beaches and totally bored with reading fashion magazines, hard-core comix, pulp fiction, the bible, COVID reports or department store catalogues. Heres a lump of thoughts on travel. Something I used to do quite a lot of and on a large scale…
SHORT ESSAY -
TRAVELESS
We all travel even when we do not. Even without a passport anyone can have a massive, surprising or shocking experience perhaps while just trotting down to the local shop to buy a loaf of bread or one can have an utterly boring routine time while right in the middle of the adventure of a lifetime far from your homeland. Many things can happen anywhere and at anytime as we move from one latitude to another or from one room to another. Travel normally refers to long distance movement but how long is long? And how far is faraway? Permit me to broaden the term ‘travel’ to incorporate all distances; long, short and in-between. From macro and micro and back again with or without luggage.
Xavier De Maistre (1763 -1852) author of the novel - A journey around my room. played with this fact while locked in a hotel room in Italy. He travelled physically from his bed to the window and from the window to his desk as well as wandering a great deal in his mind. Then he put it all down on paper. Shamanic characters across the centuries who admittedly consumed hallucinogenic potions often went on unusual trips without much movement at all. Travel can be big or small and it is never, ever going away.
Travel is about mobility not just the quantity of distance but the quality as well. Our legs simply want to be used and if legs are not operational then the brain can easily visualise elsewhere. Imagination involves the frantic movement of electro-chemical impulses within our brain which is far less in distance than crossing an expanse of water the size of an ocean but they are both distances that require mobility and navigation. As the saying goes - “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu. That single step is indeed a journey in itself.
Does anything not move? Movement is normal, not stability. Nothing stays still for too long. It may even be totally impossible to stay ‘dead still’ even when we are dead. Death is travel of sorts. Our cells, gases and DNA all disperse when we die so death is actually the movement of particles and chemicals that used to be us. We cannot feel or see that movement clearly and to consider the thought of mortality is a little tricky I must admit as the concept in itself is rather ‘moving.’
Some humans want to move, some need to move and some in dire situations that require immediate relocation must move fast. So we move, wander, hunt, track, explore, flee, chase, skip or crawl. We love to move and move we do as is very clear throughout the history of our species. From hunter gatherer societies to exploration mission to others planets. The Apollo 13 mission went to the dark side of the moon in 1968 which is about 400,171 km away from Earth to the potential colonising of Mars (54.6 Million kms away) to the unmanned spacecraft Voyager 1 which is now about 21.2 billion km away from home, humankind is in a perpetual state of wanderlust. We are not shy at all of being nomadic it seems.
The concept of stability or staying at home is surely pleasing and comforting in terms of familiarity which certainly creates security but as John A. Shedd declared, “A ship in a harbour is safe, but it is not what ships are built for.” Some ships are capable of longer voyages than others and some have no interest at all in docking at any port but all ships are seaworthy to a degree. Matsuo Basho the famous Haiku poet wrote - “The journey itself is my home.” Basho was fond of trekking across Japan to feed his curiosity as well as his poems while other folk have zero desire to stroll from their village or the port where they were born in order to poke around elsewhere.
Some people do have broken paddles and they cannot move easily and some fear to move too many steps in any direction at all for a plethora of real and/or unreal reasons. (Earthquakes, loneliness, wars, sea-monsters, disease, overpopulation, foreigners eat babies.) Others are not willing to take risks as they have ample food, water, family and shelter to keep them happy and all those basics are close by in a smaller radius. The desire to move further away is just not there and why should anyone if they are in a good position?
Personally I like a good long-haul peregrination. Being “on the road” is normal for me. Strangely after almost forty years of active travel this year (2020) will be the first year since 1981 that I have not used a passport. (Excluding 1985 when I was entrenched in university study in Tasmania and also in 1987 when I spent the year traveling around an enormous island called Australia.)
The fluid adventures and unpredictable situations encountered over those years have all been manageable, stimulating and the process almost automatic as I do possess this terminal, rabid wanderlust. I have been very lucky not to fall into too many horrid predicaments. Usually nothing deters me from walking far from my bed, relocating via some form of transport to a new town or buying a plane ticket to another continent. I reiterate all those forms of movement are indeed just different forms of travel. Of course sometimes peripheral events do stop travel plans just like the current COVID-19 pandemic but even now I am mobile on my old bicycle peddling off to see other parts of the world in the local neighbourhood.
Am I trying to convince myself that I am still wandering and not home-bound? Perhaps, but it does seem that we are all non-stop travellers from any perspective we look at it. Certainly some ramble more than others. Further or longer, shorter, deeper, by accident or virtually; we all still travel in some manner. We are never still. Even if we hold our breath in one place and pretend to be a stone statue the Earth spins us around and around at a wild velocity. We just cannot feel that movement. Or maybe we do unconsciously. Perhaps that wild planetary velocity is responsible for the constant vibrations within us that generate our impulse for an un-still life.
S.E. Broome. W.A. 2021.