Photo Collage: 'No Tunnel. No Way.'

Next Sunday afternoon, 1 February, I would like to invite you all to the Women's Photography Exhibition (above), which includes my collage 'No Tunnel. No Way'.
I was delighted to be asked to participate in the exhibition, especially as it provided the opportunity to showcase the historic triumph of us opponents of the East-West Link (aka the 2015 recipients of Yarra's Community Service award!).
And the timing of the exhibition couldn't have been better. With the dud tunnel finally dumped, with, as Ian Bird put it so eloquently, 'a stake through its miserable heart', for the first time in months, like so many others, I have had the time to stop and take stock. With the creation of the collage as impetus, I have trawled through the thousands of photos I took during the campaign and made selections that I hope best capture some of the highlights and the people who made it all possible.
But the process was not always an easy one. When I started the project I chose over 300 contenders for the 40 or so spots on the collage. Painfully I whittled them down, killing off lots of my darlings in the process, until I was left with a mere 105 photos. I had three objectives in making the collage: Firstly, to honour the people who had taken to the streets in opposition. Secondly, to tell the story of the campaign. And thirdly, to make art. The hard realisation was that sometimes those objectives were in conflict.
Reducing the number of photos to the mere 40 that proved optimum for the composition meant leaving out some people who were central to the campaign. So please accept my apologies if you don't appear. It is no reflection on my opinion of your importance to the campaign; it was simply that in the end I had to choose pictures that best advanced the narrative or improved the overall composition.

Below are just a few of my favourites that space didn't permit me to include:

But there are still lots of faces and occasions that will be familiar and inspiring to you in the collage. I don't think I'll be giving too much away if I say that Kat, Marceline and the 'Unknown Woman' (unknown no more since she unmasked herself at the celebration party) play a central role. As to the rest, come to the opening and see for yourself. And just in case you're having trouble with the small print in the invitation above:

It's on next Sunday, 1 Feb, between 4pm and 6pm at Photonet Gallery (upstairs) 15A Railway Place Fairfield - opposite Fairfield Railway Station. It would be great to see you there!

Happy New Year: My New Web-site

When I boldly asked my son, as a Christmas present, to renovate my web-site I had no idea what was in store. Luke, who made the original web-site a decade ago, and is committed to keeping me technologically literate, having encouraged me to Linkin, blog and tweet, has this time surpassed himself. Check it out.
It is absolutely wonderful to have a new web-site to start a new year. Especially a beautiful one like this, so thank you Luke. My Christmases have all come at once.
Luke has integrated my photo 'Time to Tango Buenos Aires' into the background. It accompanied an article in one of my favourite magazines The Big Issue (#454, 21 Mar - 3 April 2014) and was also winner of the People's Choice Award at last year's Photonet Gallery photography competition. Here it is:-

It seems a good time to thank some one else who has also helped me enormously. Ponch Hawkes, wonderful photographer and great friend and mentor, has encouraged me in every creative endeavour, including photography. Ponch was also there to cheer us along at our Beat the East West Toll Road Victory Street Party
Here is the great picture she took of us, including me with camera in hand, that day:

Here's to a happy and healthy 2015 to all of us and our loved ones, and a peaceful, more just, ever-greening world for all.