Love, Art, Culture, Design, Style
Welcome to my weblog, where creativity meets social impact. Through my creative arts platform, Anahata (Heart Centre), I aim to bring people together through multidisciplinary collaborations and innovative artistic projects.
I believe that next to the health and social sciences, the arts, creativity, and deep restorative work are transformative tools for fostering recovery, healing, growth and change.
By integrating these approaches, we can cultivate a more holistic and compassionate understanding of our lived experiences.
Alongside this, I'm committed to driving positive change through holistic group work, community building initiatives, creative activism, and sustainable development. This is fueled by my passion for artistic expression and social impact.
Marsha P. Johnson was a trailblazing Black transgender activist, drag performer, and a central figure in the LGBTIQ+ rights movement. She co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera in 1970 to support homeless trans and queer youth, and played a pivotal role in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Her radiant spirit and defiant visibility made her a muse for Andy Warhol’s 1975 Ladies and Gentlemen series—a collection of silkscreen portraits celebrating trans women and drag queens, primarily of color. Though Warhol only created two portraits of Marsha, her presence in the series stands as a powerful testament to her charisma, passion and resilience amid systemic marginalization. Read more in this article from Revolver.
Ladies and Gentlemen (Marsha P. Johnson), 1975 Screenprint by Andy Warhol
Revisiting this tribute to ‘Buffalo,’ the 80’s urban youth culture and New Romantic style movement spearheaded by zeitgeist Ray Petri (1948-1989)
Diversity and inclusion were key themes, alongside creativity, artistic expression and social justice, during a time of change and transformation around HIV and AIDS
‘We weren’t about broken boundaries… we were about breaking boundaries’ states photographer Jamie Morgan
Creating a style defined by ‘the juxtaposition of differing sartotial elements…’, designer Kim Jones also wrote…
‘Ray Petri is an inspiration for most people in menswear. He worked with a loyal group of people to create a new aesthetic, and his references were so on-target that they are still relevant today’.
Embracing the power of choice can be profoundly transforming. What would be possible if we truly owned our decisions? By recognizing that choices shape our lives, we can break free from limitations and unlock a future that aligns with our values and what we hold true.
Imagine the possibilities that emerge when we fully commit to the idea that we are the architects of our own destiny. We can shed the constraints imposed by external expectations and societal norms, allowing us to pursue paths that resonate with our true selves. By recognizing and harnessing the potential within our choices, we can create a life filled with purpose and joy.
This article about harnessing the power of choice to create a life you love really resonates with me. It explores various practical strategies to recognize and assert our choices in everyday situations, encouraging us to be more intentional about the decisions we make. You can find out more here.
The National Gallery of Victoria presents ‘QUEER Stories from the NGV Collection’ from 10 March until the 22 August 2022.
The exhibition has been five years in the making and is a ground-breaking Australian-first with over 400 artworks and is one of the largest collections of queer artworks exhibited in the country.
“The exhibition highlights that queerness is intersectional, and that LGBTQ+ rights are interwoven with other political and equality movements.”
“This NGV Collection spans historical eras and diverse media including painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, fashion, video, sculpture, and design and explores queerness as an expression of sexuality and gender, a political movement, a sensibility, and as an attitude that defies fixed definition.”
Image credit: William YANG William in scholar’s costume 2008; 2014 {printed} from the Old new borrowed blue series inkjet photograph National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Tom and Betty Page by Brenton Heath-Kerr on loan from the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney Australia
Greetings from the Festival State, South Australia. If you were in Adelaide for the Fringe Festival and/or the Adelaide Festival, here is another must see while in our humble yet beautiful City of Churches. In a tribute to the ‘creative spirit’ behind the brands and designers amidst times of change, the David Roche Museum Foundation in partnership with SAMESH presents ‘Silhouettes: Fashion in the Shadow of HIV/AIDS’ from the 29 January to the 18 June. Bringing together art and design by artists, fashion visionaries and activists from the UK, Australia and the USA whom the world had lost to HIV/AIDS, this is a pivotal exhibition and retrospective about ‘changing hemlines, changing worlds and changing attitudes’. I was lucky enough to attend the captivating official launch event on the 28th of February to open an exciting collection of artworks, couture looks and rarefied wearable artifacts created by designers and artisans affected by the AIDS epidemic. Over 100 vintage designer pieces are on display encapsulated and intricately sourced from institutional bodies and private collections from the United Kingdom, Australia, France and the USA. The designers represented include changemakers from Australia, Scotland and England, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the USA, and Argentina. Exhibition curator and fashion historian Skye Bartlett shared some insights about the featured designers. Skye: Silhouettes started with the personal discovery of the life and works of Chester Weinberg, an incredibly influential American designer who was almost eradicated from fashion history, due to the stigma of being the first fashion designer to die of AIDS related illness. I then started researching other designers who had lived with HIV and died of AIDS related illness; big names like Halston, Peter Tully, Perry Ellis, Willi Smith and Franco Moschino, and lesser known, but equally important names like Patrick Kelly, Fabrice Simon and Ian & Marcel among others.
So excited to invite dear Adelaide friends and community folk to the official opening of the inaugural ‘Karangalan Philippine Arts’, a Community exhibition. Saturday 23 April 1:00pm for a 1:30pm start at the Migration Museum Courtyard & Gallery 8, 82 Kintore Avenue Adelaide.
We’ve curated artworks by 8 local Filipino-Australians working across disciplines including painting, photography, sculpture/ceramics, multi-media/video installation, design/textiles and the performing arts.
Karangalan (honour) is an initiative of the Filipino Settlement Coordinating Council of South Australia (FSCCSA) supported by the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Multicultural Affairs SA.
If hashtags were to ever serve as a source of inspiration and become almost like something to live by, then #gratefulthankfulblessed would have to be one to remember. As difficult and distressing as the current health crisis may be, Law of Attraction practitioners very often note that cultivating an attitude of gratitude can help raise one’s vibration. “Gratitude connects you with a vibration of abundance rather than one of lack, getting you into a frame of mind that promotes openness, growth, and positive change” (lawofattraction.com). If you’re feeling low and need a reminder that there truly is a lot of good in the world, taking a few moments to feel grateful for all the things that bring you joy rekindles our need for hope, positivity and love in our lives.
Photo credit: @allanfranca.photography
For our Pinoy kapamilya who may be struggling with surviving the lockdowns, going through bereavement or who may be deeply concerned about not just contracting coronavirus but also suffering from anxiety and mixed messages regarding vaccination, Dr Ross Walker recommends that along with a positive attitude, maintaining healthy and established routines, sharpening your lifestyle skills, developing new skills and doing an online course may help lighten the burden many are experiencing during this current predicament.
Refocusing on wellbeing, health experts also recommend the following practices to maintain positive mental health: 1. Connect with family and friends or other supports in your community, 2. Look after yourself through good nutrition and healthy meals, 3. Don’t over-indulge in alcohol or comfort foods, 4. Make sure you have time out to relax, unwind and do activities that you enjoy, 5. Have a range of self-care strategies like cups of tea, time with your pets, getting outside in the sunshine or reading a book, 6. Try to minimise exposure to the extensive COVID-19 content on Social Media: ensure you have access to accurate and current information from reliable sources, and 7. Practice mindfulness. Likewise, given that prolonged sitting is not good for our health either, along with regular exercise and nurturing a mindset of peace and happiness, Dr. Walker’s ‘5 Keys To Good Health’ also serve an important reminder to help uplift one’s spirits during these challenging times.
As the coronavirus continues to be a major issue for all of us, particularly our fellow kababayan in Blacktown (NSW) and Tarneit (Victoria) which have some of the highest numbers of cases in the country, the FILCCA Board through the leadership of President Carmen Garcia would like to reach out as a gesture of support and solidarity to say thank you for all that you do in your respective communities, states and territories and for the Filipino-Australian community as a whole. We can get through this by staying strong in our faith alongside being filled with love and gratitude. #gratefulthankfulblessed #strongertogether #FilCCApamilya
Links to health and wellbeing support for multicultural communities:
COVID-19 Mental Health Support Line by SA Health to assist anyone feeling overwhelmed or needing additional support during the coronavirus pandemic. This support line is available from 8am – 8pm, 7 days per week by calling 1800 632 753 or using the online chat services at www.SACOVIDMentalHealth.org.au
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health (the Embrace Project): CALD mental health and suicide prevention information and services for multicultural communities https://www.embracementalhealth.org.au/community
ASKPEACE: Relationships Australia SA provides a mental health support line for culturally and linguistically diverse consumers called ASKPEACE. Monday – Friday from 9am – 5pm by calling (08) 8245 8110 by completing an online enquiry form at www.rasa.org.au/services/all-services/askpeace/; or self-wellness questionnaire https://www.rasa.org.au/self-wellness-test/
Maayong hapon ug malipayon Domingo sa tanan ~practicing my Cebuano (my grandfather’s dialect) an Austronesian language which together with Visayan is spoken widely in parts of the Philippines. The diversity with which it is spoken embodies distinctive Indo-Malay vocabularies and syntactic structures eloquently enunciated with Spanish derived words, eg. Domingo (Sunday) producing a beautiful, poetic and syncopated sound.
Magellan’s Cross in Cebu. Source: Positively Filipino
Distinguishable from the more formal intonation, timing and use of inflection found in Tagalog, Cebuano is said to have been pivotal in 16th century SE Asian mercantile trade routes and voyages of discovery. Historically, a Visayan speaking interpreter and quite possibly the original global Filipino, who also became the confidante of the Portuguese explorer Magellan, was attributed as the first to circumnavigate the world in 1521.
Quite an accomplishment I think considering the current climes. Read more about this phenomenal feat and other diaspora stories here at Positively Filipino, in an inspiring article by Professor Penelope Flores Professor Emeritus at San Fransisco State University.
Hinaot unta nga maayo ang uma abot nga semana ninyong tanan (wishing everyone a great week ahead)!
Anahata Community 