Thursday, September 1, 2011

Assembled books...Port Jackson Press

A moment from the book installation at Port Jackson Press...'books from the library of phenomenology'...the works divided into four different suites...
'suite for piano and emotional voice'...'
you can't look at yourself in the ocean' vol.i-iv. 
'the small book of hours' vol.i-vi..
'flesh' vol.i-iii...
Although it is only a narrow window space the work seemed to adapt well to its thinness...it was a beautifully clear, cool day in Melbourne...perhaps it was the very new plane, its clean lined interior, its smell of newness and the thankful  absence of any intrusive digital screen in the seating but the flight back to Brisbane left me feeling a sense of nostalgia for the days when travelling by plane was a social occasion in peoples lives...an experience that people felt the need to 'dress-up' for...at least that is the perception that was formed in my teenage years and it is one that has remained with me...on the rare occasions I traveled by plane in those teenage years I remember secretly wanting to fall in love with an air hostess...one who had long hair that would be tied up in a bun...about as close as I came to fulfilling this romantic dream in the glamour days of plane flight was when my high school sweet heart got her first job with the Avis car rental company and part of her time would be spent at the Avis desk located at the airport. Susie had long hair and she use to tie it up in what she called a French twist or a French slide...I think I fell for her even more when she told me that. At some point Susie talked about becoming an air hostess and so naturally I told her she would be great at it...for a few short weeks in 1975 it seemed as if dreams and reality shared the same horizon line and one that was within walking distance...that was until Susie met a pilot and all in a day I wish I had never heard of anything known as the French slide...a few months later I discovered the so called pilot was only a trainee at the time and he never went through with becoming a pilot...for a lot of years I use to him at the baggage check-in counter at the same home town airport...Susie left Avis, got her hair cut and went to uni. to become a school teacher. On the flight home from Melbourne one of the flight attendants had her hair combed back in a French twist..  


3 comments:

  1. Very impressive installation. Enjoyed the post.

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  2. Life's full of little twists.

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  3. Nice airport foto there at the end! The artists eye at work again.

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