Brian McArdle: transparencies from the 1960s. TV presenter and tragicomic comedian Graham Kennedy, Australian Rules Football Legend Ron Barassi and Australian Expressionist artist Albert Tucker

David Beal: December 1967 Walkabout cover

(James) Brian McArdle has come up incidentally in some recent email exchanges with a public gallery director/photography historian, interested in my father’s work because Brian was editor of Walkabout magazine through the 1960s. This correspondence has prompted me to rummage through the top shelves for my father’s negatives and transparencies. He had become a keen photographer himself  in the 1950s having built his career on journalism and his commissions for the magazine nurtured a generation of Australian photographers, like David Beal, (left).

In my last post I noted John Gollings‘ comments  about the phenomenon of looking though another’s eyes in re-photographing Mark Strizic‘s work. Here is that effect again, but operating in a much more intimate way. My father died in 1968 and his photographs are the only conversation I have had with him in 43 years.

Brian McArdle: 1960s alphabetical Neg Catalogue Page ‘T’

The 700+ 35 mm classic negative sleeves are packed tightly into two cardboard boxes and the yellow Kodak slide boxes are housed in the battered carcass of an ancient portable electric gramophone player. On each negative sleeve is data for film stock and developer and developer dilution and time, and this records Brian’s settling, after many experiments, on favourite recipes; Tri-X @ 650 ASA in ID11 1:1 for 11min.; FP3 @200 ASA in ID11 1:1 for 8min; Pan F 50 ASA ID11 1:1 for 6 1/2 min.

Each film is catalogued concisely and cross-referenced alphabetically, with entries a mix of his minuscule and rounded journalist’s script and my mother’s (Marie Deutscher/McArdle/Shaw) no-nonsense, doggedly legible, nurse’s capital letters. These fragile, faded, ring-bound pages bring an insight into my parents’ partnership. It was a hard-working, but unequal one, typical of the era, which enlarged my father’s reputation when in fact my mother’s contribution as the layout artist for Walkabout, sales clerk for Brian McArdle Photojournalist‘s business, and assistant photographer, remained uncredited, unknown to any except her children. (She was a very capable photographer, producing the pair’s only clear shots of Her Majesty during the Royal Visit to Melbourne, February 1963).

These photographs recreate a journey through my childhood and teens; full of adventures and encounters that revolved around my father’s career. How wonderful would it be now to share this voraciously sociable man’s love of the arts and everything Australian, and to appreciate being the butt of his wry, tricky sense of humour. On weekends our house was host to lively visitors in the arts, like photographer Robert B. Goodman who woke us all with raucous whistling (Americans!) way too early in the morning before testing his new Nikonos in the shower. [He was producing a lavish coffee table book titled The Australians (1968), which according to Gael Newton sold 200,000 copies].

We’d traverse Melbourne in our Falcon to visit Albert Tucker in Warrandyte, or  Mirka Mora (…”your fahzere eesze most intelligent man I ‘ave met”) and husband Georges and their boys on the beach at Aspendale, drive to Adelaide or Canberra or Sydney where Brian would chase stories for the magazine. A roadside encounter with a koala on a fence would turn into an hour-long session posing obediently for pictures; tedious, but rewarded by the sight of ourselves printed in Walkabout. Every holiday held an ulterior motive!

To see through my father’s eye is to have his affection for me affirmed, however distant it has become through time now, and remote at the time because of his dedication to his work, and through his early death regarded then by my teenage self as a ‘betrayal’. My respect for his love for this medium realises, at last, my love of him. However much estranged do parts of life become, photography has the power to restore.

What do I do? I’m an artist.

tiny dancer little tears

Mermaid

heart of stone

little mum a

these lil punks

basket of babes

for a sister

for a family

materialworld:

It is so good to be alive. Every day I wake up and I can’t wait to paint. – Mirka Mora. via My Voice:Melbourne Weekly

Mirka Mora, Flinders Street Station Mural, 1986

detail Flinders St. Station mural

The bronze didactic plaque for the Flinders Street Station Mural refers to the two other major public mosaics in Melbourne: at Newspaper House and the East Hill Fire Station (see my post: The Legend of Harold Freedman). The Flinders Street Station Mural is a typical laughing response by Mirka Mora to the high seriousness of these earlier mosaics.

“Communication” by M. Napier Waller, 1933, is a large wall mosaic on the first floor of the front of Newspaper House in Collins Street. The slogan “I’ll put a girdle round the world” (Shakespeare, Midsummer Nights Dream) that runs across the top of the mosaic is a reference to  the newspapers, The Herald & Weekly Times and not corsetry. Typical for the time the mosaic’s conservative late 19^th Century style incorporates a few modern references including a car and train. A copy of newspaper The Herald is directly behind the central trumpet-blowing figure. Although mosaic was made in 1933 it bears the date 3 January 1840 in Roman numerals (“III January MDCCCXXXX) for the founding of The Herald. There are other murals and wall mosaics by Waller at the University of Melbourne and in Melbourne’s CBD including the mosaic “Prometheus”, 1967, Monash House foyer, William St, Melbourne.

M. Napier Waller, “Communication”, 1933

detail of "Communication"

There are other buildings with less artistic and grand mosaics in Melbourne. Near the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth St. Flinders Arcade has is tiled façade. The tiles have the image of a golden sun that a metal skeletal figure of a crowned merman armed with a trident in front of it. There is a hard edge abstract mosaic on the side of the building on the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders St. in Melbourne, a faded folly of high modernism.

Ceramic tile wall mosaics in Melbourne might appear to be a trivial topic in art history. Most have dated badly, none of them are masterpieces but they draw attention to an ignored part of Melbourne. Melbourne used to have a lot more tiles. The outside and inside walls of Melbourne’s pubs were tiled, making it easy to wash the vomit off. There were tiled mosaics sign for shops, still visible in some of the older shops, like the “Buckley and Nunn” sign above David Jones, as well as, higher up above the second floor windows.

Although mosaics are durable they do require some maintenance  – the Flinders Street Station Mural was restored in 1998. But due to their durability wall mosaics will continue in contemporary Melbourne public art such as Pamela Irving recent mosaics at Patterson Station.

Today’s AG Property blog focuses on the infamous St Kilda triangle (inset). Sure, it’s not in our neck of the woods – but it’s an icon of passionate protest for loved inner-suburban neighbourhoods. For a number of years this important parcel of land has been a source of controversy and protest in the St Kilda community. Now, the triangle is back on the public agenda. We explore the issue further.

The Port Phillip Council have re-opened the discussion on the St Kilda Triangle with this impressive corporate website, inviting suggestions from the community. On the 14th of August community members are invited to join a ‘Speak Out’ event at the O’Donnell Gardens opposite Luna Park. You can also nominate to participate in a Round Table event at the Port Phillip Eco Centre. Click here for further details on participation in the process for developing the St Kilda Triangle. Some ideas proffered so far include an arts garden, theme park or indigenous gallery.

Interestingly, the movie ‘Triangle Wars’ premiered to packed out crowds at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival only a couple of weeks ago. It focussed on the 2007 battle between developers, the council and the public and included local celebrities such as Rachel Griffiths and Mirka Mora. Its powerful themes of community struggle against corporations have ensured the film has picked up both local and international distributors.

How do you think the St Kilda Triangle development project (mark 2) will play out in the community? What do you think will be best for the St Kilda triangle?

Artist Mirka Mora is well-loved in Melbourne, and lauded in St Kilda with the Tolarno Restaurant. A piece of her mosaic work on the St Kilda Boardwalk has just been renovated, re-instating a wonderful work to the community.

Three years ago the circa 1993 mosaic work was destroyed by a truck accidentally driving over it. The mosaic depicts some of St Kilda’s key landmarks such as Acland Street, executed in whimsical Mora style. The mosaic was repaired by Mirka and fellow-artist Sabine Cocotte. Mirka, now 82, instructed Sabine on much of the heavy work of reconstruction, ensuring that the breaking of the mosaic was now an integral part of its pattern. You’ll find this piece of art at the end of the St Kilda Pier in front of the sea baths.

*Adam Joske Gary Peer has gathered this information to provide an interesting document for readers and subscribers. Information contained herein is gathered from a range of sources including but not limited to; local press both virtual and hardcopy, Valuer General Information & Agents own investigations. All efforts are made to verify the information provided. The information is not to be relied upon or used in dealings with third parties and people should make their own investigations regarding their own property or personal circumstances. Opinions and observations offered should not be treated as fact.



Well, that very kind invitation was taken up this afternoon. My daughter and her friends, and a colleague and I, spent a very pleasant hour and a half visiting Mirka’s home sharing cheesecake and lemon tea.

Mirka welcomed us with a loud chorus of classical music and a warm smile. She is such a  generous soul, full of wisdom that she imparted to us over the course of our visit. One of the first things she said was that we should always praise ourselves; in other words, exhibit self belief. The stories she shared demonstrated her ability to take risks and do things that she was not always confident about. This self belief led to great success and opportunities for Mirka. She was friendly with some of the great Australian painters and recounted stories about her great friend Marcel Marceau.

Mirka’s home is full of memorabilia and artwork. In  her studio she had three art works on the go and she said this is how she paints. She likes to move to where she feels best able to extend her creativity.  It was such a privilege  for all of us to be invited to her private space and be able to see what Mirka is all about. And what is she about? Life, and living it to the full, pure and simple.

Mirka and her pet snail! Her beloved cat died two years ago.

Mirka shared a story that epitomised what she is about. Her doctor told her a few years ago that she should have a walking frame when out and about. Mirka would have none of that. Instead, she invested in prams and now has 16 or so that she uses when out shopping. One day she was out and saw a woman with four children, one of whom was very young and struggling to keep up. The mother looked harried. Mirka approached her and gave her the pram she was using. She told us how they shared a moment together; they were united in the shared experience of motherhood.  When telling us this Mirka’s eyes were teary and I have to admit, mine were too. 

This has been a wonderful learning experience for our students (and my daughter!)  I think it safe to say that Mirka found it equally powerful. I think she was genuinely impressed with the students’ questions and with the fact that she is having an impact on our younger generation. It’s an example of Network Literacy; teachers using social media tools to connect our students to the subject of their research. I know that these students will never forget Mirka Mora and they know what led us to her. As we walked away today from from Mirka’s home one of them said,  “That’s it. I’m never dissing Twitter again.”

A great experience for all. Thank you so much Mirka for your graciousness in allowing us into your home and for sharing your life with us. We are all the richer for it.

Wednesday morning Gina rang me to tell me she had spoken to Mirka and she would be happy to speak to my daughter and the other girls who are completing the project with her.  Both of us marvelled at the power of the Twitter network to facilitate something like this. We  both agreed that there is something special about the people there; a willingness to help one another out. It’s a bit like my neighbourhood when I was growing up; people would pitch in to support one another. Twitter feels like that to me.

I rang Mirka and set things up for an afternoon phone call interview. The girls were thrilled. They never expected that they would be actually talking to the subject of their research. We decided we would use the loudspeaker function of my phone and a voice tracer device that would record the call and enable it to be downloaded as an MP3 file. I’d informed Mirka of this and she was happy to have this happen.

1.30pm came around and the interview took place. All of the girls asked questions and managed to draw out answers that related to their theme of triumph over adversity. Mirka is a very interesting and generous person. She’s an artist who migrated to Australia as a young bride from France after the Second World War. She is Jewish and related to the girls her experiences avoiding internment in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

When the girls had finished with their questions I got back on the phone to thank Mirka. She relayed to me how honoured she was to have them use her as the focus of their project and remarked on how they had asked very astute questions. She then said she would like to invite them to afternoon tea at her place as a way of thanking them! We set a date and the girls will be visiting Mirka next week.

How’s that! Pretty amazing really. A tweet goes out, it gets a response, and our students find themselves having the opportunity to meet with the person they have chosen as their object of study for their inquiry week project. We are fortunate that Mirka is such a generous soul.

I have to say I’ve been impressed with my daughter’s skills over the last couple of days. Her group set up a wiki for the project. They wanted to embed the MP3 file of the phone conversation. We were trying to figure out how to get it uploaded to the wiki when she came up with the idea of uploading to YouTube. She tried that but the file wouldn’t process. She then made a Photo Story and used the file as the audio track. This successfully uploaded to YouTube and she was able to embed it in the wiki. Here it is;

She must be learning a thing or two from her Mum! She’ll be teaching me soon at this rate.

If you’d like to, take a look at their wiki . They’d be thrilled to see some dots on their Clustrmap.

Bruno Benini was a prolific Australian photographer who documented the changing fashions of our nation from the 50s to the 80s. His archives have just been acquired by Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.  According to the ABC, the collection has 250 photographs and several thousand negatives.

Benini’s images are theatrical and glamorous, and perfectly capture the mood off the time, shooting subjects such as Maggie Tabberer and Mirka Mora.  I particularly love the above photo, taken in 1976 for Bottega Shoes, a shoe store in Melbourne now owned by my mother-in-law.   I simply love the recklessness that the image portrays; that sense of abandon. And those shoes!