Peter Sutton - The Politics of Suffering

Sim lent me The Politics of Suffering after a conversation about how to think about western ideas of improved health and other life outcomes not being an unquestionable objective of white engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, and it's been a very worthwhile read, especially given my current work.

Its two major challenges to conventional (white) progressive thinking - and my own - are its arguments that:

1. The relative importance of colonisation, genocide and intergenerational trauma to the terrible conditions - in terms of violence, abuse, poor health, overcrowded housing, poverty and suffering (to name just a few) - in many/most contemporary Indigenous communities is typically overstated, and the effects of the interaction between traditional cultural practices and norms (including those which involve sanctioned violence, internal inequality and anti-scientific practices), and the forced imposition of modern technologies, social institutions and conditions (eg fixed housing, with its associated communal and hygiene-related challenges), understated; and
2. Too much weight is given to the 'rights' agenda, including campaigning for land rights, constitutional recognition, 'reconciliation' via treaty and other formal mechanisms, and self-determination, at the expense of action - intervention - much more directly targeted at the ill health, violence and other factors causing direct harm to individuals, including a particular focus on child socialisation as a means of breaking the intergenerational cycle.

Both of those obviously have large implications for how to try to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and indeed for how even to understand the nature of 'Indigenous disadvantage' and what addressing it and 'closing the gap' might mean.

The way it's written, as well as the depth of experience, knowledge and empathy that Sutton brings, makes it clear that The Politics of Suffering isn't meant as an apologia or Trojan Horse for simplistic conservative attitudes to the topic, and having read it more or less twice all the way through, I'm inclined to be at least open to that first argument (although it makes me very uncomfortable, and what its nuanced acceptance means for the messy, contested realm of public debate and policy-making, with all its ignorance, bad faith and vested interests amongst its competing participants, is another question), while less convinced about the second.

One obvious response is that neither question is an either/or - but that doesn't answer either the in-principle question about how to then balance efforts between the two poles of each question, or the practical one of how to contribute to moving the balance of government's and others' focus towards where they best should lie. Also obvious is that there are no easy answers, and at the same time that the recognition of such lack shouldn't be an excuse for diminishing the forcefulness with which any individual/collective/organisation (including, in whatever small way, me) pushes towards what is right, and at the same time again that a constant humility and awareness of the complexity of the terrain is the only ethically responsible course. I think I'll return to this book, because it presents a real and needed basis of tension to force me to examine my own beliefs and assumptions about how 'we' should engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Twyla Tharp - The Creative Habit

This one was a loan from Sara, and I've worked my way through it a couple of times over the past however long it's been - something like a year I think, probably longer. In a genre - broadly, books about creativity and how to practice or acquire it yourself - that I suspect is crowded and full of woolly platitudes, and which I've mostly avoided for that reason, it's refreshing in its combination of practicality and richness. The narrative sections are full of useful ideas and concepts - such as the concept of finding a work's 'spine' - and the exercises are illuminating, and the act of translating them from choreography and dance to other forms of creativity, such as writing, is itself helpful.

The Rise of Skywalker

I was planning to skip this but it came up that Rob was planning to see it by himself, and since he can always get free tickets and I had a free night, I was well pleased to go along to such an event of a film. And I guess it was fine, just a bit weightless; it also gave me a renewed appreciation for The Last Jedi.

(w/ Rob)

Knives Out

I went into Knives Out with no strong feelings or knowledge about its advertised genre - murder mystery / 'whodunit' - but a large amount of faith in Rian Johnson on the strength of everything he's done before (especially, still, The Brothers Bloom), and I think it was equal parts that personal starting point and the way the film itself knowingly both draws attention to and plays out any number of iconic components of its genre which made it impossible for me to disentangle the extent to which Knives Out is traditionalist, as opposed to deconstructionist, in what it does.

In any case, it turns out not to matter because the result is a very entertaining, clue-filled story full of enjoyably performed characters and more-or-less unexpected turns, with a depth that comes from the integrity of its plotting and construction as much as from its thematic treatment of class and race.

(w/ Hayley)

Parasite

Very ferocious, very metaphorical, very good - including in the way it evades neatness in its constituent parts (especially characterisation) and is thereby sharper in its diagnosis of capitalism / neo-liberalism as the root cause of all the suffering and hardship it depicts. Also made me think of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas".

(w/ Kim)

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Enormous, and at the same time delicate. All Mirrors is outstanding, probably her best yet, and both of the last two - My Woman (2016) and Burn Your Fire For No Witness (2014) - had been pretty great already. There's heavy orchestration on many of the songs, sparseness at other times. There are icy, churning moments which veer almost goth - the standout title track reminds me of Pornography - while elsewhere the mood traverses 'fraught Disney', contemporary torch, and all kinds of distinct singer-songwriter, with something both tender and fierce underneath every song. 

Shirin Neshat - Dreamers (NGV)

Three videos, each following a different woman through a series of encounters with aspects of the unconscious, black and white and around 15 minutes each.

"Illusions & Mirrors" (2013) is the most straightforward in its symbolism - a cyclical sequence in which Natalie Portman follows a figure along a beach into a house filled with troubling, blurry reflections of herself and others (including one moment which is something like a jump scare in what I took as a return of the repressed) and ends with a doubled gaze back out to the crashing waves. "Roja" and "Sarah" (both 2016) are equally striking in their imagery but more cryptic and I think deeper, operating with a less-determined (less linear), and so more apt, logic in accessing the unconscious, more glancing association than one to one representation.

Zombieland

I'm late to this one (I've seen bits on tv before); it's good. The writing takes it a fair way but the four main actors are crucial. Plus Bill Murray.

James Marten - The History of Childhood

From the Oxford Very Short Introduction series. Notes below are mostly direct quotations or close paraphrases.

Introduction

• 'Childhood is where you can catch a culture in high relief' - Joseph M Hawes
• Childhood is a social construction, shaped by local conditions, beliefs, and needs, as well as time.
• Young humans have always enjoyed a period of 'childhood', although the nature and length of that phase of life has varied widely. All societies rely on children to carry on their traditions and values. Children are intimately involved at virtually every stage of a society's economic, social and even political development.
• Another constant is that children play.

Traditions

• Christianity helped bring children to the centre of Western thought, including attitudes about family and children and creating moral lessons to be passed down.
• Early child welfare institutions and practices began to appear in England in the 14th and 15th century, through churches, central government, cities and private organisations.

Revolutions

• In the 15th and 16th century, the Renaissance changed the nature of schooling from simply re-creating cultures, preparing youth for work and training priests to encouraging more inquisitive, challenging and comparative points of view. Formal education expanded, literacy grew, and a new sense of the individual's place in society and possibilities of the future began to shape childhood.
• Children were a vital element of the Protestant Reformation (spreading from the 1520s). The family was the centre of the godly life for Protestants and Martin Luther called the school 'the daughter of the church' and advocated broad education.
• The Enlightenment further expanded the kind of knowledge deemed necessary for children to learn and encouraged the spread of education. Locke (late 17th century) thought children were blank slates and this notion of children's innocence was influential.
• The role of economics in children's lives also changed with the industrial revolution. Children had historically been regarded as crucial economic resources for their families and their labour was also crucial to industrialisation.

The rise of 'modern' childhoods

• Children and slavery
• Colonialism and imperialism
• Rousseau, building on Locke, associated children with nature and advocated education based on children's natural interests and curiosity
• By the late 19th century, governments were developing child welfare programs aimed at providing at least a semblance of a model of childhood.
• The rise of industry necessitated the creation of more centralised, modern states, many of which assumed responsibility for education.

Creating a worldview of childhood

• Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1924): 'The child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually.' This first clause reflected a shift from a defensive, primarily economic reaction to child dependence and poverty to a more proactive approach centred on education.
• Education expanded dramatically during the 20th century.
• Urbanisation and industrialisation reduced the economic value of children. Conceptions of children and childhood were also shifting. This caused societies to consider children's rights as a separate prerogative. The legal concept of 'the best interest of the child' gradually developed, meaning that courts would consider the emotional and economic wellbeing of the child rather than their economic value in deciding child custody cases.
• The international response to children affected by the world wars led to the rise of organisations that foreshadowed contemporary NGOs.

The century of the child and beyond

• War and conflict
• Advocating for children (Cf African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child stressing responsibility and Vietnamese National LAw for Children stressing respect, piety and love with family, community and friends)
• WHO estimates vast majority of people with health problems caused by climate change are under the age of five

Broadside

It was the chance to see Zadie Smith in conversation which got me in more than the prospect of an 'unabashedly feminist agenda', but the second of those was intriguing too so we went made a day of it. As things transpired, of course, Monday's Q&A and its aftermath contributed to the sense of 'event'-ness about it all, with several of the principals overlapping (Mona Eltahawy, Nayuka Gorrie, Fran Kelly, as well as one of the question-askers Nicole Lee).

Helen Garner and Sarah Krasnostein

I didn't get much out of this. I think it would've helped to have been a fan of Garner's, particularly given that its nominal subject - or at least jumping-off point - was the publication of her diaries. I liked the distinction between diary and memoir (with the latter, you have the opportunity to reflect back on your past behaviour and declaim that you'd never act that way now), the anecdote about the short story that someone else wrote about her (where she was offended not by her characterisation as having rudely dominated the conversation but by an apparently much more minor detail about what she was wearing), and her line about how if you don't know grammar then you don't have the tools to critique your own work.

Who Gave You Permission? Speaking Up and Speaking Out

Nayuka Gorrie was the MVP on this panel but I enjoyed all of them - Raquel Willis, Ariel Levy, Curtis Sittenfeld and facilitated by Michelle Law. Gorrie on writing's power to subvert, particularly in the hands of people who have been marginalised: writing finds its audience, whereas in a mainstream setting you need to contend with all the barriers that society throws in your way. Someone also pointed out that writing can be a tool in the hands of people who would otherwise struggle to speak in the face of power.

Zadie Smith and Jia Tolentino

A crackling conversation, with a great dynamic between the two, one American and the other English, while both also other, with a sense that, in their different registers - Tolentino fast-talking and zig-zagging through her sentences and Smith sonorously reflective and with an air of unspooling - both were thinking out loud, individually and together. I have to admit that, just 24 hours later, I struggle to remember many of the specifics - although freedom was a theme to which they returned more than once - but the impact was marvellous.

Things My Mother Never Told Me

A revue (or possible gala) style event, with a bakers dozen of performers addressing the theme. This might have been my favourite session, helped no doubt by the evening slot and the rapid turnover format. The three who I found least engaging were the three middle-to-older aged white Australian women (Fran Kelly, Patricia Cornelius, Clare Wright) but I think that was mostly that they weren't speaking to me (as filtered through attendant personal biases born of experience, background etc), and even then they brought diversity[*] had some interesting things to say - both Kelly and Cornelius elaborated variations on the theme of their mothers, from a previous generation of course, having told them very little.

The others I all actively enjoyed, though 'entertained' wasn't always the word given the mix of lighter and more serious (and in some cases very moving) approaches - Gorrie (again), Raquel Willis (finding unexpected parallels between her mother and herself), Maria Tumarkin (delivered as spoken word and made me think I actually should read Axiomatic), Ariel Levy (on money) and Aretha Brown especially. Others: Bhenji Ra, Courtney Barnett ("Nameless, Faceless" of course), Curtis Sittenfeld, Mehreen Faruqi, Nicole Lee.

(w/ R, also Hayley, and many others around)

[*] Diversity was - as you would hope - a feature across the program, with better-than-token representation of at least First Nations, LGBTI (including trans women) and women of colour.

Miranda Lambert - Wildcard

I guess there's a type of Miranda Lambert song that I particularly like - namely the contemporary, glossy country-Americana vein she mined to such good effect on the really excellent The Weight of These Wings, some of which shows up on Wildcard in what are, indeed, my favourites on this new album of hers, which includes "How Dare You Love", "Fire Escape", "Track Record" and probably "Dark Bars" (though that last one, the closer, leans more truly country).

The other I especially like is "Holy Water", which is a bit gospel and a bit blues. The ones that go harder at pop or rock (generally one or the other) are mostly less successful; Kacey Musgraves kind of stitched that one up already, although the most Musgraves-esque song here, "Settling Down", is actually quite good.

The good ones are very good, the others are ok, also it's taught me the phrase 'all hat, no cattle', so chalk that up as a win.

Bill Callahan - Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest

Haven't got much into this apart from a few songs. Too murmury for me.

Black is the New White (MTC)

Unquestionably both entertaining and on-point in its staging of urgent questions about race, class and gender in contemporary Australia, operating in an oscillating middle ground between realism and farce (but deliberately much smoother-edged than playwright Nakkiah Lui's excellent Blackie Blackie Brown, which was actually written after Black is the New White).

I enjoyed it but wasn't swept away, which I think was because I went in expecting it to function primarily as political text, whereas the better frame might have been one of social comedy in which case it hits its marks more directly. Some of the stagecraft wasn't what it could have been; the narrator in particular was an inelegant device, though not distractingly so for the most part. But I did think it was very good - lively, sharp-witted, direct and with plenty of subtleties. (My favourite jokes: the revelation about Sonny's family background and the final line about the characters' 'happily ever after', which brings into crystal clear focus one of the most important things that the play is 'about'.)

(w/ Erandathie and Cass)

The Dead Don't Die

Has some - many - of the charms one would expect of a Jim Jarmusch zombie movie but really this was just a bit too much of a goof to amount to much.

(w/ Kim)

"Olympia: Photographs by Polixeni Papapetrou" & "Petrina Hicks: Bleached Gothic" (NGV Australia)

These photos by Polixeni Papapetrou of her daughter, from very young to early adulthood, are wonderful. The 'Alice' (and other Lewis Carroll) ones I like, unsurprisingly, including the trompe l'oeil painted backdrops, so too the 'Haunted Country' and 'Games of Consequence' ones, both interestingly shadowy but not overly heavy or dark. And the 'Eden' series, revelling in colour, proved a treat near the end.

"Olympia as Lewis Carroll's Alice dreaming by the riverbank" (2003) - I wondered whether the figures in the background are intended to appear Aboriginal Australian, in a series of painted backdrops otherwise heavily shaped by Tenniel's illustrations 

 "The Wimmera 1864 #1" (2006) - unavoidably recalling Picnic at Hanging Rock though without any overt sinister elements

"Dreams are like water" (2008) 

"Heart" (2016)

The Petrina Hicks pieces were intriguing - at first blush coolly holding their mysteries both on the surface and at one remove, and on closer inspection showing themselves to be warmly humanistic.

"Shenae and Jade" (2005) on the large dividing wall; I was also drawn to "The beauty of history" (2010) in the background, green drapes around white statue

The two close-up videos were compelling and somehow not abject or at least not scanning that way to me - this one was "Gloss" (2011) (the other was the butterfly on the open mouth)

(w/ Jade)

Jessica Jones season 1

Probably both Krysten Ritter and the positive reviews were necessary but not sufficient, but together they finally got me watching now that netflix has come into my life. And it's good stuff - a bit darker than I expected, and more lavish with the body count, and really steers into the central metaphor of male control and abuse. Economical in its use of characters almost to a fault - the fault being when it seems the pieces fit together too well - and the 'abilities' (ie super-powers) aspect functions well, although the coincidence of so many 'gifted' people stumbling across each other as required by the plot sometimes strains credulity. The plot is twisty and there's just the right amount of it, the characters are engaging and undergoing both revelation and development as the series progresses, there are a few unnerving and even properly uncanny moments, and as mentioned just before, the themes are strong and well handled.

"KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness" (NGV International)

"Gone" (2019)

"Born to Bend" (2013)

"Man's Best Friend" (2014)

"What Girls Are Made Of" (Spiegeltent)

The true story of early 90s indie band Darlingheart's not-quite-rise to fame as told and sung by then-17 year old now 40-something frontwoman Cora Bissett. Good-natured, energetically performed (including by the three other musician / channelers of many other characters) with enjoyable 90s colour and music, and the impressions of Radiohead and Blur - both of whom they supported back in the day - were fun. Not substantial at all though, the aspects to do with her parents and daughter notwithstanding, albeit with an extra layer thanks to its being all true.

(w/ R and Lisa)

Felice Brothers @ Corner Hotel, Friday 11 October

Very good show, many songs with a family resemblance to the only Felice Brothers song I really know, "Forever Green", and enjoyably more rock-y live and also garnished and sometimes led with plenty of piano accordion.

(w/ Julian)

"Civilization" (NGV Australia)

"Many civilisations populate the earth today and many have in the past, but it is clear that a single, planetary civilisation is slowly evolving."

Olivier Christinat - "Figurations II" (2016) (it's people coming down on an elevator)

'Civilization' is a broad theme for an exhibition, and maybe especially one of contemporary photography, but this show was convincing, helped by the thematic organisation which struck the balance between being meaningfully specific and sufficiently rich in association: 'flow', 'hive', 'rupture' etc. The pieces leaned towards the evidently composed, and many used repetition as part of their effect. These two, Candida Hofer's "Augustiner Chorherrenstift Sankt Florian III 2014" (2014) and Ahmad Zamroni's "Muslims pray at a mosque during the Friday noon prayer in Jakarta" (2007), struck me as a matched pair:

Others:

Thomas Struth - "Pergamon Museum 1, Berlin 2001" (2001)

Graham Miller - "Alice" (2005)

Taloi Havini and Stuart Miller - "Sami and the Panguna mine" (2009) - PNG conflict and copper mining

Michael Wolf - "Tokyo Compression #80" (2010)

Irene Kung - "Torre Velasca" (2010), though I liked her "IAC Gehry NY" from the same The Invisible City series even more

Also Richard Misrach's "Untitled (November 9, 2013, 9:49am)"  (2013) from his On the Beach series.