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So, consider yourself officially invited. It’s showing at Global Gallery in Paddington along with four other portrait-based shows, so there’ll be lots to look at. Opening night is Wednesday May 2, 6-8pm. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can expect in ON PARADE. Hope to see you on opening night.

Thanks to Damien Eames, formerly of Sydney Mardi Gras, for his assistance and to all the subjects for taking part.

The transition between colours can be quite incremental, depending on the weather conditions, so here’s a timelapse I put together for the City of Sydney showing the process sped up.  It’s officially launching today, Tuesday April 24, at 5pm so if you’re nearby come and take a look.

Thanks to Moby and www.mobygratis.com for free use of the music.

Here, the Australia Tibet Council (ATC) organised the Tibet Advocacy Project (TAP), an initiative designed to utilise the power of the Australian democratic system to be a voice for the those inside Tibet for whom democracy is a distant wish. The aims of TAP are to support more Tibetan-Australians in becoming strong spokespeople for the Tibetan cause and to help all Tibetans and Tibet supporters in Australia use their power as voters to strengthen Australian support for Tibet. With a delegation of 12 members from Tibetan communities across Australia (NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland) ready to visit politicians from all the major political parties in Parliament House, Canberra, supporters wrote to their local MPs asking them to meet the delegates and listen to their concerns.

It’s not the first time Tibetans have been to Parliament House. The ATC set up and meets regularly with the Australian Parliamentary Group for Tibet to keep politicians up to speed on current developments and the Dalai Lama has an official representative based in Canberra, at the Tibet Information Office. But it is the first time that a contingent of Tibetans representing Australia’s wider Tibetan community has made such a visit, and I was very privileged to accompany them to document the historic occasion.

Day one involved an intensive workshop, covering everything from telling their personal stories to Parliament House protocol to dealing with curly questions, which had everyone primed to hit the ground running for an early start to day two in front of Parliament House. With meetings scheduled every 30 minutes, the delegation barely had time to catch their breath, and anyone who’s been to Parliament House knows that it isn’t the easiest of places to navigate your way around.

The TAP delegation in training

Lhamo and Shenphen from the ACT Tibetan Community

The TAP delegation, Parliament House Canberra

Splitting into four groups of three, the Tibetans met with over 35 senators and Members of Parliament, including Bronwyn Bishop, Stephen Parry, Kelly O’Dwyer, Sue Boyce, Doug Cameron, Eric Abetz, Scott Morrison, Lee Rhiannon and, importantly, Julie Bishop, the Shadow Foreign Minister, whom they may have a lot more to do wtih should the Liberal Party win the next Federal Election.

Meeting with Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop 

Meeting with Labor Senator Doug Cameron

The requests from the Tibetans were simple enough – to write to their respective Foreign Affairs spokesperson, urging them to make a strong public statement expressing their concern over the situation in Tibet and to formally request that a fact finding mission be sent to Tibet to make an independent assessment; to commit to raising the issue of Tibet to more prominence in their communications with their counterparts in the Chinese Government and to consider joining the Australian Parliamentary Group for Tibet. In predictable fashion many avoided making direct commitments to these requests, but to their credit some politicians did give assurances that they would do or consider doing what the delegation was asking of them.

Meeting with The Greens’ Senator Bob Brown (4th from left) and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (5th from left)

After beginning the day as quite a nervous bunch wandering uncertainly through the corridors of power, it was great to see the spirit of the delegation lift as one by one they made their voices heard at the upper echelons of Australian politics. They were speaking not only for themselves but for the 6 million voiceless in Tibet, for whom the opportunity to meet with officials is non-existent and simply gathering as a group is highly risky under Communist Party rule.

Meeting with Liberal Senator Sue Boyce

Throughout the day various media outlets arrived to interview members of the delegation, which reaffirmed that they were not alone in their concern and that the broader community was interested in what they had to say. And by mid afternoon, through their hard work and that of their fellow Tibetans and Tibet supporters across Australia, news of an exciting development filtered through to the Staff Dining Room. During Question Time, which the delegation sat in on (but I didn’t as no recording equipment is allowed), The Greens’ Senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked the new Foreign Minister, Bob Carr, whether he’d meet the Dalai Lama at the next available opportunity. While dodging answering this directly (readers of Mr. Carr’s blog will know why – sounding more like a Chinese official, Mr. Carr recently referred to the Dalai Lama as a “cunning monk” with a mischievous agenda”, a statement he made before becoming Foreign Minister and which has since been deleted from his blog) he did announce that the Australian Ambassador to China, Frances Adamson, will make a formal request to Beijing to visit Tibet.

With that statement Mr. Carr had fulfilled a primary goal of  TAP. For such an outcome to be realised on the very day of the delegation’s visit, let alone for them to witness it first hand, is more than anyone could have hoped for. With recent news that governments in other countries are making similar requests and raising the Tibet issue within their own ranks, there is now a real sense that some concrete action from the international community is achievable. Beijing’s response is eagerly awaited.

Talking with Labor MP Melissa Parke

Here’s the final video that was produced from the trip, with many thanks to the ATC and the TAP delegates for their assistance and the opportunity to be involved.

But after talking with bystanders and commuters at last night’s candle light vigil in Sydney’s Martin Place, part of a global day of action to pay respect to those recently killed, I realised that not only were many people unaware of these recent deaths, some were even unaware of the plight of Tibet and Tibetans in general. How could this be? The simple answer is that they go largely unreported by media outlets, or if they do get a mention are buried beneath so many layers of other news as to be virtually invisible unless you actively search for them.

Yet I’m sure if I asked those same people in Martin Place whether they knew the situation in the Arab world, which began with an act of self-immolation by a Tunisian man in December 2010 and led to the subsequent toppling of some of the world’s most feared dictators and political regimes, they would be all too aware.

So how is it that a single death in one country can create a wave of cultural and revolutionary change across an entire region, gaining UN and NATO intervention in support of the oppressed populations and filling countless news feeds and magazine columns for months on end, while the loss of dozens of Tibetans by the same shocking method, living under similarly oppressive circumstances, goes virtually unheard of, is grossly under-reported and garners little more than grave concern from international community leaders?

The answer is all too familiar. The rest of the world, and Australia in particular, relies so much on China economically that Western authorities and media outlets fall short of their moral responsibilities to take action and as a result innocent people, attempting to live their lives according to the basic rights afforded them by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are and will continue to die at the hands of a brutal government intent on annihilating their culture.

How many more Tibetans have to go to their graves before our “grave concern” is transformed into positive action?

If you would like to learn more about the issues facing Tibetans, one of their most celebrated activists, Tenzin Tsundue, is giving a talk in Sydney next Monday evening. Click here for details.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Members of Sydney’s Tibetan Community and their supporters gather in Martin Place, Sydney, on a global day of action for Tibet to honour those recently killed in Tibet and protest at the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Chinese Government, Wednesday February 8, 2012.

Kicking off week three’s proceedings in style was the wonderful 41 Strings by Nick Zinner and IIII, treating the Opera House’s Concert Hall sell-out crowd to a feast of rhythm and rumbling, stirring the primal beast within. At the helm as part composer, part performer, Zinner paced the stage with an eagle eye, engaging his ensemble of violins, electric guitar and bass, synthesisers and drums to make music quite unlike any we’ve heard before. Many hailed it a festival triumph.

41 Strings by Nick Zinner

The smaller in scale but equally enthralling Amiina charmed their audience with whimsical, minimalist compositions and awkward, cheeky conversation. Featuring a multitude of instruments including the piano accordion, violin, xylophone, glockenspiel, vocal loops, a common saw and even a collection of ring-if-counter-unattended-style bells, the quintet from Iceland evoked sparse but beautiful scenes from their northern hemisphere origins.

Amiina

If you enjoy your folk music interrupted by a banshee howl or two, your banjo solos flying off on wild, dischordant tangents and your musicians “dropping to give you 20″, then Vermont’s “not particularly athletic looking but with a tenor voice as smooth as silk” Sam Amidon was right up your alley.

Sam Amidon

From the warm, dry confines of the Famous Spiegeltent I travelled to the soggy, saturated surrounds of Balmain Shipyard on the aptly named Waterview St., where the ferries were undergoing their makeover ahead of the Ferrython.

Having a whale of a time

Not even the traditionally hot and summery Australia Day was immune from the rain. After a shower-free morning the ponchos were called upon barely ten minutes into the race as a squall greeted the fleet on its way to Shark Island. In a contest containing more jockeying for position than an ocean classic, China Southern Airlines eventually took line honours after reaching the Sydney Harbour Bridge ahead of Zip Industries.

Batten down the hatches during the Ferrython

Back at the Opera House the crowds turned out to take sides in the Jets vs Sharks musical classic West Side Story, complete with live soundtrack courtesy of the glorious Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

West Side Story

Let me hear you say “Yeah!”. Vintage Trouble’s Ty Taylor

Looking like they’d stepped off the pitch from the the Australia Day test, all-white wearing The Stepkids got down with their special blend of 70′s inpsired pop, before DJs Prins Tomas and Koze ensured the Keystone Bar went down in a blaze of house-soaked glory, partying to the very end.

DJ Prins Tomas in da house

And so it is now with a tear in that weary, bloodshot eye that we farewell Sydney Festival for 2012, along with festival director Lindy Hume, who, along with her incredible team, has given us an amazing 3 years full of memorable festival moments – Hamlet, The Manganiyar Seduction, Al Green, A.R. Rhaman, The Trocadero Dance Palace, Smoke and Mirrors, to name just a few. I hope you can tick at least some of those off yourself.

And it would be remiss of me not to introduce new Sydney Festival director Lieven Bertels. Fresh from directing the Holland Festival, we look forward to the exciting program Lieven has in store for our city next summer. And to seeing what influence he has over the weather patterns. Click on Lieven to see the full image gallery on my website, and to see images from fellow Sydney Festival 2012 photographers Pru Upton, Dan Boud, Dave Cheng and Catherine McElhone go here. Now go and enjoy what’s left of summer.

Lieven Bertels. See you in 2013!

While the Faith No More faithful battled a mini typhoon during the second song of Mondo Cane‘s Domain show, Sydney’s other CBD, Parramatta, copped its fair share of precipitation as it hosted its own First Night, part of the festival’s extended program in the west. But what’s a bit of water when you’ve got the chance to feast your senses on, and shake your groove thing to, a whole bunch of great artists for free!

Like a mini me version of Festival First Night, Parramatta’s party had something for everyone – the kids got to brush up on their hoola hoop and breakdance skills while the adults splish splashed along to the vibes of Afro Nomad, Norman Jay’s Good Times Bus, DJ Meem, The Barefoot Divas and Taraf de Haidouks’ Band of Gypsies, before everything stopped for an encore performance of As The World Tipped. Festival favourites Shangaan Electro capped off a memorable night with more of their zany 186-beats-per-minute fun in the Idolize Spiegeltent (yes, apparently there is more than one Spiegeltent).

Smiles on wet dials in Parramatta

Afro Nomad

The Cope Street Parade and friends

Briefs brave the weather on Church St.

Shangaan Electro inspired more audience participation inside the Idolize Spiegeltent

As The World Tipped

Meanwhile, back in postcode 2000, Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane retreated indoors, lifting the roof of the State Theatre. The musical and age generation-spanning crowd were treated to a Jekyll and Hyde performance by Patton – at times channelling crooners of a bygone era as he and his 25 piece orchestra performed mid-twentieth century Italian songs of love and loss, lulling the audience into a false sense of aural security before unleashing his Mr. Bungle-esque inner beast on them – ably assisted by an air raid siren and megaphone. A Festival highlight for me, and many others given that a good portion of the crowd sprang from their seats to rush the stage for the final encore.

Mike Patton in Mondo Cane

In what was a stellar week for music fans of all denominations, Beth Orton and PJ Harvey entranced their respective audiences with what must be two of music’s sweetest voices, while the festival bar underwent a cheeky french transformation courtesy of the silky smooth Asa, Fefe’s funky hip-hop, Moriarty’s swooning folk and Nouvelle Vague’s chic and sassy covers. I particularly enjoyed their rendition of the Dead Kennedy’s Too Drunk to F*@k!

PJ Harvey

Asa

Flying the flag for the US ‘o’ A, Tune Yards stepped up to the plate and delivered sold out shows at the Bar and Spiegeltent, with feisty frontwoman Merrill Garbus even managing a solo set at the Jaegermeister Hunting Lodge in between. Not to be outdone, all ’round country dude Kurt Wagner wore different hats, literally more than musically, donning the stetson alongside fellow Nashvillian Courtney Tidwell in the excellent KORT before fronting his legendary Lambchop with his customary trucker cap on top. The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner offered up a glimpse of his Sydney Opera House 41 Strings show, a suitably fitting end to my week in music.

KORT

Nick Zinner

If you like your theatre on the dark, disturbing and down-right dirty side then this week’s offerings would have had you salivating. Thyestes got the ball rolling, with Melbourne’s Hayloft Project’s contemporary staging of the Greek mythological tale of revenge, deceit and, ultimately, human consumption. As with Haneke’s 1997 thrilling masterpiece Funny Games, the audience never sees the acts of horror, just the consequences, leaving them to fill in the gory blanks.

Thyestes (let me get that belly button fluff for you)

Continuing in the gory vein, ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore, 17th century playwright John Ford’s controversial tale of incest between brother and sister Giovanni and Annabella, was brought to life with dark wit and strong performances from the UK’s Cheek By Jowl Co. and Declan Donellan’s cast.

‘Tis Pity Shes’s a Whore

But the week’s knockout punch came from Beautiful Burnout, the Frantic Assembly and National Theatre of Scotland’s sweaty, noisy story of life in leather gloves that left me feeling like I’d gone 10 rounds myself.

Beautiful Burnout

And so we turn the corner on the 2012 Sydney Festival. Stay tuned for the final instalment of our city in summer, complete with symphonic sounds, frantic ferries and a musical classic, amongst others. Just don’t count on seeing the sun. Click below to see more images (in lovely fullscreen size!) on my website and for more coverage from other festival photographers head over here.

Go on – hop to it! Shangaan Electro

Festival First Night got the ball rolling, converting the CBD into a playground the likes of which your wildest dreams would have trouble conjuring up. Kids and adults alike made the most of an absolutely beautiful Sydney summer’s day, with more music, dancing, theatrics and fun than you could poke a fairy-floss-covered stick at, including Manu Chao, Gurumul, Norman Jay’s Good Times Bus, The Jolly Boys, Holly Throsby and Nigel Jamieson’s extraordinary As The World Tipped, just too mention just a few.

Today outgoing Sydney Festival director, the fabulous Lindy Hume, revealed her 3rd and final (and the Festival’s 5th) Festival First Night program. Suffice to say it’s gonna be huge! Too many to mention, so go here for the full run down. Highlights include Gurrumul, Manu Chao and everyone’s new favourite band The Jolly Boys. More on them in a bit. If you’re in Sydney do yourself a favour and get along to one of the events of the year when the roads are closed and no matter which way you turn you’ll be entertained.

With the formalities over, we were treated to a taste of tomorrow’s lineup. Lindy described him as the voice of Australia and I can’t imagine too many disagreeing with her. Gurrumul graced The Famous Spiegeltent ( the hippest pop-up venue there is) and treated the media contingent to the soul-stirring Djilawurr, a song that captures the calling and crying of two orange footed scrubfowls as they return to their mound. It drew tears from some in the audience. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing/hearing/photographing Gurrumul on several occasions and he never fails to impress. Under the stars and the Domain canopy tomorrow night he will be sublime.

From the dim, cosy confines of The Famous Spiegeltent we emerged into the Honda Festival Garden for a taste of Jamaica. With a history that dates nearly 60 years, The Jolly Boys are nothing short of Caribbean legends. This from their website – “The Jolly Boys quickly rose to local prominence in the 1950s as the house band for the Rat Pack’s Jamaica chapter, chaired by the swashbuckling enfant terrible, Errol Flynn”. Not a bad start as a band and good to see an Australian connection from the get go. Since then they have been spreading their special brand of music, mento, across the globe in what must be one of the longest running outfits in musical history. There have been numerous lineup changes along the way, but the current touring group consists of original members Albert Minott (lead vocals), Joseph “Powda” Bennett (vocals, maracas), Derrick “Johnny” Henry (rumba box), supported by Dale Dizzle Virgo on drums & percussions, Lenford “Brutus” Richards on banjo and Harold Dawkins “Jah T” on guitar. These guys are consumate performers (especially Albert, who certainly enjoys the attention) and my must see tip for tomorrow night.

Then, seemingly from out of nowhere, Manu Chao appeared, momentarily stealing the Jolly Boys’ thunder (although Albert managed to hold his own). This is his first visit to Australia and he was visibly excited to be here. I confess to knowing next to nothing about him but that’s all about to change. He is going to rock The Domain with his crazy multi-lingual fusion of rock, reggae, punk and ska. I’m exhausted just writing about it, so time for some shut eye.

See you tomorrow for the start of Our City in Summer!

Sydney Festival director Lindy Hume

Premier O’Farrell added his two cents worth (along with the substantially larger amount his government contributes)

Gurrumul

Gurrumul

Brook Andrew’s Travelling Colony caravan and guests

The Jolly Boys’ Albert Minott

Albert gives some last minute interview tips

The Jolly Boys

Albert and Manu Chao

Pulgar hacia arriba Manu!