Saturday, July 21, 2007

Birrung and Woolloomooloo

Birrung gallery in William Street features contemporary art by over 200 indigenous artists from urban and remote Australia. I discovered it during one of my early morning walks, at sunrise. The gallery was closed, I played with the reflections in the window.

Dans William Street se trouve une galerie d'art qui expose et vend les travaux de plus de 200 artistes aborigènes australiens d'origine rurale ou urbaine. Je l'ai découverte au lever du soleil lors d'une de mes promenades matinales. La galerie n'était pas encore ouverte, j'ai joué avec les reflets de la vitrine.
bb Birrung Gallery is a World Vision Australia initiative that provides unique Indigenous artwork to collectors and art lovers around the world.
Through the sale of fine arts, Birrung Gallery raises funds for Indigenous community development, including employment training at the Sydney gallery, scholarships for Indigenous students and preventative health, social, cultural and economic activities in rural and remote Australia. Birrung’ means ‘star’ and is associated with the many celestial dreaming stories of the traditional land owners who have inhabited the Sydney region for 40,000 years. See their online gallery.bb

Cette galerie, Birrung Gallery, est une initiative de l'ONG World Vision Australia. Les collectionneurs et amateurs d'art du monde entier y trouvent des oeuvres uniques produites par des artistes aborigènes. Le produit des ventes permet de financer des projets de développement des communautés aborigènes tels que des emplois-formation à la galerie, des bourses d'études pour les jeunes et des programmes culturels, sociaux, ou de santé préventive dans les communautés rurales isolées. Birrung signifie "étoile", un nom associé à de nombreuses légendes du temps du rêve des communautés aborigènes des environs de Sydney. Ce nom est une façon de prendre acte de leur présence ici depuis plus de quarante mille ans. Visitez leur galerie en ligne.
bb
Far from the eucalypt forests of 200 years ago, William Street today is a busy artery which links the Eastern suburbs to the City along the suburb of Woolloomooloo (I love this name!). Noisy, not the most attractive of all streets, a bit of reality check after my dream world of art and reflections! Peter, the name Woolloomooloo is derived from the local Aboriginal language, but it is uncertain whether it means 'place of plenty' , 'young kangaroo' or 'burial ground' (more about it here) - this shows how little we know about the Indigenous languages, many of which are lost forever : Indigenous people died in such large numbers in the years following the invasion of their land by the first settlers that their languages disappeared with them before they had time to be properly recorded. The history of the Indigenous people of Australia has many dark chapters...


Loin des forêts d'eucalyptus d'il y a 200 ans avant l'arrivée des premiers colons, William Street aujourd'hui est une grande artère qui relie les quartiers Est à la city et bordant le quartier de Woolloomooloo (j'adore ce nom !). Un boulevard bruyant et sans grand charme, quel contraste avec l'univers onirique de mes reflets ! Le nom Woolloomooloo est d'origine aborigène sans qu'on soit certain s'il signifie 'lieu d'abondance' ou 'jeune kangourou' (en savoir plus) - cela montre à quel point les langues aborigènes locales
sont mal connues. Les indigènes sont morts en si grand nombre après l'invasion de leurs terres par les premiers colons que beaucoup de ces langues se sont éteintes avec eux avant d'avoir pu être correctement répertoriées. L'histoire des peupes aborigènes d'Australie a des pages bien tristes.

28 comments:

Bobby D. said...

The top photo is so lovely because it looks like a perfect piece of art with the reflection, and it seemed all wavery when I first looked at it, alive.

The exhibit sounds very worthwhile--

how are the weathergods? what does the air feel like?

Nathalie H.D. said...

Cold still, but somewhat less than a couple of days ago, thanks for asking!

Gregory Sey said...

Je me vois bien rentrer dans un taxi et dire : "Woolloomooloo please"...

Jilly said...

Great shots of aboriginal art. I particularly love the first one. Brilliant!

I too love the word Wooloomooloomooloomoolmoo!

Anonymous said...

The artwork is really nice to see.

Abraham Lincoln
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M.Benaut said...

I reckon that the NSW tourist office owes you quite a lot, Nathalie.
I am chock-a-block with places to see on my next visit after all that we see on your lovely blog.
Also, I reckon it might be quite funny to hear a French person attempting to pronounce "Woolloomooloo, SVP" to a taxi driver. But perhaps not. En Janvier I encountered 3 French taxi drivers and they thought my French was awful, so I told them that their Aussie sounded like crap. We laughed so much we had tears in our eyes, tous le deux.
There is so much to see and do in Sydney.
Happy dimanche to all !

M.Benaut said...

Perhaps the French should warm up by pronouncing Yackandandah or Mooloolaba or Nuriootpa.

It took me a whole day to learn how to say, Barbès Rochechouart. They say it so rapidement.

Lilly said...

This is a very intersting post. You find such good things on your morning walks.

Sally said...

Once more, beautiful snaps. William St certainly isn't beauritful is it ! - but usually interesting at least.

Yes, that pic yesterday was taken at Glebe Point. I think when I retire I aspire to one of those apartments - beautiful walks along the foreshores, over to the fish markets, hige screen multimplex at the end of the street, convenient public transport - light rail and bus - to anywhere (watch out for pic of the tram stop soon)....

So, after I run away to Paris and Somewhere Else, Maybe Two Places in France for a year - hard to choose btw all the beautiful Bloglocations - (morning French lessons, afternoon fun) , and then return, it's next stop Glebe Point!

Unknown said...

Certainly a busy street. I prefer Pitt Street with all the record/CD shops there.

Surprised to see frost around. So much for global warming!

Anonymous said...

woolloomooloo, oh I love that! It sounds like a word everyone should yell jubilantly! And love these early morning walk finds!

david santos said...

Thanks for you work and have a good day

lyliane six said...

On se croirait à la Défense aux portes de Paris.

Peter said...

The early morning light, I miss it. I must start going to bed a bit earlier (but I also like the night).

Woolloomooloo... fantastic! (...and it means?)

GMG said...

The works at the Birrung Gallery look great in your pictures. I always wanted to have dinner at a restaurant in Woolloomooloo; for one reason or another, never managed to make it, and then it seems it closed...

Olivier said...

cela me fait penser au superbe musée des arts premiers à Paris (une des rares choses reussis par notre ex president Chirac, si tu passes par Paris, il faut le visiter).

claude said...

Alors que dire de toutes ce que je viens de voir. La première photo. très originale me fait penser à un Kaléidoscope.
L'art Indigène est beau et le quartier de Wooloomooloo me fait penser à un bar du Mans qui portait ce nom avec comme enseigne un crocodile ou peut être un alligator. C'est bien de pouvoir voir autre chose que son chez soi.

Fabrizio Zanelli said...

I really love so much this photo and I like that word that I don't try to pronounce :-)

Janet said...

Wonderful collections!

travelphilippines said...

nice pic.. i'll ask my friend to go here hehe

Maxime said...

Tes reflets me donnent l'idée d'immeubles peints de motifs aborigènes. Un Australie moderne enfin réconciliée avec son histoire et la culture des premiers venus.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful colours in your photo.
They could be colours made from plants or some other materials of a nature.
I have seen those art peaces of aboriginals in the museum of Sydney. I remember, that they were in the lowest floor, it was like a cellar.
But it was a long time ago.
Have a good week, Nathalie!

Unknown said...

Hello. Thanks for dropping by my blog! I love your photos and how you played with the reflections in the windows. On top of that, your blog is making me homesick ;-) It's nice to see a little bit of Australia!

Anonymous said...

Nathalie, fabulous photos but I think you should tell Fabrizio, for pronunciation purposes, that Australians shorten every name they possibly can and that Woolloomooloo is usually referred to as "the 'loo". I think that William St is a fascinating spot - my parents and I once met up with former PM Bob Hawke in an elevator in a hotel on William St (not sure what HE was doing there) - but to do it justice, one needs also to look in the other direction, up towards "the Cross".

Anonymous said...

Ah ah mme benaut, from 'the cross' to 'the loo', Aussies have their own shortcuts dont' they!!!!

Cergie said...

Des vitrines avec les immeubles d’aujourd’hui reflétés et les objets du passé en vue directe
C’est étrange
Comme si le passé avait plus de réalité que le présent

(Woolloomooloo, c’est pas pire que chamallow, c’est juste une question de régime alimentaire...
Et puis en ce qui concerne les langues, j'ai entendu qu'internet est un bon moyen de préserver les langues parlées par des minorités. Je ne parle pas des langues arborigènes hélas, mais je pense à une amie d'origine slovène qui peut pratiquer sa langue)

Ben Nakagawa said...

Wow, I love the last shot. It is very good for B&W too.

Kim said...

What a keen sense of place this shot has! From place names to the traffic going the opposite way from what I'm used to. Great capture of life in motion and early morning/evening? light.
-Kim