Visual Photo Diary & reflections on isolation I’m currently taking part in the Ballarat Intl Foto Biennale curated project called Mass Isolation Australia. This online project is a visual record of the COVID-19 crisis on Instagram, inspired by the 1937 Mass Observation project in Britain. Curators Shaohui Kwok and Amelia Saward invite Australians to share…
Childhood memories in documentary photos. Is returning to see your childhood home possible and have you done it? Vast majority of people who make a trip to see a former home select a place they lived in during their primary school years (around 5 to 12 years old). In Poland, people generally don’t change homes as…
Why are we still at war Last year I had the opportunity to visit the Parliament behind closed doors (part of the visiting Leadership group) as well as the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Seeing the story of The Great War WWI from an Australian perspective was a special thing. Our guide John Peterson (in picture)…
Roman and Teresa Skrypko, Polish post-WWII migrants to Ballarat have set up the Polish Seniors Club and have been heavily involved in promoting Polish culture to the Ballarat community and beyond. Roman is also a keen photographer and took his German camera on the ship to Australia back in 1949. Seeing his obvious talent in…
Ballarat Streets Monday morning mesmerising sky above me.. Ballarat Town Hall Tower Sturt Street
Public Art Ballarat A new exciting public art mural has just been completed at the Civic Hall / Library car park in Armstrong St. Ballarat youth who participated in the project worked all week alongside a professional Ballarat artist Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling in creation of some 30 metres of this colourful & textured mural. The project…
Between 2012 and 2014, I participated in the City of Ballarat’s Multicultural Ambassador Program in a voluntary, unpaid capacity. This was about two years after I migrated to Australia and chose to settle in Ballarat. I want to emphasise that my involvement was deeply meaningful and I valued the experience greatly. The most rewarding aspect…
We arrived on April 25, 2008 unaware that a couple of hours earlier a bombing of a commuter bus was carried out in Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, a suburb of Colombo. Soldiers with guns and maximum security were everywhere when we arrived. Sombre reminder that the country is in conflict. The atmosphere of a small fishing…