Week 34/2022: Antarctica

Week of 22 August

Antarctica

I went to TMAG on Sunday to see some photo exhibitions that were part of the Australian Antarctic Festival, which was held over the weekend.

I was especially fascinated by the photos from Dutch photographer René Koster, who had travelled to Antarctica on a 1911 ship, in the footsteps of the early explorers, to photograph the landscape. It was his photo that drew me in to the exhibition, and his wonderful images were accompanied by music from the pianist Michiel Borstlap.

There was also a sound and light show, Stillness 1 and 2 by film maker Esther Kokmeijer, a slow moving sequence of landscapes filmed in Antarctica set to the music of Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek).

These two pieces were screened in the downstairs section of TMAG’s Bond Store, which, if you haven’t been there was used as a warehouse in the early settlement of Hobart, and always reminds me of a cave. I thought it was a wonderful location to exhibit the light and spacious Antarctic region, the darkness heavily contrasting with the whiteness of the icy landscape. I couldn’t help thinking too, about René Koster’s ship voyage and how being below deck on such a vessel might bear a very slight resemblance to the space where his work was being shown. (Obviously without the motion of the sea, and the low ceilings, and well, probably not very much in common with a ship at all, apart from being dark . . . ).

The space also featured an exhibition of photographs taken by expeditioners on the Mawson’s Huts Foundation’s most recent expedition in 2021-22. Unfortunately, I didn’t have as much time as I needed to take all of these in and I’m hoping to get back there this week before the exhibition closes on Sunday for a closer look at these beautiful images.

22 for 2022 update

I told Lil Sis about the scoby disaster and she very kindly agreed to give me a new scoby so I could start my kombucha all over (thing 5). It arrived on Sunday.

I got rid of the other, mouldy one.

22 for 2022 summary

• Things completed to date: 8 (8, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 22)
• Things completed this week: –
• Things I worked on this week: 3: (5, 12, 21)
• Things in progress: 4 (1, 5, 12, 21)
• Things not started: 2 (14, 17)
• Things that are parked until the end of September: 6 (2, 3, 4, 6, 15, 16)
• Things I’m not going to do: 2 (7, 9)

What do I want to do next week?

Much the same as this week. I didn’t make any progress on my 4000 Weeks post or my photo project this week so they are still on the list.

I also want to keep working on my shoulder. I’m starting to feel some improvement there, so I need to keep going, and especially concentrate on not sitting down for long periods because it doesn’t help my shoulder at all. Or my neck. Or my back.

Weekly summary

What was the best thing about this week?

I had a lovely morning on Sunday exploring the Utas campus with my camera and looking for different angles to familiar places.

What did I learn this week?

I learned what it means to die intestate. I went to a Family History Month workshop with Libraries Tasmania about finding your family’s old land titles in the archives, and I thought the presenter had said someone we were searching for had died “interstate”.

Incorrect.

Intestate means you die without a will, so your estate passes to your family.

What I’m reading this week

• Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
• The Wardrobe Girl by Jennifer Smart

Habit tracker

• Days I went for a walk in the morning (Goal = 5): 6
• No phone at breakfast (Goal =5): 7
• Days I did my morning planning routine at work (Goal = 5): 5
• Days I did controlled breathing (Goal = 7): 5
• No phone at lunch time (Goal = 6): 6
• Days I did my post-work pack up routine (Goal = 5): 5
• Finish work by 5.30 (Goal = 5): 5
• Days I worked on my art (Goal = 2): 4
• Days I read a book (Goal = 7): 7
• Days I went for a walk or did other physical activity in the afternoon (Goal = 5): 6
• Days I shut my computer down before 9.30 (Goal = 6): 7
• Weekly review at work: Yes
• Weekly review at home: Yes