I caught the African episode of BBC's Hidden Treasures of African, Indian and Australian Art yesterday. I've always liked Griff Rhys Jones, and preferred Jones' docos to Michael Palin's. Jones' observations on where culture/life interfaces art, be it his own or another writer's, were honest and touching.
After that, I went searching for the other two episodes and watched the Australian one twice so far. So thoughtful. So wondrous. I heartily recommend it. You can start from here and at the end of the clip, one of the tiles will be the second, third and fourth part.
It's about Torres Straights Islands artifacts/arts and life, and there, to this day, they are so intertwined and mysterious. I've seen some Torres Straights Islands artworks in Auckland and Dunedin, and have been struck how "modern/contemporary" they looked to me. (There are few prints at the Suter for another week, too.) I've searched the Internet several times about their art, but I never found such a comprehensive art-in-its-context package. Wonderful. If you are as interested as I, you can even read Haddon's book here.
I haven't done anything else today yet. The Indian episode is all about textiles, Jones tells us.
1 comment:
I've just watched the Indian episode and now known I've seen this last one before. Can't remember when or where, but I do remember the huge floor cloth.
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