Title: December 23rd - 13:19
Medium: Super-8 film
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Resolution: 2880 x 2160
File Type: H.264 Codec / MP4.
Comments: The plan today was to meet my friend Claudia's son at AC/DC Lane, where all the street art is living and breathing from bricks to walls. There were many alleys in that area with different stories being told through spray paint. So much so they host street art tours in the neighborhood. Reminded me a bit of home back in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The artists are close! As this was a week in Melbourne to get cultured through art I thought this was a great location to convey in the film. I got a call and he was not going to make it, even though I was waiting there for 2 hours. He had to go buy Christmas gifts. I get it! So, I strolled into the museum and took my time to breathe and think. Deep in the unknown. Going from knowing who I will photograph to looking for a new subject. I paused in the Aboriginal arts museum nearby. A man was following me around in the empty halls of the museum. I met the security guard named, Chee Leong Cheong, at the National Gallery of Victoria in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Galleries. He said he liked my tattoos and asked me more questions than you think a security guard at in a gallery should be asking. Since it was just he and I, I think he felt a warm presence and opened up. We started walking and talking about the art and gave me a tour of the place since he was just going on break. Chee told me about his boxing life outside of the walls of art and showed me pictures of winning matches on a phone. Then it hit me! Chee is the one. So I showed him the camera and asked to make his portrait with his favorite artworks. He had two, so we went over to this large abstract work and stood there and started smiling a lot. Then we walked over to another sculpture piece and made his polaroid there. We rode the escalators down to the lobby and he opened the doors for me. It's funny how things can change so fast when you think you know what is going to happen, then something even more special occurs out of the nothingness. And it is simply by being open, open to possibilities, and open to others when they approach you in a safe place with a kind pace. We became friends over the love of art. Him protecting it, and me absorbing it. In that gallery, the art brought us together. As I believe, art will always lead the way. A symbol, a path, a beacon of hope.
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