Front Page Archive

Head On Photo Festival: Aunty Barb holds her own

Head On Photo Festival: Aunty Barb holds her own

Barbara McGrady, or aunty Barb, as she is affectionately known in the indigenous community around Sydney, is a featured artist in the annual Head On Photo Festival. McGrady’s exhibition, Visions in Black and White – Images from Indigenous Australia, is on show …
Beckham: the legend retires

Beckham: the legend retires

November 2010. A hot summer day in Newcastle, Australia. A luxury hotel and media frenzy on the periphery. The swimming pool. A tattooed guy rests on the bench; tired of people howling his name, he gets up and walks back to his …
Picket lines again blockade Sydney University

Picket lines again blockade Sydney University

Protesting staff and students, wrapped in mcintoshes and clasping umbrellas, manned the entrances to Sydney University today. They were a smaller cohort than last time and outnumbered by people crossing the picket line but clashes with police made the evening news. Grant …
Fight for academic freedom continues

Fight for academic freedom continues

China’s influence on Australian universities will be the subject of a panel discussion at the Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts on May 29. Hosted by the Australia Tibet Council (ATC), speakers will include ATC director Dr Simon Bradshaw, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, Dr …

Review: Henry 4

The unrepentant but charismatic reprobate Falstaff owns the stage in Bell Shakespeare’s latest work, Henry 4, now at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre until May 26. John Bell has always wanted to play Falstaff, and it shows. He throws himself into the role with evident …
Review: A Clockwork Orange

Review: A Clockwork Orange

I was very curious about how the extreme violence of A Clockwork Orange, the Anthony Burgess literary classic and the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film, would work on stage. But the Action to the Word Les Currie production, directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones, manages to convey the …
Anzac Day marked in Redfern

Anzac Day marked in Redfern

In Sydney today Indigenous prisoners of war were honoured in the annual indigenous Anzac March from Redfern Park to the Block. More than 400 people turned up to witness what has now become a perennial ceremony. The day began with the traditional …
Keeping it Real: Thoughts on Roots Music

Keeping it Real: Thoughts on Roots Music

Soaking up the rootsy atmosphere at this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest (often to saturation point), I began thinking on music and the notion of authenticity. To be honest, I began to get a little irked by the relentless barrage of worn leather, …
Review: No

Review: No

Rene Saavedra is Chile’s answer to Don Draper, a visionary advertising executive who can distil the hopes and dreams of an entire nation into a thirty-second commercial. Rene usually lends his creative genius to selling microwaves and icy cans of cola. But …