Stunned Mother

There are times when a girl must disobey the rules, especially when those who make them are ill-informed!

Signs in every room of the Batemans Bay Historical Society Museum may declare cameras are banned for copyright reasons, but I know the law a little better than that. First, displays of historic objects are not subject to copyright and, second, photography is allowed in any public space in Australia.

So I felt quite justified, although a snippet guilty, when I snuck my point 'n' shoot digital camera into the museum's wonderful "maternity ward". Tucked up in a real wrought-iron hospital bed, this mannequin looks absolutely stunned by motherhood ... but so would I if I'd just given birth to a plastic doll! Don't you just love her fully made-up face just hours after labour?

I usually prefer film, but this was one moment I was super pleased with the smooth, silent shutter of my compact Kodak EasyShare C310.

Wicker Baby

Built in 1875, Moruya Museum's quaint double-storey building was once the home of a Yorshire immigrant named Abraham Emmott. The local historical society seems to have astutely shaped its collection to suit this homely layout. Everyday domestic life, from white settlement to WWII, is recreated through a nursery, dining room, school room, kitchen and lady's bedroom.

This plastic darling was just one of the dolls used in the nursery. I love the touch of the self-closing eyes, although I'm not sure if she looks sound asleep or dead! Either way, the white net curtain over her cot and a snippet of hand-colouring create such a soft, dreamy effect.

Now This Is A Camera

Miroslav Tichý looks like a mountain goat. Scraggly white hair frames a scowl and his rotting jumper peels like skin from his body. Who would believe he is an award-winning photographer with a book for sale on Amazon.com?

From the 1960s to the mid-1980s, this recluse and political rebel from the Czech Republic worked his way to taking about 100 shots a day using cameras he made from scavenged bits and pieces, including cardboard, cotton reels, old spectacles, toothpaste and cigarette ash. Not surprisingly, these are artworks themselves, the kind of sculptures any mixed-media or assemblage artist would be proud to exhibit.

Like many male photographers, Tichý focuses on the female body. Technically, his images look like blown out and blurred experiments from the beginnings of photography. Artistically, they’re bikini-clad fantasies, an endless summer of cleavage and long legs.

Three things, however, prevent these pictures from being unadulterated voyeurism. First, the subjects’ carefree poses combine with the dust spots, scratches and creases on the prints themselves to evoke nostalgia. Second, Tichý’s trompe o’leil frames — designed mostly to mimic wood — resemble a child’s scribbles on cardboard. And third, he appears to have disdained his images, which he left out in the rain to age, used as drinks coasters or simply dropped on the floor.

Lovely Legs

What deliciously slim and tanned legs ... they're too perfect to be anything but plastic!

These are yet another find in Ross' Relics, my local junk store. This place is a photographer's fantasy and museum in one — it's one of the best attractions in Yass!

You'll notice the photograph has been inverted — I love the look of the legs simply dangling.

Mr Hume's Hospitality

Dear Mr Hume,

Thank you for the recent opportunity to visit your homestead in Yass. Contrary to its name, Cooma Cottage is most grand, demonstrating your taste for Neo-Grec architecture. I am told you fell in love with the surrounding plains on one of your fruitful travels; what fine country for Merino sheep! It is a pity you were not home, although I am pleased to report the property is kept very well in your absence. I could just picture you in the drawing room and more than once thought I saw your shadow flit across the golden wallpaper.

Yours respectfully,
Kathleen Fisher

This image is my contribution to deLiver, an exhibition and swap of postcard-sized works by artists living in regional Australia, which will be shown in Alice Springs in October as part of the "Art in the Heart" regional conference and "Imagine Alice" local arts program.

In keeping with the theme of my locality and my relation to it, I've explored Hamilton Hume, who was Australia's first home-grown explorer. From the age of 17, Hume helped open New South Wales and Victoria to white settlement. He swapped his swag for a farm in Yass in 1829 and became the local magistrate, a position he held until his death in 1873. Hume's presence in the town, however, has lingered — the Hume Highway, Hume Bridge, Hamilton Hume Motor Inn and Hume Dry Cleaning Service are just a few examples.

Surprisingly, Hume's most impressive monument doesn't bear his name ... his home, Cooma Cottage, is now a delightful house museum. I took this image in the drawing room, and added the feeling of his continued presence by overlaying his portrait and a shadow. How ghostly ... I'm in love with this technique at the moment!

In true postcard style, the organisers are encouraging artists to write on the reverse of their works, so the above note to Mr Hume will appear on mine.

Rock-A-Bye Baby

I'm still restoring images of my childhood, although I'm not convinced this is the right word. Is it "restoring" when the new image looks better than the original ever did? Perhaps "reinventing" or "reinterpretting" are better choices.

This is me at 11 months in March 1974. How do I know? Back then, labs conveniently printed the month and year on the reverse of photographs.

It's amazing how much this looks like the adult me — the same coloured hair, the same big ears and the same dimples. Looking at these images fills me with such nostalgic joy.

To think I've been fond of vintage images for so long and all the while perfect examples were tucked away in my own photo album!