"Sons Of Ganga" Opening Night.

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The opening night of Seng Mah’s wonderful exhibition ”Sons of Ganga” was a great success with a bighearted crowd raising over $600 as they participated in a silent auction of selected work generously donated by Seng for the "Our Home Charity" in Kerala India.

Our Home Charity provides homes for abandoned children and orphans.

The Ganges at Varanasi is so heavily polluted that its waters are septic. Undeterred by this, the people of Varanasi continue to bathe in the Ganges and to use her banks and her ghats when praying. Strangely, Ganges water is mysteriously rich in dissolved oxygen – a remarkable phenomenon given its pollution.

Mah responds on a quietly instinctive level to this confusing and complex kaleidoscope of the spiritual and the unsanitary. View “Sons of Ganga” until the 31^st March and enter with Mah the spaces usually occupied only by the people of Varanasi.

Mah is a WA based freelance photographer. His previous exhibitions include underwater portraits in “Under H20”, the WA surf life saving scene in “Sons of Beaches”, and the solitude of the lone traveller in “Chaos and Drama”. Seng is the coordinator of the FotoFreo 2010 Fringe Festival and also runs workshops in Fremantle.

Exhibition will run at Behind the Monkey until 30th March 2010.

www.thesnapshooter.net

In The Press - Mania Mania 2

Sunday Times Magazine 14th March 2010 - Style section Editor: Claire Davies.

Click on pictures for an enlarged view..........

Clothes above: Bianca Spender waistcoat from Carla Zampatti Claremont and Lisa Ho Feather Skirt from Lisa Ho, Subiaco.
Mania Mania Neckpiece From BehindThe Monkey.

Clothes Below: French Connection Dress from French Connection, Subiaco
Mania Mania Cuff Bracelet from Behind The Monkey.

Credits: Sunday Times/Photography: Jordan Graham

In The Press - Mania Mania

Sunday Times Magazine 7th March 2010 - by Claire Davies




In Store now...........

Sons Of Ganga - Exhibition Invitation

Sons of Ganga chronicles life unfolding on the banks of the Ganges in the city of Varanasi, India.
In late 2008, WA photographer, Seng Mah, spent a period of time in Varanasi while on a journey through northern India. Drawn by the significance of the city for Hindus and visions of Varanasi from images by the likes of Magnum photographer Michael Ackerman, Mah felt a desire to experience Varanasi himself and to document his experiences in a body of work that forms Sons of Ganga.

The Ganges River is the most holy of rivers in India. She is Ganga, the mother goddess, said to flow from the toe of Vishnu, the Provider.
In Varanasi, the ancient city on the banks of the Ganges, the river is an intrinsic part of spiritual life for Hindus - bathing in the Mother allows one to wash away the sins of lifetimes. The dead are cremated on its ghats, their ashes returned to Mother Ganga, their souls released from moksha, the cycle of rebirth.

There are also more pragmatic purposes to the Ganges - its water is used by countless dhobi wallahs who launder on its banks; boatmen ply its surface taking pilgrims and tourists from ghat to ghat, the locals wash, bathe and swim in her, and, ultimately, she becomes the repository for every piece of refuse, sewage and waste that comes from human and animal habitation of the city.

The Ganges at Varanasi is so heavily polluted that its waters are septic. Data collected reveals that there are 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml of water, where the amount for safe bathing should be less than 500. Undeterred by such facts, the people of Varanasi continue to bathe in the Ganges, to devote their prayers to her, and to use her banks and her ghats in prayer. Mysteriously, Ganges water is mysteriously rich in dissolved oxygen - a remarkable phenomenon given its pollution.

In visiting Varanasi, Mah was immediately struck by its contrasts. The images in Sons of Ganga show these contrasts and explore the seamless intersection of what people in the West often deem to be a division between the religious and secular. In Varanasi, this distinction is blurred, often to the confusion and, sometimes, revulsion, of visitors from the West:
“When you stand on the ghats overlooking the Ganges, a tremendous sense of calm and serenity settles upon you,” he says. “Yet, just metres ahead, men and women splash in the turbid waters of the river, seeking to cleanse themselves of physical and spiritual stains. Behind, large cattle low and defecate on the steps, while touts linger within earshot. The air is heavy with the acrid scent of funeral pyres on the cremation ghats. The hubbub of life by the river is suddenly broken by the ringing of bells and chanting as another corpse, swathed in marigold, is borne towards the pyre, where it will be immersed in the Ganges before it is ceremonially immolated before the burned remains are returned to the river.”

Mah found himself responding on a quietly instinctive level to this confusing and complex kaleidoscope of the spiritual and unsanitary. As a visitor and tourist, it was impossible for him to understand the centuries of cultural and religious tradition that normalised life on the banks of the Ganges. Instead, driven by a desire to create his own understanding of life on the Ganges, Mah found himself entering spaces usually occupied by the people of Varanasi:
“I walked the ghats and explored the alleyways of the old city. I sat down, waited and was invited to photograph inside akharas (wrestling arenas/gyms) on the banks of the river. I conversed with a retired banker on an evening stroll by the river, a boatman who lived in a shack on the ghat, children who wanted to be photograph and then asked for baksheesh (donation) in recompense, Shaivites who prayed and bathed in the river and a band of young men who washed in the river, exercised in the akhara before heading out to their work in various IT and business companies in the city.”
Mah’s photographs in Sons of Ganga show his exploration of these spaces.
Sons of Ganga is a FotoFreo 2010 Fringe Festival exhibition (www.fotofreo.com)


Exhibition will run at Behind the Monkey from 13th March - 30th March 2010.

MANIAMANIA: Real Life Awaits you...........

Launching over the summer 09/10, MANIAMANIA is a jewellery label
by stylist Tamila Purvis and art director Melanie Kamsler.

Working together behind the pages at Russh Magazine for over three years,
the pair developed their collaborative chemistry and mutually spirited visual language.

By pooling their extensive professional experience in styling, graphic design and art
with their love of vintage jewellery, MANIAMANIA is their love child.

Drawing inspiration from history and mystery over a range of eras, muses, music and places, MANIAMANIA’s aesthetic continually evolves.
As a label it cohesively unites niche influences into a contemporary cult collection,
which respects the notion of adornment as personal, intimate and primal.

‘Real Life Awaits Us’ is MANIAMANIA’s first comprehensive collection.
In the form of luxe handmade treasure, sterling silver and oxidized brass meet with Calcite, Harlequin Quartz and Tibetan Quartz crystals
across a range of rings, cuffs, amulets, neck pieces and earrings.

Initially inspired by the film ‘The Holy Mountain (1973)’,
the collection is a rich synthesis of Mesoamerican iconography,
geology, 1970’s handicrafts, shamanism and magic, creating a range of
new-worldly forms packaged in a soft, bone coloured leather pouch.

In The Press.........

As featured in the Sunday Times on 13th February - Style Counsel:

3. Top Right - Karen Thompson "Picasso-esq" series necklace...in store now!
6. Bottom Left - Phrenology head...in store now!

Click on Picture for an enlarged view.

Bluebird Vintage flies into Behind The Monkey

Popping up in The Cracked Gallery at Behind the Monkey –

Bluebird Vintage

Deborah Dickson and Steven Price, collectors of all manner of vintage object d'art and fashion, met whilst doing a Fine Arts degree at Curtin but found a mutual love of custard pies and black lady lamps, so spent the days skipping tutes and sneaking off to op-shops!

They still do the same thing now, except on planes to other parts of the world fossicking for unusual junk and treasures. Deb has been working in the antique scene for years, and managed the iconic Dr Russell’s Emporium in Highgate until they closed last year.

Now this creative pair has newly formed their own inspiring retail venture,

Bluebird Vintage

and it pops up for a limited time in

The Cracked Gallery whilst they establish their own bricks & mortar store, due to open early March.

Deborah and Steve love vintage decor and the nostalgic warmth it adds to contemporary interiors, especially the 60’s & 70’s where no matter how funky and stylised it became, it still remained organic and charming. From the atomic style of the early 60’s, to the wild 70’s bohemia, the Jet-age bringing inter-continental travel to the world and then the world travelling back into the living room. Asian and African inspired prints, bright colours and textures, Pop –Arty post-modernism and crazy kitsch.

The Bluebird Vintage team love the little trips these inanimate objects take – how a Bakelite phone in a London bank ends up at an Algerian flea market, or an Art Deco clutch purse from the local Salvos gets to go to the Logies...............

Preview the world of Bluebird Vintage in a wonderful retail installation room at

The Cracked Gallery
Behind the Monkey
479 Beaufort St, Highgate 92277886