Nothingness
When I left high School
I lived with my grandmother
(my father's mother, Norah).
Her house was near Melbourne University
where I was studying arts.
Her house was quiet, not like home.
Another student lived with us,
David Carter, writing a thesis
after wintering in Antarctica.
He had lived for months on a glacier,
collecting data to analyse.
When he talked about Antarctica
I imagined a quiet white space
- a nothingness.
Last year we met up again.
In Sydney. He spoke about the silence
and how he valued that still.
He reminded me of how we first met,
nearly 40 years ago,
in the icy silence
of my grandmother's house.
He described something
of the silence I found briefly
in Antarctica.
It was out of this world.
He described his experience
of "nothingness" in Antarctica:
Back straight.
Eyes skyward.
Arms wide.
A cross.
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2022 We loved each other Getting my mother's sewing machine |
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2021 Amelia Hair-Heart The adventurous guinea-pig |
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2020 Nothingness Antarctic ice |
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2019 Seeding Treaty Indigenous and Western art and science meet |
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2019 Antarctic Heritage Krill mating |
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2019 Beauty that Was Past and present life and death |
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2017 Southern Ocean Wrack The sea in my blood |
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2016 Growing and Sharing Knowledge Animating conversation |
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2013 Art from Climate Science Data for action |
