Richard Tipping's photography exhibition Urban Animals #1 is at Slot Gallery in Sydney's Redfern from Monday 21 January to 23 February at 38 Botany Rd, Alexandria 2015.
Slot Gallery is a window display only. See gallery information at: slotgallery.blogspot.com.au
Slot Gallery is a window display only. See gallery information at: slotgallery.blogspot.com.au
Urban Animals is an on-going series on animals and their images in the city and surrounds, trying for poignancy and the mysterious more than simply documentation.
James the pig lives in a terrace house in Redfern. He sometimes hangs out in the park near the Rabbitohs' footy HQ and enjoys games offlead with gambolling dogs while sniffing out eats. Juliet Tabor at Australian Galleries has identified James as a Gloucester Old Spot, a rare breed appreciated for its docility and intelligence (Wikipedia again). Boars can grow to over 250kg.
See more photos of James below: getting a prize, and neatly avoiding a violin
This coffee-spot in Redfern Street is marked with a striking painted gekko - which looks more iconic than local. Nonetheless, a fine gestalt. People like sitting outside, especially as there is no inside. Some of the seats are from bicycles (eg the guy with the brown hat's seat) on a pole and base. Three men are dealing with their phones. It's all men. Maybe women prefer the sit-down street-side cafes across the road?
This White Ibis is a native bird similar to the species worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. Ibis are common in Sydney these days, after fleeing drought inland. They like spending the night in the fronds of massive palm trees in Redfern Park. This bird in a Redfern lane is unperturbed by the surrealist affront of horizontal table legs. It is also undisturbed by the notice promising video surveillance.
Please
help with
vet bill
Thank you
*
Yes, well. People do help, apparently, while these well-trained dogs have a peaceful nap on the edge of Chinatown. No owner was in sight.
The dogs have also been spotted waiting (not busking) outside the supermarket near Redfern Park.
help with
vet bill
Thank you
*
Yes, well. People do help, apparently, while these well-trained dogs have a peaceful nap on the edge of Chinatown. No owner was in sight.
The dogs have also been spotted waiting (not busking) outside the supermarket near Redfern Park.
A moment of graphic doubt for the labrador, spotting a cheerful orange rabbit smirking from the side of a box in a Redfern lane.
Tied on a blue lead, and recognising the image's non-edible nature, a calm dog continues along its day.
Tied on a blue lead, and recognising the image's non-edible nature, a calm dog continues along its day.
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| Lions by Belinda Villani, shown at SxS 2011 |
Driving back to the city from Bondi, some tied-down lions stopped at the lights.
It was on the day after Sculpture by the Sea 2011 at Bondi closed, when artists came to collect their sculptures.
James the pig receiving a prize in Great Buckingham Street, Redfern in September 2012, donated by a local advertising agency. He is shown sitting obediently, listening to the award speech. James is becoming both bigger and more famous by the day. As spotter Franky Stein put it:
Are these dingoes? They look like dingoes. Three of them tied on tight leads, play-growling in Redfern Park. New evidence of genetic connections from India to ancient Australia 141 generations ago (4230 years) coincides with the arrival of dingoes, but they may be from Southeast Asia says one critic.Read an article about it at Australian Geographic
This kookaburra is half. Halfaburra? Not in the old gumtree but strapped across a large office building in Lane Cove. An icon photographed in flight, then cut into a headless half. The meaning is lost. Somehow the kookaburra is still clear and bold, having the last laugh. Listen to a caged kookaburra laughing alone on YouTube. 
On the back porch of a Cairns apartment, this treefrog's usual place, disguised amongst pegs. Photographed in September XII when visiting Cairns planning a big public sculpture - just before arts expenditure in Queensland was trashed by a new conservative state government.Luckily this hasn't affected the frog so far. |
| Added 23 January XIII |
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| Added 22 January XIII |
Barbie was walking by Coffee Tea & Me on Redfern Street and stopped for a snap. This photo may not be ironic, but the name of the
dog definitely is: a Chinese Crested, says Wikipedia, is a breed originating in Mexico.
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| Added 30 January XIII |
A family portrait of
White Ibis enjoying their rooftop home in Redfern, one parent feeding
their youngster while the other watches on. Note the raised wings of the
young ibis: this signal of spreading wings was repeated as a kind of
"please" before each time food was given.
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| Added 31 January XIII |
James the Gloucester Old Spot pig is back, hunting for nibbles in the Redfern Park playground. Note unpertubed adults' feet and his delicate approach, not stepping on that violin!
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| Added 31 January XIII |
A moment later he trotted off towards visiting Park Rangers, who whipped out their phone cameras. Luckily there's no infringement for porcine pets off-lead, as James rooted around in the shrubbery.
