Lifestyle - 2021 Virtual Exhibition

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Outside the House © Brian Rope (Joint Winner)

Folk in two houses have each found separate ways to extend their lifestyles beyond the immediate "walls" of their abodes.

One household has extended its domain outside its back fence spilling onto public land, establishing garden beds and utilising pieces of furniture in support of the venture. Their lifestyle is enhanced by this free outdoor space.

Another household does not have access to an open space other than concrete, so the domain has only spilled into their garage where the lady of the household is able to indulge her drawing and craft interests quietly and free from unknown distractions inside.

Contemporary Lifestyle 2021 © Lyndall Gerlach (Joint winner)

It is 2021, 2 years into a pandemic that has so far killed 4,692,850 from 228,413,499 infected people. We are accepting there will be more deaths, as our society tries to find 'normal'.

My triptych illustrates life for some vulnerable 'high risk' people. It's about their contemporary lifestyle choice, staying alive.

Time and relationships irrelevant, days merge, contained, among written memories of other times, a far-seeing telescope, a couch to sleep on. Curtains shade reminders of life, alcohol dulls the pain and encourages sleep. Time passes.

Painful aloneness, living it is a contemporary lifestyle for some.

The Great Escape © Heather Prince (Highly Commended)

Retirees can't wait to leave their working life behind and hit the road to explore our amazing country. We hook up the van and set off to see far away places, meet like-minded people and experience the lifestyle we have been dreaming of. There are great discoveries and some disappointments but mostly the euphoric sensation of freedom and choice. We planned to make a new career of exploration and liberation but, alas, COVID-19 has put an end to this project. So now we are content to dream of what might be, some time in the future, in a COVID-free world, if we are not too old that is!

Overwhelmed © Charles McKean (Highly Commended)

Sometimes, living in a city is fun.

Sometimes, living in a city is adventurous.

Sometimes, living in a city is hard work.

Sometimes, living in a city is just plain overwhelming.

Just too hard © Ian Terry (Highly Commended)

We all think about our lifestyle , but few of us think about the restricted lifestyles of the elderly. Aged 100, his wife of 69 years having recently died, very frail with hearing, sight and mobility much diminished, and living in an aged care facility, my father's life was reduced to hours every day spent sitting in his chair with occasional visits to my sister's home. In January 2021 he told me that life was just too hard. Fortunately, he did not have to endure this lifestyle for much longer.

Beauty in Industry © Chales McKean

Worldly trinkets and necessities arrive in pretty boxes.

Chores © Helen Carpenter

Life on a farm is never boring and there are always chores to be undertaken by all members of the family, from sheep work, cleaning up after storms and burning off, to chopping wood for the house fire to stay warm on those cold nights and early mornings to mowing the lawn and laneways and getting out of bogs in the water saturated paddocks after too much rain. Life in the country on a farm - there is never nothing to do.

Corflute Campaign © Brian Rope

Politicians are considered by many to be a strange breed. Their political lifestyles are alien to us. During election campaigns they seek to attract our attention and votes in a multitude of ways. Some use social media, others conduct public meetings or hold street stalls where they can chat with potential voters. In recent years the use of corflute has revolutionised the material previously posted on telegraph poles, fences and shop windows. During the most recent campaigns in my area the number of corflutes along the roadsides was huge, sometimes distracting drivers passing by - their messages being little more than names and photos of the candidates which sought to sear themselves into voters' memories ahead of the polling period.

COVID-19 Restrictions and Social Isolation (diptych - two separate images) © Kenneth Opeskin

During the COVID pandemic, the need to limit the spread of the virus has meant we have had to socially distance. Travel restrictions have been imposed and masks have had to be worn. This has affected nearly every social aspect of our lives including interaction with family and friends, work, transport, education, recreation, entertainment and travel. Photo 1 (this one) shows an empty International terminal at an Australian airport, due to travel restrictions imposed as a result of COVID. Photo 2 (the following one) shows an isolated individual in a lounge at the same airport, which was virtually empty due to COVID-imposed travel restricions.

COVID 19 Restrictions and Social Isolation (diptych - two separate images - this and the previous one) © Kenneth Opeskin

Artist statement as for previous image.

COVID Distancing © Glynis Pogson

The public anticipation for a release from susceptibility to the COVID contagion and associated restrictions upon daily life evoked my thought, 'free as a bird'. This photograph was taken with a long lens at a pond within the five kilometres allowance distance from home.

Walking around this area provides exercise during lockdown, and the easing of certain COVID restrictions allows a return to setting up camera on tripod there. Increasingly, a variety of birdlife is attracted to the pond including migratory species. The stance of the two birds in this image suggested 'remember the 1.5 metres apart rule'.

Emerging Light © Glynis Pogson

Representing a partly clouded full moon on a cold, windy night in September, this image is one of a series of photographs taken from my property during COVID lockdown. The spring (vernal) equinox was approaching when the length of daylight hours most closely equals the length of night hours between the winter and summer solstices. Along with the current gradual opening up of lockdown restrictions, there is a feeling of hope in the air that the COVID clouds over community and global wellbeing will soon move swiftly away to allow for a more balanced, fully rounded lifestyle for all.

Home Sweet Home © Tracy Lees

I often pass this home and was intrigued by the eclectic detritus. One day I knocked on the door and Valerie answered. She was kind enough to allow me to take her photo. A lady of few words, Valerie was clearly shy, was awkward with strangers, but managed a glimmer of a smile. I feel a home can engage the persona of its' owner. Closed curtains, neglected grounds, the heaviness of the 1960s brickwork, this home seems to me to be withdrawn, lonely and slightly sad.

Listening © Sue McLeod

Rich in natural resources, with wonderful coastlines, wilderness and rainforest, together with the native wildlife and abundant food, it is unsurprising that tourists gain the impression that our lifestyle is ideal - but not for everyone. Beneath the surface this idyllic lifestyle is not experienced by all Australians. Our indigenous peoples still fight to be heard and gain equality, their voices often crying out in vain against the discrimination and institutional racism which underpin destruction of their land and culture. When will we learn they have so much to offer if only we would listen?

Joy & anxiety © Sue McLeod

Jai's tiny frame carries the hopes and fears of so many who love him. The unbounded joy of a new birth is tempered with the anxiety of his parents; what will his future hold in the middle of a pandemic where the Human Race seems to have a death wish, and the ever increasing threat of Global Warming leading to a very uncertain future? ... And yet, in this tiny child there is hope that the next generation will find the way forward to a better, more unselfish tomorrow.

Life with 'Rona © Marnie Haig-Muir

'The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there'. (L P Hartley). Written 70 years ago this is just as applicable to contemporary times where once normal things are now just distant memories. Millions of Australians have had their daily lives and livings severely constrained by pandemic regulations and boundaries. Lockdowns, mandatory masks. social distancing, working from home, home-schooling, QR code check-ins, hand-sanitisers, vaccines and testing-station queues are the new normal for the unlucky. For we unfortunates, life with 'Rona is only a pale imitation of lifestyles BC (Before COVID)

Life without much ('Rona) © Marnie Haig-Muir

While the towns and cities of south-eastern Australia live with lockdowns and other COVID-driven government constraints on erstwhile personal liberties, rural lifestyles are far less affected. Work patterns are, as ever, principally governed by the rhythms of seasons and needs of cropping and livestock husbandry. Here, because sheep have boxed, they have been mustered into the yards and are being drafted to separate the two mobs.

The Saturday morning ritual. Hit the road by 6:00, meet up with the usual mob to do the Mount Coot-tha circuit. A hard slog up to the summit gets the blood pumping. Pause at the top before flying back down the mountain, past the botanical gardens and over to Southbank for gelato and lattes. Kicking back with good mates, the worries of the week just melt away. This is the lycra lifestyle.

It's the simple things in life we miss when we are not allowed to do them. Like caching up with a mate and going fishing. Fishermen are regularly seen on the end of this jetty at all times of the day and night. These two were taking advantage of a short lived freedom between lockdowns. Calm morning, beautiful sunrise and friendship, these are the simple things in life.

In the pitstop of Mungeranie on the Birdsville Track, in the far outback of South Australia; something is going to happen. Something special. Something that all travellers long to see when they are escaping from society. Yes! McDonalds is coming!

Each year on the farm one of the annual chores which needs to be undertaken after lambing is Lamb marking. It's all hands on deck to mark, tag, and vaccinate the new season lambs.

The "Festival of Sails" happens every year on the Australia Day weekend. One of the main events is the Williamstown Race or affectionately known as the "Willy Race". the race starts at Williamstown in the morning and finishes in Geelong. Our club starts an hour before the main race and we watch all the big boys milling around before the start. then the sea of sails comes towards us. An awesome sight.

Every year around the time of the vernal equinox, the boys load up the Land Cruisers and head north to K'gari (Fraser island). This is a time for reconnection and renewal, for rejuvenation of mind and soul, for washing away the stresses of city life with copious doses of fresh air and sunshine. Adopting the simple lifestyle of the hunter gatherer, they spend their days fishing and their nights sleeping beneath the stars. However, not all the trappings of modern life are easily set aside.

Lockdowns, because of COVID-19, are a way of life now it seems. We have all had to 'adjust or bust'. However, for the more intrepid, it has been an opportunity to pursue something different and take on the restraints of lockdown as a challenge. We have discovered just how much there is to explore within the confines of our home. If ne has been fortunate to have a backyard, the joys of gardening have been a revelation. Raising seedlings and striking cuttings have been revealed as challenging and exciting pursuits. Seeing your endeavours fulfilled in a productive garden is priceless.

My suburb has been transformed into a favourite restaurant strip, a place for citizens of our small city to gather to eat and drink. It lives by this social cachet of cosmopolitanism, but behind the scenes residents cannot buy groceries here, cannot go to the bank. The transformation of our lifestyles has positives but also drawbacks which visitors to the strip do not see.

This gallery is a virtual exhibition of images submitted by Contemporary Group members. The theme of the exhibition is 'Lifestyle'. The images were judged (anonymously) by Doug Spowart and Victoria Cooper and they selected two joint winners of $250 vouchers from sponsor Emergent Design, plus 3 Highly Commendeds.

The judges commented as follows:

We were particularly interested to connect with each image and its strength to convey the theme 'Lifestyle' as visual communication. Then after an initial review we discussed each image and referred to the statements supplied to determine the strongest images.

W found that all the images seemed to have a common sense of loss from the impact of the pandemic on lifestyle. There were a couple that took a positive outlook but most shared the deeply felt issues of isolation and containment. Even though some images were quite interesting in their pictorial qualities they relied heavily on the power of the supporting texts to present or infer a connection with the theme. There were many multi-image mosaics presenting masses of visual information relating to the theme. In most cases these had promise for an engaging narrative but needed refining as they lacked a cohesive design structure to carry the idea.

There were some solid well-seen yet predictable lifestyle moments and overall a very diverse response to the theme. We both found that the five chosen image sets were strong and evocative and were well supported by the accompanying texts.