Melbourne is one of the cities I’ve connected with the most of all those I’ve traveled to. The love of craft that I saw there I’ve only ever felt during a hectic trip to New York City for a conference.
The city has the best coffee I’ve ever tasted surrounded by art, fashion, music, theatre, and sport. Perfect for someone like me who is coffee lover, Formula One fan, fashion enthusiast, and retired theatre kid. Visiting places like the Bunjilaka Cultural Centre’s Piinpi: Contemporary Indigenous Fashion exhibit and the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit were amazing ways to experience my passions in Australia.
I went on my trip to Melbourne with a friend who is also from the US, and the dates of the trip happened to coincide with the presidential election. When we were getting dinner one night, the winner was announced, and it felt like everything else in the world sort of shut off. A kind Australian woman overheard my friend and I talking about the election, turned to us and asked if we were American, and said “I’m sorry”. I posted mental health resources on my Instagram story a bit after results were announced, as people calling LGBTQ+ crisis centers rose after they were announced, and I got responses to these stories from other Americans but also from Australians and Europeans saying that they couldn’t believe the results and that they were scared for the US.
Art is a way I’ve found works for me to process the world, so I processed my feelings about the election by taking some photos around the city. I was also able to see the work of artists that I’ve studied in photography classes such as André Kertész and Man Ray as well as new photographers (to me) such as Dora Maar. I also got to see the work of painters I’ve heard of since I was young such as Picasso, Matisse, Dali, Renoir, Monet, and Soyer. Art heals something in people, and I think that Melbourne understands that. Whether it’s the graffiti in Hosier Lane, or the work of Claude Monet, art can make people feel, something I think is vital in the world today.