2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival; Freya Bennett: The Marvellous Reject Girl, music review

Melbourne-based singer, songwriter and artist Freya Bennett. Image: StarNow.

Marvellously Mellow by Linh

Freya Bennett is a Melbourne-based singer, songwriter and artist who made her Adelaide Fringe Festival debut at a pop-up venue called Tandanya Firefly, which is within the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute of Australia. Her show is titled The Marvellous Reject Girl, which is also the name of her debut album, and features all the songs, spoken word story and some of the photography from the album. The Marvellous Reject Girl is quirky and interesting blend of songs, spoken word, photography and a bit of astronomy.

Freya Bennett promotional photograph. Image: StarNow.

Bennett sings and plays the keyboard, while wonderfully supported throughout by a band comprised of cellist Helen, Nathan on drums and Harry the guitarist. Bennett’s singing voice is soft and mellifluous and she maintains the same sweetness and gentleness while reading the story about the marvellous reject girl and her cat named Mint. The story is written by Bennett’s friend Stefanie Markidis and it is cleverly woven into the show to link with the songs and the photography by American artist Sophie Pelligrini which is projected onto a large screen above the stage.

Night scene photography by Sophie Pelligrini. ©Sophie Pelligrini.

Capturing a contemplative and serene moment. ©Sophie Pelligrini.

All the songs from the show are beautifully sung and have common themes of loneliness, sadness, rejection and self-acceptance, but without sounding dreary or slow. The melodies are whimsical and the lyrics are optimistic, with an uplifting feel reminiscent of indie pop or soft rock ballads. 

Pelligrini’s photography is a mix of colour and black and white images, from night scenes to intimate moments and urban streetscapes, that are made more intriguing with some astronomical magic on the screen’s top left hand corner (audience’s right hand side). A large white ball hangs from the ceiling above the stage in front of the screen, and a projector reflects the photographs onto the screen. The large white ball blocks some of the photography, casting a black shadow onto the screen’s top left hand corner. This creates a lunar eclipse effect onto the screen and colours the white ball with parts of the photographs, making the ball look like the planet Earth. In other words, the projector acts like the sun, the white ball as Earth and the black shadow as the moon. This is apt as the performance was at night and lunar eclipses occur at night, thus creating a dreamy or romantic atmosphere for the show.  

Freya Bennett performing at the 2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival with her band members cellist Helen, drummer Nathan and guitarist Harry; featuring Sophie Pelligrini's photography onscreen with the lunar eclipse effect. Image: Facebook.

Freya Bennett and her band at the 2014 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Image: Facebook.

Bennett is a rising singer and songwriter to watch for in the future.  She is currently writing songs and collaborating with other artists for her second album. She is also a saxophonist, so it would be fun to hear her play saxophone on a few of her upcoming songs. Bennett also is an artist who designs, paints and draws for music albums, greeting cards, gifts and websites. She is a multi-talented and creative collaborator whose music reflects her own aspirations and personal goals in her life to bring people together with music and art.

Self-portrait by Freya Bennett. ©Freya Bennett.

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Patricia Piccinini's Skywhale in Adelaide's Botanic Gardens; family event

Skywhale peeking through the trees in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Air-filled Art by Linh

From 8:30am in the morning at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Adelaideans and other visitors arrived to witness the inflation of artist Patricia Piccinini’s hot air balloon creation named Skywhale. It was a free event and included an artist talk session with Q and A for the audience. It was only a three-hour one-off event to celebrate the opening of the 2014 Adelaide Biennial as part of the 2014 Adelaide Festival. Piccinini created the Skywhale for Canberra’s Centenary celebrations in 2013 at the request of Festival Director Robyn Archer, so it was exciting to have Skywhale make a special, albeit brief, appearance in Adelaide.

Skywhale nearly fully inflated in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

A gentle breeze rocks Skywhale side to side in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's five large breasts on her left hand side strangely dangle like male genitalia as she stays airborne in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. ©Patricia Piccinini
Image: Linh Chameleon.

Around 10 o’clock, the crowd of onlookers grew as Skywhale began to swell and puff into her full glory; and many cameras and smartphones were used to capture her ballooning beauty to share with friends and family on social media. Although Skywhale remained tethered to the lawn, she still hovered over the trees and surrounding buildings, as the day’s gentle breeze rocked her from side to side.

Patricia Piccinini was present at the event and gave a twenty-minute artist talk session about her art practice, her interests in biotechnology, evolution and the ideas of beauty relating to art. The most interesting aspect of her talk session was about maternity and nurturing as a shared element and experience for humans and animals, so she incorporated these aspects into most of her artwork. I also find it interesting that many of her work feature children or child-like creatures looking like human-animal hybrids. Skywhale seems to incorporate most of Piccinini’s ideas and imagination into how human intervention with nature, through the use of technology that is driven by consumerism, can affect the natural environment and the creatures that inhabit it.

Skywhale's five large breasts on her right hand side seem to look like five human fingers as she hovers in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's smile on her face looks strangely human as she hovers in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's ten-clawed tail looks like animal paws as she gradually becomes fully inflated in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

©Patricia Piccinini

Image: Linh Chameleon.

I see Skywhale as a hybrid of a whale and a cow, which can live in the water and on the land. Despite her name, I doubt such a creature can fly, especially with ten large breasts, five on each side of her body, and a clawed tail. The whale idea comes from Skywhale’s body shape and face, and the large breasts remind me of a cow whose breasts swell up large with milk and need to be emptied daily. Piccinini said she was fascinated with whales and their evolutionary path from a land animal to a sea creature, and cited scientific discoveries that whales such as the beluga, have flippers with five-digit bone structures that are very similar to human hands. Piccinini said the claws on Skywhale’s tail represent her re-imagining of an evolutionary throwback where the whale does a U-turn and leaves the sea to live on land. Perhaps due to the sea becoming so toxic and unliveable for marine animals as a result of big corporations dumping toxic sludge and other waste into the ocean?

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session about her art practice and Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session about her ideas and themes for creating Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

Skywhale's creator and artist Patricia Piccinini speaking at an artist talk session, responding to questions from the audience about Skywhale in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Image: Linh Chameleon.

I really like Piccinini’s artwork, even though some of it looks horrific or ugly. I like to think that some of the ugliest creatures have beautiful minds and souls that are kind, caring and more humane than most humans. I particularly like how Piccinini explores many themes, as part of her art practice, that are significant in society and issues that resonate with people after viewing her artwork.