VOLUME 47
CORONA TIMES ISSUE SIX
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UNPRECEDEN TED
OA S IS A ND FUS A P R ESENT
s r e d n i l F
y t i n u Comm t e k r a M E V E RY
THURSDAY D UR IN G T ER M T IME
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Unprecedented Empire Times would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians—the Kaurna people— whose land extends from Cape Jervis up to Port Wakefield, encompassing Flinders University’s many Adelaide campuses. We would like to pay our respects to the Elders of the Kaurna Nation past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to the other First Nations people as well. We recognise that this land was stolen and that it was never ceded. It always was—and always will—belong to the First Nations.
Editors
Visual Artists
Join the Team
Amy Bennett Bec Manser Carmen Giffen
Amy Lowe Courtney Lawrence Joshua Collison Melanie Ross Nathan Cheetham Rachael Stapleton Tully Templeman
Bec Manser // 3, 12, 16-17, 28 Brie Dark // ‘Stop The Spread’ 13, 30-33 Carmen Giffen // 14-15, 37 Kendrea Rhodes // ‘Unbelievable’ 7, 24-25 Rebecca Stevenson // 9-10
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Writers
Masthead & Logo
Annabel Bowles Audrey Lian Emma Brennan Evangelia Karageorgos Hollie Gardner Huy Le-Tran Kendrea Rhodes Marteenah Shonoodh Marina Deller-Evans Mia Maric Natasha Nagle Sheridan Phillips Taygan Beaton Tony Saad
Bec Manser
Sub-Editors
Photography Annabel Bowles // 8, 10-11 Bec Manser // 38 Hollie Gardner // 26-27 Mia Maric // 19-21
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Empire Times is always looking for contributors. If you’re a writer, photographer, illustrator, or sub-editor, send us an email or visit our website for details.
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Empire Times is a publication of Flinders University Student Association (FUSA). The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editors, Flinders University, or FUSA. Reasonable care is taken to ensure that Empire Times articles and other information are up-to-date and as accurate as possible as of the time of publication. No responsibility can be taken by Empire Times for any errors or omissions contained herein.
Special Thanks Brie Dark Liam McGeagh Maddie Reece
Cover Art Courtney Egan // ‘Seeking Certainty In Uncertain Times’ 1
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contents President’s Address
6 // A statement on COVID-19 university changes
A Season of Solitude 8-11 // A nonfiction piece
Untitled 12 // A poem
Far From Home 14-15 // An international student in a pandemic
When Binging is Sometimes Beneficial 16 // Travelling the world with Geography Now
22-23 // FUMA art exhibition review winner
Hot Tips for Studying Online 17 // Advice for working from your bedroom
Adelaide in Isolation 18-21 // Photography collection
In the hold: Decolonising Cook in contemporary Australian art The World Media’s Representation of COVID-19: An Artistic Rendition 24-25 // Art collection
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What I Miss Most About Flinders 28 // Other than the ducks, of course
The Pandemic Strikes Back 29 // A(nother) poem
An Unexpected Kindred Spirit 30-33 // A(nother) nonfiction piece
Political Correspondence 34-35 // Q&A with uni political clubs
Lounge Room Legends 36 // FUSA @ Home comp winners
Comic 37 // A continuation of the saga
The Cook Nook 38 // Mock fish recipe
nts
contents
Arts & Crafts in Quarantine 26-27 // Finding cures for lockdown boredom
From the Editors
inda never expected to spend the year like this, huh? This issue is something we’ve been cooking up since the COVID-19 pandemic started becoming real to us—uni going completely online, people losing jobs, cases popping up all across the states and territories. So, Empire Times was temporarily branded as ‘Corona Times’ for this issue and our theme is a very firm nod to the amount of times we’ve heard the phrase of ‘these are unprecedented times’ or thereabout. The global scope of change that the world has gone through is unparalleled. Those shockwaves will be felt all around the world and for many years to come, and so we wanted this issue to be a time capsule for what life was like during the coronavirus pandemic for us uni students. Cancelling much-awaited holiday plans, smiling sadly at the empty supermarket shelves for toilet paper, pasta, and hand sanitiser, transitioning to online study, and everything else. We really thought it was important to chronicle these moments, like monks scribbling down scripture in the last library left in an apocalyptic wasteland. It’s historic, after all. For those reading this in the future: we hope we all learned from this and the world is a kinder, better place. Us editors truly wish you all the best at getting through this pandemic, and that you, your family, friends, and whoever you hold dear are safe and well. We’ll make it through this, together.
Amy, Bec, and Carmen
Empire Times Editors, 2020
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President’s Address Hi everyone! My name is Josh and I am your current Student President! Thanks once again for picking up a copy of Empire Times and engaging in student life on our campus. The theme for this edition is ‘Unprecedented’, and boy oh boy wowee has this been one hell of an unprecedented year. Semester one showed us the very best of student unionism and collective action. Assessment changes, such as the introduction of opt-in non-graded passes, supplementary assessment irrespective of your grade, and additional financial support only came about because of the collective actions of students demanding more of their university. At the time of writing, we’re beginning Semester two and the fear of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Australia is at the front of everybody’s mind. Now more than ever do we need to stand together as students to ensure that Flinders is doing everything it can to support its students and staff get through these unprecedented times successfully. FUSA will be fighting for a range of student support options this semester, including extending the assessment structure changes we won last semester and providing greater access to textbook alternatives. With the national collapse of the CoOp franchise earlier this year, Flinders University currently has no textbook provider on campus. Students have now been forced to either access a digital textbook (not all students have the capacity to do this), borrow the textbook from the library (only if a classmate hasn’t borrowed it first), or wait
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for lengthy shipping. This simply isn’t good enough and FUSA will be encouraging all students to join us in demanding more. FUSA is also concerned about the recently announced university fee hikes that have been proposed by the Federal Government. With unemployment levels increasing, the Federal Government needs to be encouraging more students into university and provide additional funding for those of us already enrolled. The fee hike proposal only makes attending university more expensive for new students, and cuts funding and resources for existing students. Again, FUSA will be encouraging all students to join us, along with the National Union of Students (NUS), to take this fight to the streets, to the media, and shift the national conversation to providing more support for existing students and additional pathways for new students seeking higher education. As students we must continue to come together during these unprecedented times and fight for the quality of our education. We must ensure that none of our classmates are left behind, and those that want to join us on campus have the capacity to do so. We must continue to rebuild our clubs, collectives, and academic associations to ensure every student has a platform to demand more!
~ words by Josh Rayner
Bachelor of Public Administration
A Season of Solitude
A nonfiction short story
I’ve walked along the same road, the only one
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leading to my family’s farm, since I was old enough to dodge cars 100km fast. It would usually be a quick stroll, or a few kilometres run if I had an unusual burst of energy. But today, on this unseasonably warm afternoon in March, I walk a little slower, a little further from my home. In trying to forget about all things virus-related, I focus intently on my surroundings. Late sunlight soaks into my skin like honey. Galahs and lorikeets sing to each other in unison. Unlike the world around them, these hills are quiet, unchanging. The landscape is dotted with kangaroos, a few pines, and not much else—until I come across some wild
olive trees. They’re just a few hundred metres from my house, although I’ve never noticed them before. The fruit is tiny but ripe, ready for picking. I pull out my jumper and fill in a makeshift pouch like a kid collecting shells at the beach.
~ A local restaurant is selling ten-year-old sourdough starter for $8, along with some bread flour and instructions. My friend Poppy and I each buy a package only to learn the basic function of starter. We could’ve easily shared one, yet that wouldn’t have been as fun. We also realise that making sourdough isn’t as easy as we imagined. The starter should be fed every day at the same time, with the same amount of flour and water by weight. We’re told to do the ‘float test’ to see if it’s active, then let the ingredients autolyse for half an hour before kneading. When the dough can be stretched to the translucency of a foggy window, it’s ready to rise for three hours (or more in the middle of an Adelaide autumn). Then it needs to be knocked back, reshaped, and refrigerated overnight. To bake, pop into a cranking hot oven for 35 mins with the lid on, and 15 mins lid off. Let rest for a few hours before eating, otherwise you’ll squish the ‘holes’. There’s always a step we miss, and our oven never gets quite hot enough, but it’s bread. We compare our first loaves; mine, barely risen but golden and crunchy; hers, smooth and perfect like a pebble. Tasty all the same.
and tinged a funky kinda colour. It turns out they’re yellow-strainers. Poisonous. I can’t find any field mushrooms around our property, though I do discover some others I’ve never seen before. A foraging group on Facebook tells me the bright orange ones with a touch of sage green are saffy milk caps, and the slimy chestnut-brown ones are slippery jacks. Both are delicious with parmesan and white wine in a risotto. It’s a Matt Preston recipe, in case you’re curious.
~ Only after gathering the road-side olives do I remember that our neighbours have an entire kalamata grove they stopped harvesting years ago. They let my friend and I pick as many as we want, so we each waddle home with a 5kg haul. Then we have to score them. Each individual olive is pricked with a fork to allow the acridity to leech out in the washing process. The olives then need to be completely submerged in water, which is changed each day for about four days. After that, the olives are ready to go into a brine. A helpful tip: if an egg floats in the water, it’s salty enough, although
~ Clumps of mushrooms appear in our garden sometime in May. I first think they’re the field mushrooms my grandfather picks each year, but something is a little off. Their edges are rounder
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you’ll probably need to go buy salt. Surprisingly, it’s a lot more than you’d think. A dash of olive oil in the jars helps to seal them, and then it goes into the cupboard for one to four months. The time depends on how well you did the other steps. Pop one in your mouth after a few weeks and you’ll know if it’s ready.
~ I have mushrooms coming out of my ears and my family refuses to touch them unless they’re minced and disguised in a dumpling. So, I make oodles of pot-sticker gyozas and freeze a bunch for another night. I also take some saffy milk caps to my 98-year-old vegetarian neighbour, Dot. Turns out she’s on a Fermentable Oligo-, Di-, Monosaccharides, and Polyols (FODMAP) diet and can no longer eat mushrooms, or anything from the apple and pear trees she’s tended for years. She gives me a long-winded, scientific explanation of her Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), but I don’t mind. Dot’s lived alone longer than I’ve been alive. She usually keeps to herself on the odd occasion I drop off her newspaper, although today she seems pleased that I visited. In a pre-pandemic world she might’ve invited me inside for a cup of tea.
~
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Cooking has always been the best remedy for my anxiety. A dahl makhani from scratch or a spicy eggplant rendang. Something I can let bubble away all day, something with far too many obscure ingredients—the more complex, the better. To keep sane in this endless vortex of time, I spend a couple of hours each day in the kitchen. My grandmother sends me photos of all of her mother’s favourite recipes, sweet treats I haven’t had for years. Desserts like apple shortcake and cockle biscuits, lemon delicious, and golden syrup dumplings. I make each one and rewrite them in my own recipe book. The pages are much prettier than my annotated uni readings. On the rare occasion there’s any leftover fares, I drop them off at friends’ doorsteps. One day I’m gifted in return with home-brewed beer and fresh pomegranates.
~ It’s now late July and things are almost back to normal, whatever normal is. I’ve finally been able to harvest something from my veggie garden: a few enormous bundles of bok choy. They have a beautiful mustardy-bitterness; perfect in a jazzed-up mi goreng with a fresh poached egg from our hens. After dozens of crusty loaves, focaccias, crepes, and whatever else I could do with the sourdough starter, I’ve put it in the fridge to hibernate for a while. The olives still aren’t ready but they aren’t mouldy, which is some measure of success. My freezer is full of delicious meals I’ve made over the past few months. An Ottelenghi Egyptian kosheri, veggie lasagne with homemade ricotta, a ginger, turmeric, and pumpkin soup. Handy to have on hand when life gets a little busier, though I still don’t know when that’ll be. I hope it isn’t for a while yet.
~ ~ I post in the foraging group that there’s hundreds of saffy milk caps on our property and that anyone is welcome to come pick them. I also hope that whoever comes can teach me something about fungi. A lovely Thai woman called Nat comes one Friday afternoon in late June. By now the season’s almost over and the mushrooms are a little bruised after so much rain, though we still manage to gather a basketful. She also teaches me how to identify laccaria laccata, a tiny mushroom the colour of burnt caramel. The gills should be thick and a little waxy. Peel apart the stem like a cheese stringer to see if it’s hollow. And they’re only found under pine trees, like the saffy milk caps and slippery jacks. We only find two pinky-finger sized laccaria and I let her take them both back to Adelaide.
Food is something that grounds you when everything else feels uncertain. A way of connecting to the land, the season, and the people with which we share these small delights. A way to spend time, slowly, purposefully. I hope your belly is brimming with the good stuff.
~ words & photography by Annabel Bowles Bachelor of Journalism and Professional Writing & Bachelor of Arts (International Relations), Indonesian Language Studies
~ art by Rebecca Stevenson Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
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Untitled An homage to T iptoe by Ani DiFranco Tiptoeing down Gouger street in a post-apocalyptic city its population conspicuous by its absence. Like a dinosaur basking in the meteor I wonder the empty city streets, abandoned, traumatised, cracked concrete and vacant seats. Isolation lockdown day 31, destruction or precaution, chosen or enforced, isolation for the masses to help us fight this war. My highjacked life wearing holes in my jeans, so I go home to drink. I try to fill the emptiness with rum, drowning the darkness, till the daylight comes.
~ words by Evangelia Karageorgos Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
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~ art by Bec Manser Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
FAR
FROM
An International Student’s Perspective on Studying During COV ID-19 There are periods in our lives when the stories and structures of movies and shows we’ve seen feel like they jump off the screen and meld into our surroundings. Whether it’s an action, comedy, or drama, or whether we become the villains, the heroes, or perhaps remain totally ourselves in bystander form depends entirely on the events that occur and how we feel about them. Being aware of the sentiment that starting a PhD can be a very isolating experience, as well as extremely difficult both mentally and emotionally, I expected my first few months to evoke a progression of feeling similar to watching A Beautiful Mind: anticipation, dedication, confusion, then despair, and finally, hope and pride. What I got instead was the part in Far From Home after Spider-Man has the tar kicked out of him by things he can’t see, and unexpectedly finds himself in the Netherlands: distracted, scared, guilt-ridden, and almost completely cut-off from friends and family.
~ This is the second time I’ve moved countries to further pursue my education. I was more aware of, and thought I was better prepared for, the rise in excitement of possibility and its inevitable crash, before the (ideally) more stable plateau of graduate studies. What I didn’t anticipate is for those two things to happen in such quick and vicious succession.
I moved to Adelaide from the US in January of this year, only a few short weeks before COVID-19 necessitated the lockdown of much of the world. I had just enough time to find housing and begin to form my campus routine before, in the words of Avatar: The Last Airbender’s resident waterbending badass, Katara, ‘Everything changed when the [Corona] attacked’. This meant that my research—especially the hands-on, interactive portions on which I thrive and that attracted me to archaeology in the first place—was put on seemingly indefinite hold. So was creating the types of strong friendships and social support systems which got me through my undergrad and masters. Add to this several fundamental and underlying disagreements about proper pandemic behaviour with a new housemate, and it felt like creating the necessary bonds here in Australia might permanently elude me. Like those scenes in Far From Home, the other people I did interact with were generally kind, supportive, and understanding despite my lack of familiarity with typical Australian culture and practices—every one of us was enduring a similar set of experiences and anxieties after all. But these brief interactions, over online meeting spaces and brief phone calls, felt ephemeral, like they happened in a dream. They couldn’t, and barely tried to, replace the richness and complex layers of in person interaction. Then I had to wrestle with the guilt…
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HOME Guilt that I wasn’t (and still am not) at home to go through this with my friends and family. Guilt that I “escaped” to a “better place” before good hygiene practices became a political and moral battleground. Guilt that there’s not much I can do from the other side of the world other than watch in horror and attempt to offer the best support I can via Zoom calls and WhatsApp messages. Like many, I spent much of my time worried for my friends and family, unable to comprehend the vast implications the pandemic would, and still will, continue to have for years into the future.
like many, I spent much of my time worried for my friends and family, unable to really comprehend the vast implications the pandemic would, and still will, continue to have for years into the future
That guilt hasn’t gone away. I doubt it will. At least, not until I’m able to give my friends and family a hug and tell them how glad I am that they’re okay— that they made it out as best as anyone can expect. But I don’t know when that’s going to be. Borders might open back up, but it’s anyone’s guess how long it will take for free movement between countries to resume, and I can’t afford (in any sense of the word) to take that much time off my studies. In the meantime, all I can do is watch from the fishbowl-like lens of my computer screen and try to keep them from seeing my heart sink further with every daily increase in cases.
~ I don’t know how I should feel; I don’t think most people know what to do with the new range of both worry and strength we’ve had to excavate from inside ourselves. However, like Spider-Man’s arc toward the end of the movie, I’m hoping that we are able to manage any guilt, frustration, and sense of overwhelm these past few months have inundated us with. Then we can use the lessons they provide to bring us closer to the people we love and care about—no matter how far away they might be at the moment. The poor boy’s been through enough, and so have we.
~ words by Natasha Nagle Doctorate of Geoarchaeology
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When Binging is Sometimes Beneficia
It is our human nature to consume everything, from food to media. Excessively consuming a specific product is colloquially called ‘binging’. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were stuck at home with no way to go out and enjoy the world. As a person who loves the world and exploring other cultures, it was an injustice for me. Imprisoned, we found ourselves binging everything and anything. I myself binged my favourite Youtube channel Geography Now. I know—you must be cringing! But I can’t help it. Geography is one of my interests, and Geography Now is the perfect channel to learn about the world. Okay, the first thing I need to clarify is that Geography Now uses humour to briefly explore the world. In other words, it’s not another one of those monotonous lengthy documentaries. Geography Now is a YouTube channel run by American YouTuber Paul Barbato (Barbs). His aim is to talk about every country in the world in 15-minute videos. He has a team with whom he creates skits satirising facts and histories related to each country alphabetically. Geography Now is known worldwide for its informative, memorable, and generally witty content. Most importantly, it strives to involve its viewers in the research for every episode.Within its small episodes, Geography Now reveals a lot of things I never knew about the world; from border disputes to local beliefs, every episode is full of surprises, but the reason I look forward to every episode is Barbs’s personality. He is respectful, resourceful, and talented. He skilfully navigates different cultures and situations and turns sometimes confusing topics into enjoyable skits. For example, in the episode on Russia, Barbs and his co-host discuss the end of World War II and
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the start of the Cold War. They turn those massive events into personal interactions, allowing me to grasp the basic concept of the situation. This was one of my favourite episodes.
imprisoned, we found ourselves binging everything and anything. I myself binged my favourite Youtube channel Geography Now Geography Now relies on the support of the worldwide community and its diverse audience from different countries. They actively contribute to the research for each episode, which makes binging Geography Now all the more wholesome for me. Overall, the videos captured my imagination and created easy to digest opportunities for learning through bite-sized, relevant snippets of information.
~ words by Tony Saad Bachelor of Creative Arts (Screen) & Bachelor of Letters (French)
~ art by Bec Manser Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
Hot Tips for Studying Online Maybe you enjoy studying online, relishing the ability to create your own schedule, or the freedom to roll out of bed and get right to it. Yet for those of you who find campus life pleasing or have not studied online previously, here are four hot tips to get you through it.
Make Space & Decorate
Studying a full-time workload online, makes screen time skyrocket. When those screens are also used for fun, socialising, and relaxing, focussing purely on studying can be tricky. The good news is, you can help your brain separate study screen time spent studying from other activities by dedicating a physical space to it. If you don’t have access to an office, simple changes in your space like the following suggestions, can help with concentration and setting mental boundaries. Experiment with allocating a “study time only” chair, closing the door, donning a “studying” outfit, getting creative with lighting and music, or rearranging your desk (think of house plants and stationery).
Take Breaks
If your mind is drifting, take a break! It takes discipline to resume study after a break, but have fun with it! Make yourself a list of break activities that take five minutes, rather than big, complex tasks you can get lost in. For instance, I like to practice handstands: it gets the blood flowing and I can’t do it for long.
Make a List, Check it Twice & Pick Your Favourite
Perhaps sorting your due dates onto a spreadsheet or calendar sounds like torture. However, if you record your obligations for the following weeks, you can pick your favourite thing to do first! Select the task that seems the easiest or most fun, even if it is not a priority. Sometimes I do the opposite of this and save the best until last by watching all of my least favourite lectures first.
Bring Friends
Sometimes you have to hunker down and just do it, but for those class-wide projects or exam study, you can make it social! Create a study group on Zoom or start a group chat with people in your tutorial. Watching lectures online can be an event if you make it one, so gather some classmates and grab some popcorn. Alternatively, take a break from university and organise lunch with a friend. Just because you’re not on campus, doesn’t mean you must go it alone.
~ If you are studying online for reasons beyond your control, remember: you are not alone. Selfmotivation can be difficult so be kind with yourself! Sometimes that means allowing yourself to do the bare minimum. Striving for a work/life balance is difficult at the best of times, so it’s okay to be a little slack during these hard times. Just do the best you can.
~ words by Taygan Beaton Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) & Bachelor of Letters (Creative Writing)
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EMPIRE TIMES
In the weeks of quarantine, spaces that were once bustling with the sounds of chatter and footsteps became still and quiet. Almost like a missing piece of a puzzle, the absence of humanity became startlingly visible throughout the streets of Adelaide and beyond. Behind my 35mm camera, I was able to capture moments that, a year ago, we wouldn’t have understood: an entire city bored in their homes, empty streets lined with even emptier cafes, and the cheapest petrol seen in years but with nowhere to drive. I hope, like me, you’ll see the irony in my photographs and, when this is all finally over, it will be something we can laugh about together.
I: “At least if it looks bad nobody will see it in iso” II: Into the wild 2020 III: Brunch in iso IV: “Surely it can’t get any cheaper?” V: Saturday afternoon in Hyde Park
~ words & photography by Mia Maric Bachelor of Biomedical Engineering
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In the hold Decolonising Cook in contemporary Australian art
Installation view: In the hold | Decolonising Cook in contemporary Australian art, May 2020, Flinders University Museum of Art Gallery, Bedford Park; photographer: Brianna Speight
I begin this review by acknowledging that I write from unceded Kaurna Country, and pay my respects to the Kaurna people past, present, and emerging as the custodians and rightful owners of the land. Curated by Mirning woman, artist, and academic at Flinders University, Dr Ali Gumillya Baker, and director of the Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA), Fiona Salmon, In the hold: Decolonising Cook in contemporary Australian art, is an exhibition of Australian art that can be accessed online from May-September 2020, and currently at the FUMA. In conjunction with colonial artists, the exhibition displays a diverse range of Indigenous and nonIndigenous artists who significantly challenge the commemoration of Cook’s landing on Dharawal Country. FUMA presents drawings, lithographs, engravings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and film from either the University’s art collection or loaned from the Art Gallery of South Australia and private collectors.
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Producing colonial myths, English artist Robert Cleveley, lightens the skin of First Australians, whilst the works of Cook’s accompanying artist William Hodges (adapted from John Keyse Sherwin) falsely positions First Australians in a similar manner to classical Greek or Roman style of sculpture, alike to statues such as Michelangelo’s David. Moreover, The Bush Scene in the South Australian Court, objectifies First Australians by depicting them as being observed as though they are in a zoo enclosure; this surveillance reflective of legislation that failed to classify First Australians as human until 1967. The inclusion of these works in the exhibition help demonstrate the horrors of the racialised dehumanisation of First Australians by white colonisers. The exhibition ultimately critiques these dominant historisisations and their erasure of the distressing truths, such as Mamu, Ngagen, and Hirrbal artist Danie Mellor’s hybrid of elaborate Westernised imperial aesthetics which outlines the colonial
disruption to Indigeneity and natural country. Many works expose a ‘racialised othering’ of First Australians, with Bidjara artist Christian Thomson’s inversion piece particularly juxtaposing this colonial logic in Othering the Explorer, James Cook. Differing representations of Cook by Gordan Bennett, Vincent Namatjira, Micky Allan, Sandra Saunders, and Therese Ritchie further unravel the romanticised heroisation of Cook. By depicting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on money, Dalabon artist Darren Siwes and Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley both commemorate Indigeneity in the contexts of currency and national identity. Waanyi artist Judy Watson, in collaboration with Basil Hall, and Bigambul artist Leah King-Smith, provide different conceptualisations through contesting the disturbing white anthropological gaze and imperial subjugation of First Australians. Badtjala artist Fiona Foley contributes a component of her publicised mourning, producing a memorialisation that challenges terra nullius: one of the many justifications of invasion this exhibition confronts. Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang artist Richard Bell’s piece exposes harrowing colonial discourses, while Trawlwoolway artist Julie Gough symbolises European invaders’ broken agreements. Evoking a fraught parallel to the current climate with COVID-19, Chips Mackinolty’s The first pandemic predisposes the devastation caused by European presence and diseases. Yorta Yorta activist Lin Onus’s Dislocation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and contemporary Badimaya artist Julie Dowling both focus on the separation of families, whilst Senior Pintupi, Loritja artist Wentja Napaltjarri 2 addresses missionary institutionalisation. Additionally, the prevalence of police brutality towards First Australians is portrayed by Gija artist Queenie McKenzie, and also in Gordon Bennett’s piece, Noonday rest (target practice). Through the utilisation of colonial symbols, Baker and the Unbound Collective contribute to the deconstruction of narratives taught and maintained by ongoing white agendas. More can be learnt from Baker’s conversation Tall Ships with Associate Professor Catherine
Kevin, available via FUMA’s website and Flinders University’s YouTube channel. Further information on the exhibition should be accessed on the FUMA website; the individual backgrounds of the artists’ and activist motives must be learnt for this exhibition to truly achieve it’s goal. We are incredibly fortunate to have access to this exhibition here at Flinders University, and I endeavour to continue learning from these artworks in recognising my white privilege. I encourage everyone to visit FUMA in person or online, and to engage in our responsibility of addressing the ongoing impacts of the damaging inaccuracies ingrained in the prevailing historicisations of colonial invasion challenged in this exhibition.
~ words by Emma Brennan Bachelor of Arts (Majors: Women’s Studies and History)
Flinders University Museum of Art’s 2020 Exhibition Review Competition Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) hosts a dynamic program of exhibitions showcasing historical and contemporary works by Australian and international artists. We present thematic and solo exhibitions at Bedford Park campus and in venues regionally and nationally, regularly featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and curators. Our next exhibition, Robyn Stacey: as still as life, will be on display at FUMA from 12 October 2020 — 5 February 2021. We invite reviews and critical discussion to be included as an Empire Times online exclusive. Entries are due November 13 2020. The winning review will be published in Empire Times and the author will receive a FUMA prize pack. At the end of the year all published reviews will be judged by a panel of arts professionals and the author of the best overall review will win $250 prize money.
Find more information here:
www.flinders.edu.au/museum-of-art/ programs/2020-exhibition-review-competition
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The World Media’s Representation of COVID-19: An Artistic Rendition Due to the prolific media coverage of this global pandemic, everyday people have acquired the power to instantly recognise the biological structure of coronavirus—glycoprotein spikes and all. This selection of work represents an ongoing attempt to capture varying artistic interpretations of COVID-19 from online sources and the nightly news. Drafted from the comfort of my couch during lockdown, these pieces were created using a mixture of paint, pencil, paper, digital, and photographic mediums.
WIRED USA
~ words & art by Kendrea Rhodes Bachelor of Letters (Creative Writing)
Forbes USA Intelligencer New York
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ABC Australia
Forbes USA
CNN USA TIME USA
7NEWS Australia
BBC
ABC Australia
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Arts & Crafts in
Quarantine When the quarantine hit and everyone began
I’d finally gotten the hang of what I was doing and the stars just seemed to align
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to take up hobbies to pass the time, I made my way to Spotlight after watching my mum work on a cross-stitch she’s had for years. I snatched up what was left of the correct materials and began to delve into the wonderful world of cross-stiching and embroidery. I used the designs that a friend in my Dungeons & Dragons group had drawn (with her permission, of course), and traced them onto the fabric. The repetitive motion of threading the needle in a criss-cross pattern was addictive and a great way to listen to some podcasts. I was finally finding quarantine a little less unbearable. The trickiest part of this new project was making sure the threads all flowed the same way. There were a few times when my squares went from left-to-right, then right-to-left, and sometimes I didn’t notice until I had completely finished the piece. I switched to a backstitch for the silhouette of the figures against the coloured shapes, which revealed another issue I had to overcome (aida cloth is great for cross-stitch, but terrible for regular embroidery it turns out). I had to learn how to keep the length of each stitch consistent. My favourite piece I’ve made is ‘The Barbarian’ as
pictured in this article. I’d finally gotten the hang of what I was doing and the stars just seemed to align. The lines are neat and consistent, the cross-stitch is near perfect, and I even got the character’s scar just right.
~ Once I had completed this six-piece D&D project, I stumbled onto a tutorial for sew-on patches and fell into another handmade-crafting rabbit hole. The first patch I made of my friend’s chibi design of her elf rogue character—also pictured in this article—I gave it to her as a gift. My second patch, and current sewing project is one of the robots from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. I used the classic satin-stitch on both of these embroidered patches to mimic the look of the cool patches you find on Etsy. I even went out and bought a packet of Heat ‘N Bond to back the patch and have the option to iron the patch on instead of stitching. It was a lot of fun matching the correct colours and taking (multiple) trips to Spotlight to get the correct thread (always double-check the colours you do have so you don’t end up buying the same yellow twice), but hand-sewing is a lot less fun when you start finding coloured thread everywhere.
~ No matter how bad quarantine got, and even if the COVID-19 situation gets worse in sweet, sweet South Australia, I can say that something good did come of it. I’m proud of my projects and glad I got to discover a new hobby.
~ words & photography by Hollie Gardner Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
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What I Miss Most About Flinders It’s true university life isn’t perfect, and there’s nothing like escaping into the sunshine after the semester’s last exam. However, it was not my intention to spend the better part of a year off campus when I enrolled; studying from home was not part of the deal. The end of semester let’s-getoutta-here feeling, when contrasted against not having a choice, has left me with some things I miss most about Flinders. I miss fellow students. As an introverted person, I could not have guessed the positive effect the buzz of people around me had on my studying experience. Completing a degree where many great minds are (and have been) working together leaves an impression you cannot recreate at home. I miss the commotion of students, ducks, and baristas, as well as the hum that ‘studying’ creates in the library.
studying from home was not part of the deal I miss the in-class teaching environments. Through not being on-campus I found there are numerous benefits to frequenting lectures in real time. For instance, one can ask questions in the moment rather than write emails later or brave the collaborate chat box. My concentration (though it may not have seemed so at 9am) is far better off-line, an effect I have attributed to the boring lecture hall, in which a pacing teacher becomes the focus. A tiny screen version of my lecturer pales in interest when compared with the potential activities my home offers.
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I miss structured days. I never thought it was possible, but freedom to choose can sometimes mean that nothing gets done. I do not miss waking up for early classes, but I certainly miss the semester being a group effort, rather than my own time management nightmare. I like lecturers presenting material to a schedule, instead of releasing 2019’s lectures all at once (I am aware semester two will likely be more organised). I enjoy the kerfuffle of grabbing a quick coffee between classes and breaking up the day with short library visits. I miss meeting friends in class. Not the convenience, but rather the joy. Scanning the room for familiar faces you may not otherwise see is a large part of my on-campus university experience. It was not until the sociality of it all was lacking, that I noticed gaping uni friend shaped holes in my social life. In the words of Joni Mitchell, ‘don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’. I sincerely hope our lively campus life will start up again soon.
~ words by Taygan Beaton Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) & Bachelor of Letters (Creative Writing)
An unrelenting virus that knows no bounds Non-discriminatory, it spreads swiftly across all grounds State and national borders forced to close Local businesses struggle as business slows Pubs and clubs no longer social hubs In short, non-essential services struggle to hold up Confirmed COVID-19 cases rise by the day Rising feelings of anxiety and dismay Livelihoods collapse overnight, alas rendering the working people jobless An emotional toll leaving many more than just nervous Panic buying and empty supermarket shelves We need to look out for more than just ourselves Yet in the face of great adversity Many people have shown great acts of kindness and empathy Self-isolating to protect workers on the frontline Who risk their lives day after day on the battle line Practising good hygiene to protect the vulnerable To reduce spread of infection and increase rate of survival
Amidst this dire crisis lies adaptability and resilience Compromising to work and study from home for instance Self-isolation brings many families closer together Spending more quality time like venturing on a baking, dancing or hiking endeavour Discovering new hobbies, skills or even pandemic pet peeves All the while staying virtually connected with friends and relatives As confirmed cases start to decrease After months and months of heeding medical expertise Many countries start to ease lockdown Yet we should not let our collective guard down As it may be too soon to fall back Lest the pandemic strikes back
~ words by Huy Le-Tran Bachelor of Clinical Sciences & Doctor of Medicine
Strikes
BATTLING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Breaking news on the telly Reporting an invisible threat that is deadly What was once the norm is now forgone As routine is disrupted whereupon Life as we know it would transform A life of social distancing is now the new norm
BATTLING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
Back BATTLING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
The
Pandemic BATTLING THE COVID
BATTLING THE COVID-19 CRISIS BATTLING THE COVID
An Unexpected Kindred Spirit
A nonfiction short story The world was going around and around. The chair spinning quickly. When it stopped I was facing the brick wall. But my head was still spinning; I had made myself dizzy. I closed my eyes and allowed my head to keep spinning. It didn’t last long and soon stopped. I opened my eyes and found myself focusing on a black millipede that was about half way up the wall I was facing. The millipede was about as high as the office table was. I could hear the vacuum coming from the garage as my partner vacuumed clean the filters of the air conditioner. But I still watched the millipede. He looked lost. He turned his tiny head this way and that like he didn’t know which way to keep climbing. I can relate to you little guy, I thought. I don’t know which way to go either. Where am I going in life now? This coronavirus has changed everything. The future is uncertain in so many aspects. When will things be normal again? Will we be living a new normal when this is over?
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The millipede moved his head to the right. That is the direction I’m going, he must have thought. He slowly climbed over the ledge of the brick and continued his journey. Does he know that he is in my house? Does he know where he is in the world? Where am I in the world? I know I’m in Adelaide, in my house, and my house is near the beach. I have not left my house in 34 days. This pandemic has uprooted so many lives. Those people may not know where they fit in the world now. Lots of us have lost our jobs and daily routines that made us feel like we belonged in the world. Now we are shut off from the world. In our houses. Does this little millipede feel like he has a home? Or is he a nomad? How far does he go in a day? I go about as far as my backyard, which to be honest, isn’t that far because it’s a small backyard. We have started to grow our own vegetables. Beans, peas, spinach, spring onions, and pak choi. They are all small sprouts at the moment, and it takes some work to keep the weeds away from them. That’s about as far as my outdoor activity goes. Sometimes I wander up the driveway though, mostly just to check the mailbox; there is rarely anything in there for me anyway.
do inside your house. University work is a good distraction from the world around me though. It’s the only normal that I have left right now even though it has all been moved online. I think study and university is some peoples only normal right now. The work takes time, and even though it is hard, I do enjoy writing essays. It is a productive use of my time and it is furthering my life, which currently seems to be on a stand still like the rest of the world. The millipede has made it a brick closer to the door. But he still has a few bricks to go. Does he know the world is in a pandemic right now? Can he feel how eerie the world has become? Because I do. From my house you can see the trams going past. They used to be so full. Now they are ghost trains. The most people I have seen on one of those trams is four people. I’ve made it a game to count the number of people on the tram when it goes past. It’s easier
I am not sure what, but something brought my focus back to the millipede. He was making his way closer to the door, his head moving from side to side. Is he trying to escape? I want to escape, too. Being in the house for 34 days is not a fun experience. There are only so many things you can
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to see when it is dark out because the trams are lit up so bright. A yellow glow comes from inside the tram and you can see the dark shadow of someone sitting on the seats.
country. Western Australia is the next best state with only 11 new cases. But on the other end of the scale New South Wales has had 79 new cases in the past week.
Why am I thinking about a millipedes life right now? Am I that deprived of social contact I’m imagining an insect’s life? It has been 34 days since I’ve been in the presence of anyone besides my partner, his brother, or his parents (we all live together on the same block). But thankfully, since we’ve only had one new case of the virus in South Australia in the past four days, I can finally see my family! I’m so excited that I spin the chair again. I’ve missed my family so much it hurt. I’ve been dying to give my dad a hug and to gossip and catch up with my mum. Tomorrow I finally get to! And my twin sister! We used to have a weekly lunch or dinner just to catch up and it’s one of the things I’ve missed doing the most since this lockdown. We get to have lunch tomorrow! We can’t go out but we can get some takeaway and have it at home. I’ve missed just talking to my family. We aren’t very good at keeping in contact when it is a texting relationship. I really hope that this lack of new cases continues so I can see my family more often. I want to be able to go see my mum for Mother’s Day in two weeks. South Australia is doing the best responding to the Coronavirus. We’ve only had four new cases in the past seven days compared to the rest of the
The millipede has three bricks left till he makes it to the door. He’s making his way to our dining room. At least this isolation has let me explore my hobby of baking. I’ve made sourdough bread which is a lot harder to make than it looks. I still can’t get it to rise properly. I’ve also made pita bread from scratch which is really easy. For Orthodox Greek Easter the other week I made pita bread to go with the charcoal BBQ my partner was cooking for everyone. Because of the restrictions we couldn’t invite anyone over so it was just the five of us; myself, my partner, his brother, and his parents. It was still a really great Easter. There were many laughs. This week alone I have baked Lady Alice cookies, chocolate
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Anzac cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. I made an apple crumble last week and I have so many more family recipes I want to try. I want to make some chocolate mousse, banana cake, chocolate self-saucing pudding, and a crème caramel flan. The vacuum cleaner had stopped making noise a while ago and I had noticed the smell of polish in the air. ‘There is a millipede on the wall!’ I tell my partner happily as he walks back inside from the garage. I turn to him and see that he has polished the top of Charles, who is our vacuum cleaner. ‘Where?’ He asks, looking towards the wall.
~ words by Sheridan Phillips Bachelor of Arts
~ art by Brie Dark Bachelor of Media & Communications
‘Right there,’ I say, pointing at it. ‘He’s been crawling, he’s made it one and a half bricks along.’ It takes my partner a few moments to spot the millipede but when he does he walks right up to it and picks it off the wall. Holding the millipede in his hand, my partner then walks to the glass sliding door to the backyard, opens it and throws the millipede out into the darkness that is nine o’clock at night. He got to escape my house before I did. As far as I can tell millipedes are tough insects. I do not think being thrown will hurt him so I hope he makes it to our new veggie garden. He would be happier there in the dirt with fresh veggie plants to nibble on.
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POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE 1. It is clear that Australia
LEFT
is woefully unprepared for a global pandemic. The capitalist healthcare system can’t even cope with day-to-day life with ‘ramping’ deaths occurring at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital last year. The government somehow finds enough money to spend $270 billion on new missiles and bail out Qantas. Yet at the same time, the federal government is ditching free childcare and is threatening to reduce Jobseeker to pre-pandemic levels. To deal with a pandemic, the government should, instead, be using this money to expand the healthcare system and ensure that every worker can stay home and quarantine without being concerned for their finances.
2. Capitalist governments will never be able to act effectively for human need. They are driven by a need to protect this profit-driven system. Measures that the
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government have taken have had a positive effect on ordinary peoples’ lives, like the introduction of the coronavirus supplement and the shutting down of sections of the economy to stop the spread of the virus. They were taken because they were considered necessary to stop the system from collapsing. When judged important to do so, sections of the economy have been reopened even though it risks working-class lives because the system relies upon these profits. Until we have a revolution and create a new kind of society based on human need, working-class people’s lives will never be properly valued.
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY LABOR CLUB 1. Australia is one of the wealthiest nations in the world during the most economically prosperous periods of time in the world. We can afford to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world, but unfortunately we currently have a Federal Coalition Government that would rather build fighter jets and coal stations than new public hospitals. We’ve seen so many lives unnecessarily lost in aged care facilities. So many of these facilities are severely underfunded, under regulated, and the Coalition Government needs to be held to account for their complete and utter lack of support for these facilities. The Coalition has also consistently cut funding to scientific research during their six years in government, which we need to develop vaccines for future pandemics. Successful management of this pandemic and future pandemics relies on a strong, fully-funded healthcare system
CEN
1. What preparations do you think should be put in place within Australia to better prevent and manage any future pandemics?
2. What was the most effective Australian government decision made in response to the pandemic?
2. Much of the successful management of this pandemic has been the result of State Public Health Officers across the country. The Federal Government has provided some national support but this has largely been the result of pressure from the Federal Labor Opposition and the Trade Union Movement. Initiatives such as JobKeeper would not have been implemented by the Coalition had there not been significant input from Labor and the unions, however much more needs to be done. We live in communities, not economies. While the economic recovery is important, the Federal Government can and must do more to provide everyone living in Australia with access to liveable income, whether that be from a job or government support, to ensure that nobody is left behind by this pandemic.
NTRE
COVID-19 pandemic was exacerbated by the failure of nations to appropriately notify the world. Throughout late December and January, COVID-19 was allowed to spread, resulting in millions of people contracting the virus with almost no country left unaffected. If a contagious virus develops in a country again, there must be a clear structure for nations to follow when notifying the world of a virus outbreak. Additionally, there must be clear consequences for a failure to reasonably notify the world of such an outbreak. One of the ways Australia can be better equipped for a virus outbreak is by increasing our nations focus on returning local manufacturing, especially of products essential to a nation-state. As supply chains crumble around the globe, Australia must realise our need for independence. However, we cannot be ignorant of why
we lost manufacturing in the first place. For an Australian manufacturing industry to viable, a balance between employers and employee interest must be struck.
2. Australia has been managing the pandemic remarkably well, especially compared to other nations who have sadly lost thousands of lives. Each state in Australia, but particularly those not on the eastern seaboard, has effectively put in place controls which have slowed the spread of the virus. One of the most effective decisions made in response to the pandemic was the forming of the national cabinet by the Federal Governments. This allowed state and territory leaders and the Prime Minister to meet and form a unified approach and effective approach to COVID-19.
RIGHT
and increased expenditure on scientific research.
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY LIBERAL CLUB 1. The gravity of this
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LOUNGE ROOM
LEGENDS During the most uncertain times of quarantine, when we were all well into studying online, FUSA launched FUSA @ Home on Facebook! It’s a cool, funky way for ‘students to interact, share stories, get creative, or simply kill some time online!’.
Audrey Lian: Registry Road and a busy carpark during the semester!
One of the ways FUSA did that was by introduccing Lounge Room Legends, a competition for Flinders Uni students where they had the chance to win weekly prizes. Here’s three of those winners and the categories they won in:
Marteenah Shonoodh: Took up painting!
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Marina Deller-Evans: Vegan-friendy sweet and sour puffed tofu!
COMIC ~ comic by Carmen Giffen Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
the archfey holds out a hand, his palm up and open. A chance, an offering. A pact.
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The Cook Nook Mock Fish
Gluten-free Option Vegetarian
INGREDIENTS: • • • • • •
2 potatoes 1 egg, lightly beaten 1/8 cup self-raising flour (gluten-free options) 1/2 tablespoon milk Salt and pepper to taste Oil for cooking
METHOD: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Peel and grate the potatoes and, in a colander, rinse out the starch Pat the potatoes dry on a clean tea towel and transfer to a bowl Sift in the self-raising flour and add the remaining ingredients Mix with a fork until combined Heat the oil on medium-high in a frypan Drop flat circles of mixture into the oil and cook until golden brown, flipping once
TO SERVE:
Mock fish can be served with whatever sauce or condiment you’d like!
~ photography by Bec Manser
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Bachelor of Creative Arts (Creative Writing)
ET 2020 EMPIRE TIMES // 47.6 Amy Bennett // Amy Lowe // Annabel Bowles Audrey Lian // Bec Manser // Brie Dark // Carmen Giffen Courtney Egan // Courtney Lawrence // Emma Brennan Evangelia Karageorgos // Hollie Gardner // Huy Le-Tran Joshua Collison // Kendrea Rhodes Marteenah Shonoodh // Marina Deller-Evans Melanie Ross // Mia Maric // Natasha Nagle Nathan Cheetham // Rachael Stapleton Rebecca Stevenson // Sheridan Phillips // Taygan Beaton Tony Saad // Tully Templeman UPCOMING (AND FINAL) ISSUE:
ISSUE 7: CONNECTION Want to get involved? There’s still time! Get in contact: empire.times@flinders.edu.au
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