Monday, December 15, 2008

A Thirst for Change - Crooked Rib and Aerosol Arabic Street Art Collaboration


Aerosol Arabic and Crooked Rib street art collaboration 'A Thirst for Change'
Photograph by Mugley on Flickr

How do I get there?


The wall is located in Spark Lane, off Flinders Street - in between Exhibition and Spring St. Look out for the Lindrum Hotel which the wall is located directly behind.

One of the easiest ways to get to the wall is to catch the free Circle Tram (No.35) which runs along Flinders Street. A tram stop is located just before the corner of Spring and Flinders St, almost opposite the entrance to Spark Lane. The wall is also a short walk from both Flinders Street Station and Parliament Station.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Working at Spark Lane


Applying an H2O pattern


Humeyra, Lauren, Hosna, Pesuri and Sumaya on the scaffolding


Lamees and Humeyra spraypainting on the top level



Faza, Mohammed and Lauren stencilling a pattern to the top of the artwork

Mohammed goes back to school


Mohammed's visit to an art class at the King Khalid Islamic College Of Victoria

Crooked Rib and Aerosol Arabic in the News
















'Arab Graffiti' on the ABC's Australia Network Newshour with Jim Middleton

'Artist sprays far from home to help share the prophet' in the Melbourne Age

'Artist draws on first impressions' in the Leader

'Imported Street artist cops a spray' in the Herald Sun

Crooked Rib on SBS Radio's Alchemy

'Doodling Downunder' on BBC Birmingham

Monday, October 27, 2008

Finishing touches

Mohammed Ali checking for mistakes for the last time.

"A Thirst for Change"



Conversations



Aerosol Arabic speaking at Melbourne Uni


Crooked Rib members, Amanda King and Aerosol Arabic

during questions and answer session at City Library.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Watch this space for more updates...

Off Flinders Street


The girls trying to align the patterned stencil to the wall


Visitors, thanks for the muffins =)



Mohammed Ali explaining what the mural looks like from afar.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Boys Street art workshop



Photographs from Nazeem Hussain

Monday, October 13, 2008

Aerosoling in Shed 4, Docklands

The girls parked their car at Shed 4 at 9.59am. Arriving early by one minute. Crooked Rib has given "Muslim standard time" new meaning.. ha!
Beginning with our traditional floor sitting circles, we discussed ideas for Sparks Lane. From our previous meeting, we've decided on the concept, but not the exact message we want to send across. Ideas were thrown, suggestions were made, and an hour later this message is yet to be finalised.

Realising that our ideas were not freshing up, it was time to give our minds a rest and hit the cans. We began scribbling random words, pictures, names, quotes and even brand-name cleaning agent, such as Ajax.

Mohammed observed then taught us the techniques to spraypainting. Position, movement, distance and speed are all factors to consider before pressing that can.

After deciding on a simple design to work on for the workshop, the Crooked Rib crew split into two groups to work on two seperate pieces. Mohammed stood back and facilitated the session, giving tips and ideas when needed.

While the girls sat back at the end of the session, hands and arms exhausted from a long day, Mohammed Ali aka Aerosole Arabic kicked into gear and did his thang. He was able to cover all of our flaws (not that we had many *Ahem), and bring the words to life. It's true when they ("they" being Sumaya) say "Watching a graffiti artist at work is like watching a performance". You're constantly on edge wondering what's going to happen next.


Photos taken by: Humeyra Ozgok and Pesuri Ahmad

Monday, October 6, 2008

Opening night, success!

Mission: To launch the long awaited Crooked Rib Exhibition.

Venue: Gallery15 @ 15W, 15 William Street, Melbourne.

Date: Thursday October 2, 2008

Time: 6pm- 8pm.

MC: Humeyra Ozgok and Pesuri Ahmad

Speakers:

  • Kathy Alexander (CEO City of Melbourne)
  • Maryum Chaudry (Muslim Women Council of Victoria)
  • Susan Carland - Guest Speaker

After months of hard work, the Opening night had arrived. The cavases were perfectly aligned, the Emu eggs perched neatly on it's stand, the photos tucked nicely in it's frame and the skateboards placed high on it's wall. The night had come for Crooked Rib to exhibit their work.

Family and friends arrived en masse. The CR crew were scattered to their specific stations: Some had to meet and greet the guests as they came in, others served food and drinks and the remaining talked guests through the art pieces.

Many were surprised at the quality of the artwork. We didn't know whether to be flattered or taken aback. Many artists were commended for their talent and hard work. Some were even asked whether their artwork was up for sale. This has yet to be discussed.

We, Crooked Rib would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for coming and supporting us. To our family and friends, Jazakallah Khair.



Absent: Sarah Mahri and Faza Fauzi

Skyping with Mohammed Ali

The hub they meet
Crooked Rib take a seat
With just one click
Really, that quick?

We connect to Mohammed
All the way from the UK
To discuss our upcoming wall
One which will take many days.

Many ideas
We had to discuss
From layout to messages
...All that artistic fuss.

Basics were established
Alot more to think through
One thing for certain
A message that you can relate to.

The only thing certain,
A message that you can relate to.


Photo taken by Lauren Thomas

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Some bright spark went and found us a wall



Spark Lane, off Flinders Street (in between Exhibition and Spring Streets).

Walk up Spark Lane and turn right to see where we'll be working with Aerosol Arabic in October.

Now we've just got to find some scaffolding!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Five Times a Day - Work in Progress







New Doco being Produced



Melbourne film director, Thomas Baricevic comes on board in collaboration with the City of Melbourne to produce a documentary ‘Aerosol Arab and the Crooked Ribs’. Filming will take place during the month of October following UK street artist Mohammed Ali, otherwise known as Aerosol Arabic, for three weeks, as he works with Crooked Rib on a street art mural in the Melbourne CBD.

Thomas aims to bring to the documentary a "flavour which will reflect the ideas and concept being achieved by the Crooked Rib crew and Aerosol Arabic”.

Look out for snippets of the doco in the coming months!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Mohammed Ali and Amanda King in London


Artists Amanda King and Mohammed Ali at Islam Expo, London

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Crooked Rib & Aerosol Arabic in the Melbourne International Arts Festival Program


Mohammed Ali (Aerosol Arabic)


There’s lots of exciting news to report on behalf of the Crooked Rib crew who have been busy preparing for the exhibition in October.

Our first piece of news is that Crooked Rib is part of the program for this year's Melbourne International Arts Festival. It is a great privilege for us to be a part of the festival and we are very excited! You can download and view the program on the festival’s website.

If you take a look at the program, you’ll also notice that we have a very special guest coming in October, UK street artist Mohammed Ali, otherwise known as Aerosol Arabic. Mohammed will be residing in Melbourne for three weeks to work with Crooked Rib on a street art mural in the Melbourne CBD. This is sure to be an amazing collaboration.

The last piece of news is that Crooked Rib artist Sara Elagha’s excellent (and funny) short film ‘The Interview’ screened at ACMI as part of the Multicultural Arts Victoria project Stories of an African Australia. If you didn’t get a chance to see the film at ACMI, don’t worry as it will also feature in the Crooked Rib exhibition.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Wall Within






My project - 'The Wall Within' is based predominantly on the visual response of people towards the The Wall. What 'Wall' you ask? -- The project’s title ‘The Wall Within’ is a play on words from the phrase: ‘The War Within’ – which reflect the walls or barriers we have within all of us, and the ongoing struggle to overcome our fears and inner conflicts.

So what I will need is the contribution of all your creative minds! Just dig deep down for any photos of walls which you might have taken in the past, or get your camera lens ready for any interesting walls that you might come across.

Just remember, the main visual theme of my project is walls with flaws, fractures or cracks

I have set up a flickr group for those of you who have a Flickr account and can join my group: www.flickr.com/groups/wallwithin or alternatively please email me the photos: lamees.hajhusien@gmail.com

Thanks guys! And I'm looking forward to seeing those awesome images soon :)


*Here is the disclaimer you need to be aware of - in case you wanted to forward this on to others not involved in the creative project.

'With your permission, a selection of these images will be displayed in the exhibition Crooked Rib at Gallery: 15W on William Street, Melbourne from 2nd to 23rd of October, 2008. Please inform me if you would not like your photos displayed publicly.'


Lamees

P.S. I've also attached an image I have received so far as contribution to my project...so you get the idea :)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Job Interview



Sara (in the middle) directing her short film 'Job Interview' as part of Multicultural Arts Victoria's Stories of an African Australia film project.
More pictures to come...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Stencilling




There's something extraordinarily fulfilling about exploring your creative juices in an open space... over Moroccan cuisine...
Today we worked at Amanda's studio; a stock of paints, aerosols, brushes, canvases, and other art material helped each one of us into bringing her workpiece to life. Lauren (above) sprayed her stencil to perfection, while Sumaya contoured calligraphy on her canvas and Pesuri frantically mixed her paints to the right shades of red.
Faza's meticulous pattern-cutting came to a halt as soon as the words 'Morrocan Soup Bar' were mentioned, but it was well worth it. An intimate floor-seated dining arrangement amongst fabrics and paint buckets, with finger-lickin' eating techniques was just the way to end the night!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Futurelab: Design and Create the Future of Melbourne

Futurelab is a two day forum for Y Generation Melburnians to provide their feedback on the Draft Plan and create, innovate and inspire the future of Melbourne.

Visit Futurelab to find out more information and register for the forum.

Sounds like something for Crooked Rib to get involved in!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Taking Shape






The last two workshops were all about Crooked Rib's taking shape into becoming...Crooked Rib!

We took our gear back to Stellar Images studio one last time to give it our best shot. Costumes, maps, books, fliers, fabric, light projectors, you name it, it was all there for photographing our tweaked self expressions. Thank you photo studio people =)

Last stop we had was back at The Hub for further discussion in a 'where to from here?' format, over scrumptious Lebanese cuisine. Basically each one finalizing what they'd like to do for the gig, while trying to intensely discuss self-purpose AND appear relatively normal for the duration of Hella's video filming of us! (Cameo appearance by Hella).

Photos by Pamela Kleemann