Author Archive for orlagh
For Ali, parkour is more than an artform - it’s a philosophy and a way of life. He trains and works with his crew in Fairfield for several hours every week. They use whatever obstacles are around them to work with. Ali became interested in parkour many year ago after seeing a video of it from France. Parkour allows you to have faith in yourself and trust yourself – respect your body and your mind.
He’s interested in passing on this philosophy and skills particularly to kids who have unlimited energy. He does this both through practice and by making films.
“Parkour gives them a way to use their energy in a positive way.”
When you look at an obstacle or something big, you prepare yourself. It’s the same with life. When you come up against something, you look at it from all angles, see what is the best way ti overcome it – up, down, around or over. You slowly build yourself up until you can accomplish it or work around it to find a solution. It’s about having the courage to overcome fear.
Inspiring stuff…
I met Sanaz in Auburn. Although she doesn’t live there, her and Amin travel to Auburn every week to do their weekly food shop - they make a day of it – she loves the multicultural and vibrant nature of the town – people on the streets, writers groups and good Persian restaurants. We talked about some of her areas of interest – Iranian literature and diaspora; ‘outsiders’ within a community; film and screenwriting - her and Amin have recently spent time in Afghanistan making a documentary about self-immolation of women there and are interested in making work around, increasing awareness and fundraising for some of these areas of interest.
Met Matt, Tak and Tina, 3 of the group Popperbox, from the train station in Cabramatta. They took me round several places and spaces in the area while talking about their work , their relationship to Cabramatta - sharing memories and snippets about the area – the integration of koalas and kangaroos on the Chinese gates of Cabramatta, thier relationships to the local library - it’s comic collection (which Matt helped stock), the new sports centre and their memories of the old diving board, and a local park. They talked about the innovative and fun artworks and interventions they’ve been working on, how they work together as a group and things they’d like to see happening in the area. We finished off with fantastic food at a Lao restaurant in the area where I experienced ox-tongue.
