Diego (Villalta) and I will be part of the Moonee Valley Festival 2026 next Sunday, 15th March 2026, at Queens Park, Moonee Ponds. We will be playing on the Kellaway Stage (map and schedule can be accessed here) from 10.45 to 11.25 am.
Thank you to Moonee Valley Council for having us and for The Moonee Valley Festival team for all the organisation and help. This is my first full gig since my academic pause, so I am very much looking forward to it. Here is a snippet from our rehearsal. Till Sunday!
It has been a long journey to reach this milestone. It certainly has been a colourful and not an easy one, but one that I am glad to have taken. Being awarded my doctoral degree was the culmination of a chapter, culminating in my recent attendance at the graduation ceremony.
So, here is a snippet of what my doctoral thesis, Seeing Beyond Sight: Platiality through the lived spatiality of individuals with blindness, is all about, and the link to the full dissertation is here: https://doi.org/10.25916/sut.28478015.v1
I dedicate my doctoral thesis to my grandma.
Thank you for having me, Swinburne University of Technology, School of Design and Architecture.
Thank you, my supervisors, for your guidance, support & mentorship: (late) Prof Mark Taylor (it’s bittersweet with your passing), Associate Prof Carolyn Barnes (thank you for stepping in as interim Principal Supervisor with Mark’s passing), Dr Nanette Carter, Dr Kirsten Day (Nanette, Kirsten, it was a joy to celebrate the graduation with you; thank you for attending).
Thank you, Natasha Layton, PhD, Associate Prof Abdullah Al Mahmud, Prof Marcus White, for your feedback & support during progress reviews. Thank you , the examiners, for your valuable input.
Thank you, Associate Prof Carolyn Barnes, Prof Blair Kuys, for providing a safe space for us students to thrive.
To all research participants, who most chose to be fully identifiable— Melbourne Design Week inclusive design discussion interdiciplinary panellists: Dr Manisha Amin, Prof Jenny Martin, Dr Andrew Martel, Jocelyn Chiew, Leo Feig, Dr Lil Deverell; interview participants with blindness: Prof Georgina Kleege, Martin Stewart, Nicole Willing, Samantha Marsh, Jennifer Parry, Timothy Haggis, Cathy*, Tess Whelan, Robert Fletcher, Susan Thompson, Jason Whiter; LightHouse design collaborators: Chris Downey, AIA, Shane Myrbeck, Yukiko Yoshida & end-user: Frank Welte—Thank you for the generosity of your time & invaluable insights. I sincerely hope to have done them justice. It’s been a grounding privilege.
Thank you, Vision Australia, Blind Citizens Australia, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, San Francisco, for facilitating the research participation.
Thank you, Dr Timothy Moore, Prof Alan Duffy, Hélène Hofman, Charlotte Coles, Sarah Scales, your support throughout 3-Minute Thesis & beyond was instrumental in helping me understand my research core.
Dave Moolman, Joanna Smith, Karla Hendy of Shaw Contract, thank you for supporting & funding the MDW event’s Auslan Interpreter, Webinar hosting.
Thank you, Dr Roger Kemp, Dr Carolyn Whitzman, Sarah Bridges, Mary Ann Jackson, Michael Thom & Kelly Armstrong, Michael & Susan Fooks, Peter & Sarah Martin for your listening & supporting advice.
Thank you to my friends, family, especially my mom & my fur bestie.
Thank you, first of all, for your support this year.
I have been taking a pause from art. design and music to focus on working on my doctorate thesis and will continue to do so in the next few months. I shall post an update when I emerge out of the cocoon and when there are things on the horizon.
In the meantime, wishing you all a restful end-of-the-year break, or if, like me, you are working through this holiday period, I wish you the best of luck, focus and energy. Keep well, and have a Happy New Year.
In late 2020, I commenced a journey toward a new artwork series entitled, ‘Vulnerable’, beginning with the foundational studies to develop the art series conceptual framework funded by Moonee Valley City Council (MVCC) COVID-19 Art Recovery Grant 2020. Then in 2021, I was fortunate to receive a similar Art Recovery Grant from MVCC to partly fund the initial artwork series creative development stage, which involves further development of the conceptual framework and études.
The ‘Vulnerable’ art series explores that part of the notion of acceptance of one’s vulnerability is to accept the impermanence and imperfections of life and its day-to-day-ness. The first series of études from this creative development stage, entitled: Mementos, explore and capture the transient quiet pauses often overlooked amidst the day-to-day bustle, presented and viewed compositionally and singularly.
This project is proudly supported by
MVCC’s community recovery grant scheme has helped many local community groups, businesses, and artists to bounce back from the setback brought on by the pandemic. My sincere gratitude for their support.
More snippets of selected ètudes can be viewed here.
On Sunday afternoon, 13th March, I will be joined by Alistair Mclean (guitar), Tom Lee (double bass) and Alex Spicer (drums), and then on Saturday, 19th March, Alex is back on drums with Mark Fitzgibbon (piano) and Howard Cairns (double bass).
I hope you can make it; looking forward to seeing you then!
Image credit: original photo by Karin Locke. Image description: A Quartet – a four-piece band, consisting of a pianist playing a baby grand piano, with a double bass player, a drummer and a vocalist performing on stage.
Hello all, Hope everyone is doing alright. A little news from yours truly, Al (Alistair Mclean) and I are going to be performing online this Sunday, 17th October as part of the Live from the Clocktower live-streamed program starting at 7 pm. The event will be live-streamed through the Clocktower Centre Facebook page. Hope you can join us then!
Hi all, With the hard lockdown this week, our Clocktower cafe session has been rescheduled to Sunday, 5th September at 4.30 pm instead. It was very good of the organiser from Moonee City Council/ The Clocktower to straight away contacted me to arrange this. Truly appreciate it. I am sorry for yet another postponement announcement and thank you so much for your support.
Shall send a reminder closer to date. Looking forward to seeing you then. In the meantime, please keep well, stay safe, and take care.
This “performing arts recovery project as part of Recast 2021, supported by the Victorian Government through the Working for Victoria program” is brought by the Moonee Valley City Councilsupporting the performing arts and the community.
So, the previously postponed (due to lockdown) afternoon trio session is on this Saturday, July, 17th at 4.30 pm at the Clocktower Centre Café. Yeiii! Mark (Fitzgibbon) will join me on piano, he will be playing Clocktower Centre’s newly restored 1898 Bechstein grand piano and Howard (Cairns) will be on double bass.
Please click here for more information. This afternoon music session is part of the free music program at the Clocktower Centre, and no booking required. Hope to see you then!
This “performing arts recovery project as part of Recast 2021, supported by the Victorian Government through the Working for Victoria program” is brought by the Moonee Valley City Councilsupporting the performing arts and the community.
