Song of the Frogs

This story is an excerpt from Morgan Schatz Blackrose’s upcoming biography:

Stories in my Life: Living and Dying a Storyteller.

There was once a chief who brought his people to camp on the edge of a swamp. They lay down to sleep that night to the sound of the frogs’ song. The array of rhythmic croaks and calls brought great comfort to the people because it signified the harmony in which they all lived. But the chief was outraged with the ribbitting racket of the swamp dwellers and screamed for them to shut up. They were disturbing his sleep. But the frogs paid no heed to the rantings of the chief and continued their song. The chief tossed and turned and bellowed his fury at the frogs, but they continued their song well into the night. At dawn the chief had worked himself into a state of rage not only at the frogs’ song but their refusal to be silent. He called his warriors together and demanded they bring everyone before him. When all the people were assembled the chief proclaimed that the frogs were to all punished for disturbing his peace. Everyone was given a large stick and ordered to enter the swamp and beat the frogs to death. If they refused to carry out the chief’s orders they would be beaten instead.

With great reluctance the people took the clubs and trudged into the swamp. All except an old woman who refused to take a stick and remained steadfast in front of the chief.

‘Why do you defy me?’ demanded the chief.

‘Because all is connected,’ she answered.

‘What do you mean?’ asked the chief.

‘You will find out,’ she replied.

The chief glared at the old woman, then shouted for her to leave him before he beat her himself.

Later that day the people sat around their camps, disheartened by the dreadful deed they had carried out. That night an eerie silence filled the air. The people found it hard to sleep, knowing that the frogs were no longer their companions. The chief however slept soundly, that night and the next.

It was the third night that he was awakened by an annoying hum. Swarms of mosquitoes descended on the camp. The mosquito larvae no longer eaten by the frogs had all hatched and the swamp was infested with millions of mosquitoes. The night air was filled with the drone of mosquitoes punctuated by the sounds of people slapping their bitten skin.

‘Enough is enough,’ they cried, and quietly gathered their belongings and moved away from the swamp and their chief.

At dawn the following day the chief, who had barely slept a wink, stood up and looked around. He was all alone, except for the old woman who had refused to kill the frogs. She stared at the chief’s bite ridden face and body and shook her head.

‘Now do you understand what I said about all being connected?’ she asked. 

Then she turned from him and walked away, leaving him with no one to rule over but the mosquitoes.

Story Source: Eleven Nature Tales A multicultural journey by Pleasant DeSpain

August House, Little Rock Arkansas US copyright 1996

Photo: Roman W. Schatz, 2020

Project 45

These two photographs of hay stables in Valais, Switzerland, are 45 years in the making.  I took the first image in 1972 during a school camp with my first camera, the fabulous Kodak Instamatic. This started my lifelong fascination for photography. When I received the prints from this film, I was annoyed at the glitch in this one image. However, four decades on, I feel that this imperfection makes the photograph perfect for me.  It showed me that with a camera, it was possible to capture a sense of time and space that could last a lifetime.

This year I returned to the region for the first time since I made this photo and I was excited to recapture this moment.  Of course that is not possible, just like standing in the same river twice. However, I managed to make a photo of a past moment, which is now destined to become a new memory.

Both photos were taken in the Fiesch region, Valais, Switzerland, 1972 & 2017

Valais, 1972

Valais, 2017

Cold Coffee

Hot coffee in the morning I take the first sip

Clouds move in on the mountain

Put cup down and rush for the camera

The light and clouds move fast

Click, click, click

Coffee is cold!

(Hoch Ybrig, Unteriberg, Switzerland)

Encounters

FREE e Book!

Encounters is a visual poem told through a series of black and white photos.

Fabulous 2016!

Photography helps me to make some sort of sense of the world!  With every photo that I make, I take small steps in interpreting and connecting with my environment and the people that I encounter. In the last year I have experienced some major lifestyle changes. I moved interstate and am now back living in a city.  After almost fifteen years in a small coastal town, I love the vibrancy of living in a more multicultural place – it feels like home.

I have been a regular visitor to South Korea for many years and 2016 was no exception when I spent five weeks photographing and exploring the east coast from Busan up to the North Korean border. Korea continues to be a favourite place to visit and photograph.

During my stay in Korea I received news that my eldest daughter was going to have a baby!  The happy thought of a new member in the family has warmly coloured the feel of this last year and we are looking forward to greeting our first grandchild later this month!

The past twelve months seemed to be dominated with kids and dogs.  Despite the old warning to ‘never work with children and animals,’ this was exactly what we seemed to have done for a big part of the year.  Not only did my youngest daughter come home with a rescue dog, hello Maxi!, my wife and I finished the year off with a ‘Healthy Dogs, Healthy Peoples’ project in far north Queensland.  Working in a remote aboriginal community was a rewarding and challenging opportunity and for us another chance to use storytelling and photography as a form of  communication.

Every year I try and select a set of photographs that best reflect the past year. Here are 16 from 2016.

Seoraksan National Park, South Korea

Seoraksan National Park, South Korea

Incheon, South Korea

Seoraksan National Park, South Korea

Samcheok, South Korea

DMZ, Goseong, South Korea

Pohang, South Korea

Pohang, South Korea

Samcheok, South Korea

Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

Brisbane, Australia

Lockhart, Australia

Lockhart, Australia

Lockhart, Australia

Deadly Dogs!

From the moment I took my seat I knew this flight was different to all the previous ones I had flown on.  For a start, the first class passengers were wearing high visibility vests, not suits, half of my fellow travellers wore embroidered polo shirts or sporting team regalia and a small minority were on crutches. There was no mistaking, I was on a regional flight heading to one of Australia’s remote regions, to be precise, Lockhart River, a coastal Aboriginal community situated on the eastern coast of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, Australia.

The Great Barrier Reef

 

This is also the northernmost town on the east coast of Australia and together with my wife Morgan, I am travelling there to start an arts based education program.  The ‘Healthy Dogs, Healthy People’ project aims to raise awareness about the importance of animal care as a key element in achieving a healthy community.  I have been employed to use photography as a way to communicate this message.

Storytelling Session

The town’s population of approximately 600 people consists of a mix of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and a small number of non-Aboriginal people working primarily in the service and education sector.  There are also about 1000 dogs in the community! There were some initial ‘eye-rolls’ when we introduced ourselves as artists promoting animal de-sexing, de-worming and de-bunking some myths around caring for dogs.

However, after our first week in the community we have established some trust with key people and are now part of a team of dog champions.  We’ve sung some *deadly songs, and told dog stories with the kids and lined up models for a photo shoot.`

Puppy Love!

Added to this we have managed to not get bitten by or catch any diseases from the dogs and most importantly not run over any. When it’s 35 degrees, dogs (and puppies) hang out underneath cars!

We are now back in Brisbane for a week to plan the next course of action.  Our original plan of a dog show and a book have now given away to a calendar and a mural, but we are still working on that killer rap and deadly photo!

The Kids Club in Lockhart River

* ‘deadly’ is an aboriginal expression for cool, excellent or top.

The Ghosts Of Okpo Land – Abandoned Amusement Park In South Korea

I am a regular traveller to South Korea. On Geoje Island, I learned of an abandoned amusement park overlooking the town. The fun park, called Okpo Land, had been closed down in 1999 due to a series of accidents, the last when a young girl tragically fell to her death from a ride.

The park, perched on top of a hill, was in the process of being reclaimed by the surrounding bushland. Although it was deserted, graffti, rubbish and empty beer bottles were evidence that it was still being used as a ‘fun park.’ On that day, I was the only person there, but I had an eerie feeling that I was not alone. Was it my imagination, or was there really a restless spirit inhabiting the area?

I have since returned to Geoje Island but Okpo Land has now been demolished to make room for a hotel. To honour the people who died at this site, author and storyteller Morgan Schatz Blackrose, and I have published a book dedicated to the lost souls of Okpo Land. You can download it as a PDF file for free here:  carousel

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Okpo Amusement Park

Suburban Masters

Test your knowledge of a few 20th century artists and their works.  On a recent walk around a typical Australian suburb, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a host of hitherto unknown works of 20th century masters. Now my appetite is whetted I shall endeavour to unearth more of these lost treasures.

William Eggleston goes shopping

Damien Hirst loses his spots in Sydney

Nam June Paik – Unplugged

Post Modern Art (Artist Unknown)

Jeff Koons Cleans out.

Andy Warhol’s Lost flowers

Jackson Pollock’s DIY

David Hockney’s Lesser Splash

Rothko’s Gutter

Warhol Reject

Tracy Emin’s Guest Bed

Monet’s Road

Christo’s Car

Soundtrack To My Youth – Part 7 (Final)

Metamorphosis

Reflecting back over the past seven days on how music has been a soundtrack to my journey has been an enjoyable experience.  I chose to focus on the formative years in my life, from becoming a teenager up to the time I left Europe to migrate to Australia as a young man. It’s now 2016 and I have moved on from much of that music, while I still enjoy listening to it occasionally, the records that I have kept are now mostly gathering dust in an old milk crate. I keep telling myself ‘they are collectors items’, judging by the amount of dust they are collecting, I think I might be right!

These days I get to travel for my work and this has opened up my ears to new aural experiences.  Music to me is a bit like food, I get bored with the same tastes and I love to experiment with ingredients. So my current musical tastes now include Pansori from Korea, Gamelan from Java and Fado from Portugal.  My travel souvenirs always include a recipe and some local music.

My car radio is now permanently stuck on the classical music station and I am contemplating getting a cardigan! No … wait, that doesn’t sound right.  Forget the cardigan! I also love the fact that, thanks to the internet, I am also discovering and listening to contemporary classical western music.  Mind you, of late I have been listening to a lot of 70’s music again,  that is 1770, in Bach I trust!

But best of all are the days when I wake up to the sound of Philip Glass, played by my wife on the piano,  I know that the world is ok!

Morgan Schatz Blackrose plays Phillip Glass’s – Metamorphosis I

Soundtrack To My Youth – Part 6

In a new ancient land

It’s 1983 and I am having to speak English all of the time but that’s good, because now I can!  Three years earlier I had packed my bags, plus one wooden box filled with records, and moved to Australia. I did this all by myself, I left my mother and my younger brother in Switzerland, promising, that I would do all I could to ensure them a visa to migrate as well.  They would join me five years later. I remember my English teacher in Switzerland telling me, that once you dreamt in another language you had mastered it.  It actually only took me about three months to have my first English language dream, I was amazed!  Mind you, I still couldn’t understand a bloody thing.  I think it was more a case of culture shock, rather than me being a language genius.  Besides, when I got off the plane in Melbourne, I first thought that I had travelled to the wrong country. As far as I could work out, no one spoke any recognisable English here!  Australian lingo was a long shot from the nice Oxford style English they tried to teach me in the evening school back in Switzerland.

One of my first jobs was as a delivery driver for a French bakery, the place was run by an erratic, always hung-over French man who simply gave me the job, because I wasn’t an aussie.  Suited me just fine plus, I learned to drive a small truck on the wrong side of the road in a big new city.  What could possibly go wrong!  Besides managing to have a small crash on my first day, all went well! In fact I really loved the job, I was out for most of the day driving around and taking in my new world.  And then there was the car radio, I discovered a small public station, that was obviously the cities lefty voice.  It not only helped me to hone my language skill, I also received an education in humanitarian issues.  And if it wasn’t for 3CR I may have never have heard of Ivor Cutler, the great Scottish poet.  I had been a reggae fan for a number of years but there was one sound I had never heard of before; contemporary Koori music. A mixture of reggae, rock and protest music all held together with the ancient sound of a didgeridoo!  This was a real eye and ear opener for me.

Melbourne had a great live music scene and I was fortunate enough to live only 5 staggers and 3 rolls from a wonderful music venue, run mostly by Maori bikies.  It was here that I discovered my soundtrack for most of the early 1980’s.  I saw this band a couple of times and loved their energy, commitment and passion.  No Fixed Address are now considered an iconic Australian band and this song is bonafide Aboriginal anthem.

No Fixed Address ‘We have survived’