Artist Callum Preston, a member of the Everfresh collective, painted a giant skull at the Darling St BMX house (RIPed) a few months ago, merely weeks before it's demise. He had a drone and a lot of paint and made this documentary style piece on the occasion. Keep an eye out for future print copies of Nothing's Wrong Mag for a photo-journalistic piece on one of Australia's most creative house holds.
Excerpt from Issue 7 (The Technophobia Issue).
Words by Mike Vocko. Life - entirely contrasting, to say the least. Ultimately, you have no decision in where you start this journey, the decision is out of your tiny little stupid baby hands. Where to from here? You learn to talk, eat, walk, play, interact and then as time moves forward, things become more complicated, you enter the ‘system’ i.e. education and employment. The silver lining to this unfortunate reality is having this little thing called freedom. You choose what you do with your time, your money and the people you surround yourself with. While at times, it might not seem this way, when you strip back all the bullshit, you do what you want to do. Enter BMX. Freedom at its purest, in every way, shape and form. After a stressful day at work, taking direction from a bunch of clowns, most often lending your time and effort to a cause which does not mean half as much as being apart of BMX, there exists so much more and don’t we lucky few know it. Pedaling around the neighborhood bumping a gutter, feeling your senses at their finest - the noise of rubber on asphalt, feeling the salty afternoon air rush across your skin, watching the golden rays of the dying sun flicker through house after house, the soul is thankful. What you choose to do with BMX is entirely up to you, some like to go high and fit as much ‘acrobattery’ as one can into a single moment, some prefer to remain largely anonymous and retract to the bush finding solace with the chocolate velvet of the earth we call soil. Others tend to stick to the urban landscape, cruising the streets to find a mangled pole for instance - a blight on the street-scape to most, countless hours of rewarding fun for a minority. It is within this realm that I find myself, one part of which is going fast and jumping shit - whether that be off shit, over shit, to other shit, whatever. Quite often do I find myself in the position of having to explain myself. Why would anyone in their right mind put themselves in a 50/50 situation where the chances of failure are so high? The answer, in my mind anyway, is very simple - it’s a feeling. The same distinct feeling that you would get from carving a wave, navigating a rally car, kayaking a rapid or bombing a massive hill on a skateboard. There is no monetary reward, no professional accolade. The feeling of having overcome intense fear and having done something so unique is unmatched. Some people have it, BMX seems to attract people with this lust for personal glory, the thirst to push oneself to the limits of pain and terror. The constant flow of mind-blowing video parts is a testament of this. Others don’t have it, remaining fine and dandy with their shins intact and their limits untested. That’s the beauty of life, it’s the contrast which allows uniqueness to thrive. |
AuthorBarnes |