Except from China Diaries 2006

"A peasant must stand a long time on a hillside with his mouth open before a roast duck flies in and the movements which work toward evolution in the world are brne of the dreams and visions in a peasants heart on a hillside"

This is an old Chinese proberb Im not sure who from but when I recieve my first Australia China residencey I feel that this could not be more true.

The midnight flight sees my way clear to 24 hours of movies, contorting my body so as to fit in the seat allocated and circumnavigating Singapore airport at early hours of the morning until my connecting flight arrives for the final leg of the journey.

I am meet at the airport by a charming man named Brian Wallace who is my contact in Beijing. Driving to the apartment Brian tells me Its his 15th anaversary in Beijing and at the Red Gate Gallery which is one of the only two remaining Watchtowers from the original wall of Peking in the Ming Dynasty.

The flat is small and modest, the stairways to the fourth floor are dark and dingy and I am informed that I am the only non Chinese person in the building. Brian leaves me with the bare essentials, alist of phone numbers, instructions as to how to set up my computer and a contact number for Tony Scott his project manager who is tio become a good friend and instrumental to a number of projects that I become involved with in future years.

This is the beginning of my China experience which has been a great influence to me for the past five years and an inspiration for many works and works still in process.