Author Archives: anton veenstra

My lovely Italian friend, Antonia Sorsoli, once invited me to enter an event titled Surrealism. I chose to revisit a painting by Salvador Dali: two fragments of woven tapestry, panels of buttons, all surrounded by gold wire, ecclesiastical braid. It … Continue reading →

Immediately above is a Swedish drinking horn with a convoluted animal depiction, quite similar to the ornamented calligraphy from that part of the world. It reminds one of the yin/yang symbol: two animals devouring each other’s tail, thus forming a … Continue reading →

My latest collage of metal pieces embroidered, (wrapped, woven and knotted) with coloured electrical wire. 100 cms H X 150 cms W. The title of this work is borrowed from a poem by Dylan Thomas. No further explanation of content … Continue reading →

Mrs Madrigal was the trans landlady character in Maupin’s SF Tales of the City novels. She had had her op in Denmark, which, since the 1960’s, had been notorious for the procedure. We are hearing more and more about trans … Continue reading →

During WW2 a Cardinal, stationed in Istanbul and later to become Pope John 23, decided to baptise five hundred Jewish children and thus, having converted them to Catholicism, saved them from Nazi labour camps and the ovens. Some of his … Continue reading →

Please excuse the juxtaposition of these thoughts with that horrific incident recently on London public transport where some thugs insisted that a lesbian couple kiss for them. When they refused to perform they were beaten; the bloody photo of the … Continue reading →

Israel Folau is an Australian Rugby League? Union? player of amazing talent and consequently of great wealth. He recently converted to a vehement form of evangelical Christianity, under which influence he posted that homosexuals, liars and adulterers would be punished … Continue reading →

Tonight, ABC TV Four Corners ran a horrific program on the US police system deliberately getting people to confess to a crime, irrespective of their actual guilt or not, or any available evidence. This lightened the load for police and … Continue reading →

  US evangelical Christians continue to argue that the gay/lesbian “lifestyle” is inauthentic or inorganic because it is perversely chosen in spite of one’s nature. There are many phenomena that both bear this out and contradict the proposition. Take the … Continue reading →

PM ScoMo has taken issue with Turkish PM Erdogan’s comment that Gallipoli was an act of religious aggression by allied forces. Are we afraid that militaristic tourism is at stake? In a wonderful movie The History Boys, the teacher points … Continue reading →