Here's part 2 - the final part - of the Convict Trail series!
Anyway before we go on to the Fremantle Arts Centre, here are some pictures I took as I walked back to the bus station, alongside Market Street. I couldn't bear to leave Fremantle (as it was the last time I was going to be there for at least 5 months!), so I stayed longer. My camera battery was still going on strong, and I seriously can't figure out why it is so DURABLE! My camera is nearly 3 years old now and this battery is the one that came along with it. I've an extra battery pack just in case, but I've never used it.
Moving on to our main topic of today - the Fremantle Arts Centre.
The Fremantle Arts Centre is currently the major arts centre for Fremantle and possibly the rest of Perth, hosting arts events throughout the year as well as exhibitions. The Arts Centre was built between 1861 and 1868 and was used as a lunatic asylum, and then later known as the Asylum for the Criminally Insane. It was then used as a midwifery school for a short while and even served as the headquarters for American troops based in Western Australia during the Second World War. By the 1950s it became rather dilapidated and was in danger of being demolished, but fortunately it was restored in the 1970s.
The colossal Arts Centre is situated on the corner of Finnerty Street and Ord Street, and is easy to get to. You just have to take a Red CAT Bus from Fremantle Train Station! The ride itself was fast, and the building - easy to identify.
The first thing I looked out for when I reached the Arts Centre? FOOD! I stepped into this quiet, shady courtyard and found myself in Canvas Cafe. Not having much cash on me, I settled for a small brownie and hot chocolate (my default drink!). The food was really delicious! Nothing beats having chocolatey stuff! As I munched, I also took a walk around the cafe grounds. The cafe was crowded that day and people were all having expensive, yet exotic meals.
There was an Aboriginal exhibit going on at the Arts Centre but I didn't have much time to stroll through it. So I decided to focus more on the famous facade of the Arts Centre.
When I was walking out I noticed a small model of part of the Arts Centre.
Noticed these colourful flags just as I turned out of Finnerty Street.
The imposing facade of the Fremantle Arts Centre amidst a very blue sky. Polarising filter, thank you very much!!! I decided to walk down Ord Street (where the cars were parked) for now...as my next agenda was to get to the Fremantle Prison!
Spotted some wildflowers on the road. The wildflowers weren't as fresh as the ones I saw in early spring, and there were only a few left. Nevertheless - a good photo opportunity!
Wanted to carry on walking down Ord Street to the Fremantle Prison. But I decided to walk back to the Arts Centre for more pictures :)
This time - in black-and-white - to provide a vintage feel. And with the wide-angle lens too.
This time I HAD to make sure I didn't turn back! But I took a few glances here and there as I walked down Ord Street, further and further away from the Arts Centre.
I found this small path somewhere along Ord Street and had a feeling that there was park up there. So I risked it, CLIMBED up the hill but found nothing!!! Ah wells, but I was kind of "compensated", for the view was pretty good up there! The climb was pretty tedious though, especially with a full bottle of water and all my camera equipment.
Anyway while we're on the subject of arts centres, let's just interject with some pictures I took of the Art-Science Museum in Singapore. These were taken the day after I landed - pretty zealous huh?
Singapore's going through a really epic monsoon season. For the past two weeks it had been raining a lot!
Which means that the lotus flowers growing outside the Art-Science Museum were exceptionally big...and beautiful.
It might not seem like it here...but the lotus ponds outside the museum were teeming with lotus flowers.
The rain clouds were coming in rapidly by then, and I decided to take cover in the museum. And at that point I decided to go for the exhibition - Outside-In. Outside-In is a photography exhibition by an organisation known as Magnum Photography, and features 3 photographers, plus some other photos from an international photography competition held recently.
Here we are - the ground floor of the museum (ticket office was on the first floor)!
The skies were really dark by the time I went into the museum, and it had started raining already.
Another exhibition was going on - and it was more historical, depicting how Chinese from the Fujian Province (in China) migrated over to Singapore and the ideas/innovations they brought across with them. I intend to explore this one someday, since it's on for a while.
The Outside-In exhibition was simple but really nice. I went through each and every exhibition photo and scrutinised them, and there were some which I really liked! There was a photo essay on Warsaw (Poland) by one of the photographers, and that included a mixture of past and present, old and young etc...and it definitely described Poland really well! Another photo essay portrayed an intimate, personal view of Japan - and this was done through black-and-white pictures of Japanese people of all ages and social status. The pictures really spoke a thousand words...each!
This was my favourite quote:
Photography, is a way of learning about the world around us. It's a passport to understanding.
Stuart Franklin, Magnum Photography (Outside-In exhibition, Art-Science Museum)
Spent quite a long time admiring all the photographs and trying to make sense of the photo essays. The exhibition was well laid out - each photographer had his own booth, and the pictures were framed.
By the time I finished, and bought my souvenir (a book titled "A Photographer's Mind") from the museum shop, the rain had stopped. So I made my way for lunch :)
And that's it for the Convict Trail posts! Well this post is more like a hybrid post as it focused on the Art-Science Museum in Singapore which is WAY off the Convict Trail, but oh well...!!