BODY ART CONTEST AT THE BUZZ FILM FESTIVAL 1999



Photo: R595-10 Sexy Galexy making a start on Astro Boy

Once upon a street in Byron Bay I met a rainbow pixie who leaped and laughed and sang to save the environment. In my passion for colour I photographed him and our adventure together began. When his friend Munji said: "Hey Pixie, go play at the Global colours stall at the Buzz Film Festival", I was swept along into the main pavillion, loaded with camera and film, with no idea of my purpose and with a feeling that something unexpected and beautiful was imminent.




Photo: R595-11 Bruce the Pixie starts to glow

It was cold and quiet in the pavillion until local stand-up comedienne Mandy Nolan took the stage and woke us up with her humour while the early arrivals set up their stalls. Nicky, the local Global Colours agent, had brought some Body Art Contest posters to advertise the show and bring in the artists and models. They were nicely illustrated but only monochrome photocopies.




Photo: R595-15 The second layer on Astro Boy

That was the moment the Body Art Fairy hit me with her magick paintbrush. I dipped into the thick, rich colour and soon the posters, still wet but vastly more enticing, went up around town.




Photo: R595-18 Nicky tickles Bluenose's fancy

Humans have a long tradition of using body art and costume to represent the persona of a god or hero, allowing that archetype to emerge from its usual hiding place in the psyche and be overtly expressed. So as I walked the warm, sunlit streets of Byron Bay with Bruce the Pixie putting up posters and telling people about the contest, the natural spell of the coloured paint worked on me and I imagined my Sagittarian Dragon partner painted as a raging fire spirit.




Photo: R595-19 Robin Reeve-Jones works Dragon Lady's back

We had not expected to play the roles of artist and model that day but he loved the idea. We returned to the pavillion and embarked on an intimate journey of creation with the newly-arrived entrants to the Body Art Contest.




Photo: R595-32 Sexy Galexy paints Marisa's face

Some artists know exactly what they wish to create and they prepare a detailed draft to work from. Some have a general concept to start with and fill in the details once they get into the project. Other artists have no idea what they will do and allow the work to create itself moment by moment.