STOPCRUSH.ORG – Ban animal torture videos – stop the sickos!! #fb #HR5566 #geekgirl

Animal “Crush” Video Awareness Week – STOPCrush.org

Monday, November 15 at 12:00am – November 22 at 12:00am
Facebook / The Internet / Your Bed / Your Couch
You DO NOT need to physically show up anywhere

THIS IS A WORLDWIDE EVENT ON FACEBOOK/THE INTERNET. You DO NOT need to physically show up anywhere!

Change your profile picture to an image in support of making ANIMAL CRUSH VIDEOS illegal again. This photo does NOT have to be graphic or even one of ours. With HR 5566 being part of lame duck voting sessions which would make these videos BANNED in the US, this is a very important time and event.

GET PICTURES HERE, OR MAKE YOUR OW…N:
http://www.stopcrush.org/?page_id=9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41551&id=123901460968753

What are Crush Videos?
Crush videos feature small live animals, such as kittens, puppies, reptiles, mice and rabbits being slowly tortured in the most horrific ways imaginable; including being burnt alive, cut with pruning sheers, nailed to the floor, skinned alive, beaten, stabbed, and having their limbs broken.

All of these videos share a common theme: the animals are incrementally crushed by a woman with high heels/other body parts. Most people view these materials for sexual gratification, but these videos are becoming increasingly popular just for their shock value alone on “gore sites”.

Human Rights Arts & Film Festival 2011 – submissions #film #Australia #geekgirl

www.hraff.org.au
Earlybird Applications Close: Friday October 29

Submissions are now open for the annual Australian Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. All emerging and established filmmakers are invited to submit their music videos, shorts, features, documentaries and experimental film for the 2010 program. The only criterion is that the film engages with human rights and social justice issues.

In 2011 HRAFF will again travel Australia with events and screenings taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Alice Springs and Brisbane throughout April and May.

There is also over $5000 worth of cash and prizes up for grabs!

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years – filmmakers need participants #unifem #geekgirl

A short film about the dramatic history of International Women’s Day and the feminist movement in Australia and in our region.

SYNOPSIS
The feminist movement has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past century. From the dramatic actions of the Suffragettes to current petitioning against human rights abuses of women, the movement has been peppered with moments of courage, bravery, persistence as well as frequent disappointment.

2011 marks 100 years of International Women’s Day, when the world stops to celebrate, commemorate and ruminate on the status of women internationally.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years (Working Title) will chart the history of the feminist movement and International Women’s Day in Australia and regionally through archival footage interwoven with the stories of ordinary women who have been involved in some extraordinary events in the name of progressing women’s rights.

International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years will both speak to those generations born after the rise of second wave feminism- a compelling reminder to these generations of the male-dominant landscape of the past and the hurdles that have been overcome- as well as celebrate the achievements of those strong and persistent women who have been involved in the feminist movement over the last century.

The award-winning all female team of International Women’s Day: Celebrating 100 Years will bring life to the story of International Women’s Day, and the film will provide hope and inspiration in looking towards addressing the challenges that women still face nationally and internationally.

UNIFEM AUSTRALIA
This project has been commissioned by UNIFEM Australia, part of UN Women, an NGO under the umbrella of the United Nations that works towards gender equality internationally.

The film is being produced to coincide with the 2011 centenary of International Women’s Day and amongst other audiences it will be distributed to all Australian secondary schools and screened at International Women’s Day events nationally as
well as be posted on the UNIFEM Australia website.

HOW CAN U  HELP
The filmmakers are looking for a handful of women to interview on film for this project who have been personally involved with key events in the feminist movement in Australia and regionally over the last century, including currently. They would like stories that emphasise the courage and optimism of women who have battled for gender equality, often through unique and non-conformist actions.

CONTACT
e. IWDfilm@gmail.com
p. (Kylie Plunkett) 0424656283
a. 915/37 Swanston St
The Nicholas Building
Melbourne 3000

Help save orang-utans and help save ourselves #donate #geekgirl

orangutans

Please give generously to help these awesome orang-utans.

DONATE GREENPEACE US

Stay in touch and informed and  how you can help locally; via Australian Zoos. And contribute to the Zoos Victoria Foundation Orang-utan Conservation Fund.

Editor’s note: Animals in all shapes and sizes humble us. Even the little mouse that has inhabited our home makes me smile. Not because she poos everywhere and eats our cheese and chocolate. It’s because she is small, vulnerable and like us all, scurries around just trying to survive. Each time you help an animal cause you help humanity understand the great chain of connections we have to each other, and the richness we all share while alive. Loving animals is a sign of loving ourselves. *HUGS* GG

SymbioticA Symposium :: Unruly Ecologies

SymbioticA Symposium :: Unruly Ecologies
26 - 28 November 2010 :: Perth & Mandurah, Australia

The ecology of biodiversity is based upon an uncertain definition, incomplete statistics and the need to act in a world without balance. While multiple flora and fauna databases have been established and are being coordinated, there is an urgent need to engage even more proactively with complex ecosystems and human responses. Artists, scientists, humanities scholars and conservationists will come together to talk of the matters of concern around the potentials and futures of biodiversity.

SymbioticA Symposium

Feature artist Nicole Tattersall #surfboards #melbourne #arts #geekgirl

Based in Melbourne, Australia Nicole Tattersall is a self taught artist whose works vary in mediums such as stencil art, watercolour, ink and installation. Her main source of inspiration is mother nature coupled with the city lights of Melbourne. Throughout her school life she excelled in art and graphics, though it wasn’t until late 2004, 3 years after completing secondary college did Nicole start to create works for placement in galleries and pursue her creative career. 

Nicole’s style has change several times throughout the years from the simple outlines to the urban inspired stencil works and now starting to explore more experimental techniques. Using a selection of mediums, she favours acrylics, pens, markers and spray cans.

Being passionate about animal rights has lead Nicole to create works for WSPA Australia and to aid in their campaigns, with her own works or by being an advocate by speaking about issues.

Using her Events Management skills Nicole has curated and organised a selection of group exhibitions and art events; Random Collective, Art On Your Sleeve, Street Art For Ashes, Melbourne Curvy 6 book launch at Magnation and Split Personalities, a duo show she did with fellow artist Megan Dell.

Artist Statement
“I create works in various mediums that lend themselves to convey the context of the piece and the overall feel of the work, this can be from the innocence and creative minds of two children dressing up as ghosts to the dirty look created to interrupt streets of a busy city. 


Using stenciling as a technique came about when I wanted to start to customise my own surfboards and was exposed to a large variety of applications for stenciling when I visited the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2006 at Rose St.

In contrast watecolours, ink and charcoal are another preferred medium which allow for a level of naive-ness to be expressed. 

Animal rights, the protection of the environment and the thought of using ones imagination are reoccurring themes in my works and are heavily influenced by my time spent at various beaches, surfing, my family, trips away, the urban jungle of the city and world news”.

Works by Nicole currently reside in private collections throughout Australia as well as Internationally.

jump-surfboard

About the Surfboards
My first major exhibition was “Artsticks 2″ held at the Surfing World Museum in Torquay in 2006. The theme for the exhibition was the surfboard as the canvsa and I had painted various stencils onto a board given to me by friend, which had been snapped at the nose. The board has since been repainted over.

I first got into stenciling as a technique to customise my own surfboards and was exposed to a large variety of applications for stenciling when I visited the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2006 at Rose St. I’ve since developed and gone beyound the humble surfboard and get friends to paint mine for me now.

When Megan Dell and I were thinking about “Split Personalitoes”, a duo exhibition we had at No Vacancy Gallery in February 2010. I felt it was time to go back to my roots. After doing some asking around I was able to get my hands on some broken boards and started to work out what I wanted to paint on them. “Face & Fringe” is a classic stencil of mine so had to be included. I love my animals and what better than a sea turtle! “Jump” features a girl in bathers jumping off a pier, which is a very beachy thing to do. “Surfing Aisling” is named after a very good friend of mine who I use to go surfing with until she moved north to warmer waters. It features a girl just hanging out on her board, which is what me and her use to do alot together. Chatting about all the things one does over coffee, just in this case in between sets.

I felt that to display the boards properly they needed to be suspended by leg ropes so that their movement would reflect that of a surfers lifestyle.

Patchworked – Solo Show
At Large Gallery
208 High St, Northcote, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Exhibition Opening: Friday 17 September 2010, 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition: Friday 17 September – Thursday 30 September 2010

Website: www.atlargegallery.com or www.nicoletattersall.blogspot.com

Roots to Resistance! Visual Artist brings 12 Women Activists to Life #facebook #geekgirl

No More Silence! Please help spread the word by joining the Global Postcard Campaign!
Visual Artist brings 12 Women Activists to Life http://www.facebook.com/rootstoresistance

Renowned award winning visual artist and creative activist Denise Beaudet is bringing forth the images and stories of 12 remarkable women in a project entitled Roots to Resistance, painting larger than life sized portraits of these women activists as well as creating postcards that  spread word of their work.

This project aims to create voices for us all by creating postcards and sending them around the world and saying that we won’t be silent about war, atrocities and violence against women!

Examples of postcards include a portrait of the Congolese Journalist Chouchou Namegabe. Her work is simply of the utmost importance. It is a critical and dangerous endeavor as she travels across the war torn Congo to record the stories of the hundreds of thousands of women who have been assaulted there. She needs our support and our voices!

The global postcard exchange is completely free and really just involves us sending postcards to those interested in being partners in the Exchange. All we ask is that you give them out in your community and spread the word and we will print them in the language spoken there!

To become a partner in the Global Postcard Campaign please contact
Denise: invisible_earth@yahoo.com  and for more info and images of the
project: http://www.facebook.com/rootstoresistance

The 12 women:
Natalia Estemirova-Chechnya-Murdered Human Rights Journalist
Malalai Joya-Afghanistan-Woman’s Rights Activist
Chouchou Namegabe–Congo–Journalist/Women’s Rights Activist
Maria Gunnoe-U.S.-Environmental Activist
Aung San Suu Kyi-Burma-Human Rights Activist
Parvin Ardalan-Iran-Women’s Rights Activist
Rebecca Gomperts-Netherlands-Environmeari-Indonesia-Labor Activist
Wangari Maathai-Kenya-Environmental Activist
Zapatista Woman-Mexico Environmental/Indigenous Rights Activist
Marina Silva-Brazil-Environmental Activist
Yvonne Margarula-Australia-Indigenous Rights Activist

Some people are gay. Get over it!

Gaydalf?

Oscar’s Law – end Puppy factories

It’s time to end the shameful and cruel treatment of our companion animals, who are suffering on puppy factories and need our help. Oscar’s law is a very simple campaign: it enables everyone to make a stand and tell the Government that “We do not want companion animals factory farmed anymore” and “We no longer want the pet industry to mislead us about what is acceptable for our pets”.

You can help fight the genocide in Australia’s pounds, promote rescue organisations and no kill shelters as the first option to adopting, and change the way Australians gets their pets. Adoption is the intelligent alternative to impulse buying. No puppy factory whether it is “clean”, “model”, “state of the art” or otherwise is the answer for mans best friend.

Oscar’s Law

The Yes Men create the Yes Lab – helping train you how to become an activist

The Yes men are launching the Yes Lab, a series of brainstorms and trainings to help activist groups carry out Yes-Men-style activist projects on their own. They’ll give advice and facilitate, but participants will carry out actions themselves, without them.