Wanderlust

Gina Fairley

Arts writer, curator and contemporary jeweller

How do you approach your creative practice?

Studio time is only one part of making. For me, that creative practice starts long before in the form of feelings and connections that spark for me through walking and diarising. As a journalist I am hardwired to digest ideas. As a jeweller, entering the studio and sitting at my sun-drenched bench, those ideas start to find their place in material form.

When you travel, what do you find gives you creative inspiration?

I become a creative sponge when travelling. I absorb the colours, the forms of buildings, the shadows they cast, detritus on the street, the sounds, even the feeling of the air on my skin – it’s a kind of osmosis to the soul. I become hooked. I walk and walk, hungry to soak up more. Then, in the studio, abstract traces of those memories manifest.

What is one of your most memorable experiences of art?

I have had the pleasure of working with the British artist Andy Goldsworthy a number of times.

Perhaps the most memorable time was on the Californian coast, being locked in a small cove together by the incoming tide, waiting for a stone cairn we had constructed to wash away. It taught me patience, perseverance and the need for quiet to allow a work to gestate.

Is there an off-the-beaten track location that you would recommend to fellow travellers?

As one of the world’s most populous destinations, the Philippines offers a challenging yet deeply rewarding and unexpected travel experience. I’ve found my most profound ‘off-track’ moments there: retracing Ian Fairweather’s steps in Zamboanga and climbing Batad’s rice terraces to study Ifugao textiles and jewellery. Met by beaming, betel-nut-stained smiles, I find that in these moments, time simply collapses

Paul Donnelly

Archaeologist, deputy director and director of exhibitions and collections at the Chau Chak Wing Museum

What is the most impactful dig you have been part of, and why did it stay with you?

Inevitably your first excavation holds a special place. I was invited to Pella, in Jordan, in the late 1980s following submission of my BA thesis in archaeology. Pella is a spectacular site and Jordan is such a delight that I did a PhD and never stopped returning! The most recent season was January to February this year excavating a trench in the west of the Canaanite Palace down to Middle Bronze deposits c2000 BCE.

As an archaeologist, what do you notice, or look for, in the locations you visit?

I am entranced by evidence of incidental and unintended use betraying human activity over generations. Examples include channels worn within a marble well-head from the daily ups and downs of ropes over the course of centuries. At a larger scale there are the cart tracks left in the stone paving of Roman-period sites such as Jerash or Pompeii. In Australia we similarly see the unequal wearing of old stone thresholds evidencing collective preference for the right foot.

Is there a special, lesser-known historic site that you would recommend to fellow travellers?

While Knossos in Crete is rightly brimming with visitors, half an hour east can be seen the serene Minoan palace of Malia. Excavated since the 1920s by the French School of Archaeology at Athens, it is beautifully presented with modern shelters protecting the vulnerable and extensive remains of Crete’s third-largest palace spanning 1900–1450 BCE. The famous bee pendant in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum is from Malia and both were on the members’ tour I recently led exploring Crete and the Peloponnese in May.

Other than material culture, what are the best things about travel?

I inherited from my father a love of ornithology and enjoying birdlife varies with each location. At Pella this year, Hoopoes familiar from Egyptian tomb paintings could be heard calling the sound of their own name. From my tent I fell asleep to the call of a Little Owl, the sacred bird to Athena (hence the scientific name, Athene noctua). The past is even echoed in the birds at Pella.

Tony Maniaty

Novelist, journalist and photographer

What did working as a foreign correspondent teach you about travel?

Travelling as a correspondent is less about places than people, whether they be factory workers or heads of state. I’ve reported from more than 20 countries, and interviewed thousands of people, so travel has shaped both my view of humanity and the person I’ve become. What have I learned? That defining people by nationalities is not a good idea. You learn to take people as they come, wherever you find yourself in the world.

What textures, colours and shapes do you look for as a photographer? Are there certain places that inspire you?

As a starting point, I studiously avoid grand monuments, famous shrines – anywhere that tourists are likely to be. Whenever I land in a town or city, I head straight for the backstreets: small eateries, half-lit bars, interesting people.

I find I can be anywhere on the planet and still discover fresh material for my photography and writing. I tend to find meaning in things and places that others might dismiss. I’m always ready and hoping for the unexpected.

How important is travel to you in the creative process?

I nearly always travel with a creative purpose or project in mind. Lying on a beach doing absolutely nothing is not for me, I’m very much a city person. Even though I travel widely, Athens remains my favourite destination. It’s where my creative juices and Greek soul really come alive. I spent two months there in 2020, photographing my series depicting immigrants from around the world determined to make a new start in an ancient land.

What is one of your most memorable travel experiences and why?

In the 1970s, driving at night from Athens to London, I turned down a dirt track outside Belgrade to find somewhere grassy and flat for my sleeping bag. I was close to dreaming when I woke to a distant roar, growing louder. Strong lights were heading straight towards me, and as a jumbo jet screamed overhead, the updraft almost sucked me into the sky. I’d camped at the end of the main runway of Belgrade International Airport! This was travel before GPS and Google maps came to our rescue …