Ben Apfelbaum

SYDNEY FESTIVAL : THE AIR BETWEEN US

It was unfortunate that this show was only scheduled for six performances between the 20th and 22nd January 2023., on the Tallawoladah Lawn in front of the Museum Of Contemporary Art.

The Sydney Festival invited this troupe from New Zealand and it was unfortunate that this Open Air aerialist performance was washed out by rain.

I made two attempts to view it and luckily for me the rain held off for the last of their productions to continue.

The show was devised by Rodney Bell who was paralysed from the chest down after a motorcycle accident in 1991.

Fortunately he saw that his wheelchair could be used as the vehicle for dance if  it is lifted in to the air. In a remarkable feat of strength and artistry he spins through the air in a balletic duet with  his dance partner Chloe Loftus.

The show had its genesis in 2018 when Bell met Chloe and her husband Tim when they suspended a rope between two sturdy trees by a river bank.

I overheard that the Company were thrilled when they found out that they were performing within sight of the Sydney Opera House.

After the show Rodney was swarmed by fans wanting to take selfies or shake his hand in congratulations.

This was a very moving show that demonstrated that despite having a disability you could do what appeared to be something impossible. It was perhaps fitting that a few days later tennis champion and television personality Dylan Alcott was to retire as Australian Of The Year.

Text and photos by Ben Apfelbaum

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.