I should probably admit that I do not even like sport. I know that probably sounds un Australian, but it is true. I have always struggled to understand how billions of dollars, endless attention and entire weekends disappear into watching other people chase a ball around while artists, musicians, writers and makers often fight over the scraps left on the table. Maybe that is unfair. Maybe sport brings people together and gives them something bigger than themselves. But part of me also sees it as one of the great mass distractions ever invented, a giant shiny thing designed to keep attention pointed somewhere else.
The funny thing is social media ended up becoming exactly the same thing. Different technology, same basic mechanism. Keep people entertained. Keep them arguing. Keep them distracted. Keep them scrolling. Keep them busy enough that they never stop long enough to ask who is benefiting from all this attention and where all the money is actually flowing.
That is what the stadium represents to me in this image. Not sport itself, but attention. The giant spotlight where money, power and influence tend to gather. The old ruined building behind me represents something different. It represents craftsmanship. It represents time. It represents human beings spending years learning how to make something beautiful. The sort of things society claims to value right up until it is time to pay for them.
Andy C Marshall 