#1 I spent 6.5 years studying architecture over a period of 15 years. All my building designs were organic, sculptural forms .. more like inhabitable sculptures. (B.Architecture 2005, B.Sc(Architecture) 1992).
#2 I changed my name to Orly in 2019. I didn’t hate my old name (Charmaine) but it was long to spell out, meaningless, and people always spelt it wrong. I chose Orly, a Hebrew name meaning ‘my light’, because it was short, meaningful, and it represented ‘closing the circle’ from C to O. I had a lot of ‘ego’ tied up with the name ‘Charmaine’ and ‘Orly’ feels like my spirit name.
#3 I wrote a Lesson a Day on the Medium platform for over two months at the start of 2022. I made it my focus while I was ‘unemployed’ and I LOVED it. It’s been stalled lately but I’m up to Lesson #75.
#4 in 2006, when my son was three months old, I created a huge sculpture,‘Vortex’, for Sculpture by the Sea Bondi. The sculpture was on Tamarama beach for the two week exhibition and thousands of people walked (and crawled) through it. It felt like a miracle (as did Joey) and – it was.
#5 in 2015, lost and despairing, I designed and proposed ‘Cloudscape’ for Sculpture by the Sea. This ambitious concept combines sculpture and public space. The piece was accepted but is yet to be built. Creating this sculpture has been a driving force for me to heal and connect with others. This piece is about bringing people together, in a spirit of play, to experience new perspectives. I would love one to be built on the border between Israel and Palestine as a gesture of peace, hope and reconnection.
#6 I spent 11 days in a police cell in Okinawa, experiencing another side of Japan, during which Lady Diana died. I stayed in Japan eight more months, training in karate and meditation, studying Japanese culture, traveling, and teaching English.
#7 The Berlin Wall came down on my 19th birthday, two weeks after I’d hitchhiked out of Berlin, and the day I flew into Cairo. I’d been in conversation with local medical students, discussing the Wall, with no sense of hope things would change. I travelled into East Berlin three weeks before the wall came down and there was no sense of change there either. Big things happen fast.
#8 When I was a kid I was SUPER religious. I was a devoted Roman Catholic thanks to my primary school and my desire for a sense of meaning. God was on my side and I was powerful and confident. Then, when I was 13, I gave up on God and lost most of my power.
#9 As a kid I was disconnected from the natural world. I didn’t even notice the moon. I sought a sense of connection in my architecture studies with ‘organic’, biomorphic buildings.
These days aligning with the moon and dips in the ocean help me to feel most connected.
#10 I moved to Darwin at age 22 and proceeded to see all of Australia – by car, bus, bicycle, foot and motorbike. I believe our 20’s are a special time and Darwin will always be a special place for me.
