COLONY
Folding artist book, 2025
I made this work thinking about my dad, his books and the termites that ate his shed. He arrived in the (so-called) Northern Territory in 1972 as a tradie drafted into the great national hallucination of developing the north. Digging, hammering, grinding, marching to the soundtrack of “no worries mate” and “she’ll be right”. He became the story—until the story chewed him up. I offer this story, context and the knotty histories acted on by the processes of time.
These were the books I grew up with: explorer journals, settler memoirs, histories written by ‘victors.’ When the termites finish one book, they move on. I gather the remnants and photograph what’s left behind. I compiled this into an edition shaped by the idea of a rhizome—a horizontal, subterranean stem that sends out roots and shoots, surviving harsh seasons and sprouting in unexpected places. Love you dad.
Exhibited in -
sorry Dad, Conners Conners gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 15 April - 21 June, 2025.