writing
notes on anzac day
overland literary journal, may 2018
Through its morbid religiosity and nationalist fervour, the Anzac narrative insulates itself against the intrusion of historical accuracy. If the foundations of Anzac Day are demonstrably baseless, we must then consider the cultural function – and identify the beneficiaries – of its enduring emotional architecture.
A short despatch from the garden of the generalissimos
runway Journal, issue 35, december 2017
It would be difficult to contrive a more perfect parody of the autocrat, or expose more persuasively the relationship between power and place. Although Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park is promoted as a respectful homage it is, quietly, a dissident masterpiece of consummate irony.
In Defence of a desecration
meanjin quarterly, National accounts essay, spring 2017
In the ‘defaced’ statue we are presented with a perfect cultural intersection: two forms of public art, diametric in their opposition, competing for civic space and over the historical record.