the kayak is pounding at the rough-torn waves as though demanding to come inside, knocking at the troughs and striving to bash down through that open door, the surface of the sea; churning like a crowd, Alisa thinks with her aching shoulders throbbing as the paddle butterflies – like a subway crowd that is pushing in one great narrative but with subplots and rushes and doubts, with minor stories linking and intersecting, and she wonders if her kayak is actually moving forward or if she is caught up in this spitting, shoving crowd; will it drag her down, will it stop her from hauling the burden that trails behind her, this tiny barge stacked with the bones of smooth and sanded driftwood, this floating pyre with a low flame burning at its heart, sending up smoke like a thin scream for help? she had hoped to push it off in the morning, the silty rocks and oysters scratching at her feet, but it was as though the tide was prevaricating, holding its breath as long as it possibly could, and then the wind came up and the waves followed it and the pyre was caught on the coast like its load of grey, abandoned wood, and so Alisa had fetched a rope from the shed and hitched it to the rear of her old yellow kayak; and now she heaves at the water with this swaying raft full of burning branches, and she worries that it will overturn and the coals will be buried in the swells and the wood sent back to its grave, and even though there is no-one lying pale and cold below her load – and she is not entirely sure what loss it is that she is driving out into the ocean – when she looks back at the shoreline, all that she can see is the driftwood she has missed and left behind on the banks, fine and ghostly like strands of stiff lace, and it is clear that for all of her efforts, for all her collecting in the morning, for all her sleepless nights staring at the back of her hands clutched uselessly in front of her, she has brought nothing out here to burn and to sink and to drown.
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones