i. CNR PIPER ST SOUTH & TRAFALGAR ST
the trailing end of november is filled with
medical appointments followed by house
parties hosted by mates who live around
the corner from my doctor whose practice
is heritage listed thus preventing her from
putting in a ramp unlike my mates who are
prevented from putting in a ramp by their
landlord who explains that complying with
the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992
would be a source of unjustifiable hardship
ii. YOUNG ST PAST WISDOM ST
on the journey home from physiotherapy
my Gamilaroi neighbour sees me struggling
says you want a hand? yeah i say flustered
fold my handles up so he can gently guide
me backwards off the barrier curb his arms
are strong you good? he asks yeah thanks i
got it from here! – i don’t – after trundling
across the street i find a dearth of curb cuts
on the opposite side also & resign myself to
several minutes of public embarrassment he
notices & rushes over to help saying nothing
of the bright blush hotly rising on my cheeks
i am terribly grateful for his tactful silence &
for the fact that when i am safely grounded on
level pavement he says again you good? as if
it is the first time he has said it & when i say
yeah thanks i’m good – he nods & lets me go
iii. DALGAL WAY, NR TRAMSHEDS
i used to bike down here back when i could ride
a bike before the area became a favourite haunt
of hipsters & dickheads sipping Early Grey gin
back in my day the area was already gentrifying
but at least we didn’t listen to live ukulele bands
i have a better set of wheels these days & the bike
tracks have been repaved & given names. dalgal
means mussel in Dharawal dialect as recorded by
William Dawes as told to him by Patyegarang who
in 1790 was told that if she washed herself enough
she would become white – to which she replied
Tyerabárrbowaryaou: I shall never become white
iv. RESERVE ST
this street was infamous once – i used to call it
the obstacle course & everyone walking down
with me knew why: paving stones broken to shit
by the lashing roots of gum trees ripping through
a street already too steep for comfort & scattering
stray twigs leafy debris the occasional treacherous
gumnut & not a single decent curb cut to speak of.
nobody else could push me down that road. it had
to be navigated alone. wheeling hand on rim gave
me perfect control over the tiniest of movements
though i swear i nearly died a dozen times on that
hellish stretch the challenge was exhilarating until
one day suddenly the whole lot had been repaved
v. CNR CATHERINE ST & THORBY AVE
in summer my sister & i race madly down the
road to the local bottle-o prompted by urgent
alcoholic drought eight minutes to closing time
two minutes of which are eaten up heaving me
over the threshold like some cumbersome bride
in a fairytale lacking universal design. the lone
cashier’s face falls & i tell him We’ll be quick
while my sister dashes downstairs following a
sign that reads ↓BEER THIS WAY↓ leaving me
to linger at the till uncomfortably aware that i
am dangerous in this space walled in by towers
of precariously stacked discount wine i am the
bull in the bottleshop Asterion in the labyrinth
so i pretend to be very interested in a bottle of
thirty dollar rosé called Cockfighter’s Ghost &
wait for my sister to grab a sixpack of dreadful
cider & a packet of Winfield menthols so we can
get the fuck out of here. on our way back home
traversing broken pavement littered with broken
glass i see someone has abandoned a cork from
an expensive bottle of champagne in the gutter
- 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