Berlinde De Bruyckere
In the Flesh
By Alexandra Coghlan
A photo of an embroidered cushion is pinned to the wall: “I have been to hell and back,” the cushion reads, “and let me tell you, it was wonderful.” Nearby, a severed arm lies carelessly on a windowsill, while through the window – among the family debris of a treehouse and trampoline – a torso transforms an upturned crate into a makeshift butcher’s block. Even the dog chews on s
Homing Truths
By Cate Kennedy
Craig and Jarrod Boord are in their studio showing me footage of their film, Fast, Feathered and Fearless – a full-length feature documentary about pigeon racing.Onscreen, a middle-aged man is standing in front of a pigeon loft. “My name is Carlo Napolitano,” he says proudly, absently stroking a pigeon. “I race racing pigeons. Her Majesty the Queen of England’s racing pigeons.” We
The States of the Nation
By David Malouf
It had of course, in history and in the history books, and we had a constitution to prove it, but not in the many places where Australians actually live: in Cunnamulla or Queenstown or Port Hedland, and not in those even more numerous places, the hearts of those of us who, without hesitation or doubt, call ourselves Australians, and have a vivid sense of what the country itself is, but in our daily lives, and in the place where our feel
