FAR EAST

Explanation

FAR EAST works by misdirection. At first the deck offers a familiar decorative language: a gold ground, black branching forms, red blossoms in the manner of East Asian lacquer and screen painting. Then the title turns the image against itself.

"Far East" is not a neutral geographical phrase. It is spoken from somewhere — a British phrase, an imperial one, which makes proximity depend on the speaker’s assumed centre. From an Australian perspective, China, Japan and wider Asia are not the edge of the world. They are the region you live in.