Almost for the Asking is a redaction, photographic documentation and display of Frank Debenham’s A Global Atlas; a new view of the world from space published in 1958. It explores how European traditions of knowledge keeping have removed unfavourable elements of Australia’s past from its telling.
An orange pencil has been used to highlight the words ‘almost for the asking’ and to scratch out an ‘n’ on the map - creating a geological feature called ‘The Great Dividing Ra_ge’.
A vitrine is used to frame the atlas as an artefact or relict in a museological vein, an approach at turning a colonial lens on itself.
The work was produced during a Master of Fine Art at RMIT University exploring inconsistencies in pioneer mythology and Australian identity.
