Piazza Garibaldi (including postage)

$25.00

merrijig word & sound co.

writing/music house

 

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a smile at arm's length

digital emissions & selfie obsessions in the

landscape of 2016

poems - gregory day

etchings - jiri tibor novak

preface - a. frances johnson

design & bookbinding - sian marlow

A fine artist book in a limited edition of 12,

consisting of 9 etchings and 12 poetic texts

exploring the textures of contemporary narcissism,

with particular focus on how recent technological

forms inherit a classical and mythological lineage.

Through the acerbic intricacy of Jiri Tibor

Novak’s masterful etchings, and the lyrical ironies

of esteemed Australian writer Gregory Day,  ‘a

smile at arm’s length’ surveys the continuities and

disjunctures between the Narcissus figure of

classical mythology, the blown-hand stencils of

aboriginal Australia, and the follies and pleasures

of 21st century digital obsessions with the self-

reflected image.

 

Piazza Garibaldi

Marisa Fazio

In 1880s Marvellous Melbourne, at La Signora

X’s bordello on Crossley Lane beside current day

Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, a young Sicilian

woman, working under the name Sapphire, meets

and falls in love with an Italian artist.

Meanwhile, Ricciotti, a labourer and family man

whose station in life belies a powerful family

heritage, is suffering from sleep deprivation due to

the city’s extended heatwave. He discovers a

soothing antidote.

Set over a single summer’s day and night, Marisa

Fazio’s beguiling and lyrical novella, Piazza

Garibaldi, will forever refresh the way you see

Melbourne, Italy and colonialism.