Publisher: Art Gallery of NSW/Stolon Press, ISBN: 9781741741643, Editor: Simryn Gill, Tom Melick and Catherine de Zegher, Format: Hardcover with a 28 page full colour booklet, 420 x 300 mm, 72pp
One way to understanding clearing is as an act of removal, or erasure. In this book – produced in association with the Art Gallery of NSW as part of her commission for the Sydney Modern Project – Simryn Gill presents an alternative type of clearing that does not seek to contain and erase, but to unfold and unwrap through words and images. The words take the form of undisciplined anecdotes – the images are rough impressions, a swirling mass of photographs, drawings and photocopies.
Through Gill's essay and image sheets, and Tom Melick's caption notes, the book peels back the packaging of these objects, revelling in the cracks and creases, and revealing their complex interdependencies with the places they inhabit and each other. Catherine de Zegher's essay – a booklet within the book – elaborates on these complexities, thinking with trees as a way into Gill's practice.