Publisher: Co-Publishing, ISBN: 9780645052220, Editors: Josephine Mead and Christine McFetridge, Format: Softback with jacket
Co-Publishing publishes Australian literary and visual arts practices, poetic research, and critical arts writing. For issue two, ‘Water’, the editors wanted to acknowledge their deep respect for Country and, specifically, the Birrarung (Yarra River), which flows through the City of Yarra in Melbourne.
Works in the issue explores notions, metaphors and qualities of water, through poetic, essayistic and photographic investigations. Contributors include Jody Haines, Ellen van Neervan, Amaara Raheem, Chantelle Mitchell, Ender Başkan, COLLIDER, Izzy Brown, Craig McGrath and Timmah Ball.
Lovingly designed by artist and designer Rebecca McCauley, the printed artefact draws from features of water, such as its fluidity and the ways it reflects light. The issue includes an opaque paper dust jacket that gives the impression of looking through water. Additionally, the colour combination, gold and pink, was a deliberate decision to avoid too direct a comparison to waterways, and is instead a reference to other colours present within the landscape: algae, clay and silt.
Co- is an experimental publishing house based on Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri woi-wurrung Country. Co- was founded by Christine McFetridge and Josephine Mead in 2020, with the ethos of delivering diverse Australian literary and visual arts practices, poetic research, and critical arts writing.