Desert Lake is a book combining artistic; scientific and Indigenous views of a striking region of north-western Australia. Paruku is the place that white people call Lake Gregory. It is Walmajarri land; and its people live on their Country in the communities of Mulan and Billiluna.This is a story of water. When Sturt Creek flows from the north; it creates a massive inland Lake among the sandy deserts. Not only is Paruku of national significance for waterbirds; but it has also helped uncover the past climatic and human history of Australia. Parukus cultural and environmental values inspire Indigenous and other artists; they define the place as an enduring home; and have led to its declaration as an Indigenous Protected Area. The Walmajarri people of Paruku understand themselves in relation to Country; a coherent whole linking the environment; the people and the Law that governs their lives. These understandings are encompassed by the Waljirri or Dreaming and expressed through the songs; imagery and narratives of enduring traditions. Desert Lake is embedded in this broader vision of Country and provides a rich visual and cross-cultural portrait of an extraordinary part of Australia.
#2597215 in eBooks 2013-03-04 2013-03-04File Name: B00BPBHW4A
Review
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Very confusing...By fred stevensI wanted to like this book; as I thoroughly enjoyed Susan Sontags photography book; and I thought it would be interesting to read something critical of her book; a different take; but... I have no idea what this book was about; and after reading it; I couldnt tell you one main point. I almost hate to criticize this book; because perhaps it is really deep and thoughtful and just way over my head; and I had a really hard time following any of it or staying interested; so maybe I wasnt the most careful reader. I do think; however; that when an author resorts to putting so many words in italics; as if that gives these words extra weight; more meaning; then maybe; just maybe; that authors thoughts arent fully developed and they are not being presented clearly.9 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Nothing more than a half-baked; maybe even hypocritical; defense of EvansBy Brian S. CarrollThis book should really be titled "Why Walker Evans Matters" as Thompson spends such a significant portion defending his former employer (even the dust jacket reminds us Thompson worked as Evanss principal assistant for a short spell). Thompson decries the aphoristic; footnote-less; modernist style of all earlier writings on photography; saving his most pointed criticisms for Susan Sontag. Thompson mentions how Sontags own critical hang-ups with Evans appeared while the late photographer was still living; yet Thompson; in a cruel irony; hasnt reserved this same methodology for Sontags words. In the latter sections of the work; Thompson trudges forth as Evans mandated apologist; completely avoiding addressing Sontags most intriguing complaints of Evans (and others) that she pushes in both On Photography and Regarding the Pain of Others; that is; the major issues of the uncaptioned portrait; images that deny subject identity (such as in Evanss Subway Portraits). Indeed; one could argue Thompsons book is intended to merely advance the conversation; extend the dialogue even further and that such reactionary commentary would detract from the overall goal. The problem with this defense; however; is that Thompson already attacks Sontag for her brand of sweeping rhetoric; a picking-and-choosing of her acerbic discourse; and in the end has engaged in such sour behaviors himself. Certainly questioning Sontags long-canonization is needed and fruitful; Thompson just chooses to do so in a very unsatisfactory and embarrassingly incomplete manner. In other parts of the scant work; Thompson offers a few readings of Atget; Winograd; and Marcia Due which are all extremely pedestrian (the foregrounding trees here mean this; this distant subjects clothing may say that) and focus so painfully on simple; formalistic elements. In exerting a half-baked notion on "truth" on these texts; Thompson extends his great disservice. Thompson purports his work of that of a philosopher yet he avoids employing any ample; amplified "rigorous thinking;" as Heidegger would say (a thinker that Thompson relegates to a single footnote of a minor Heidegger work; completely avoiding his more significant essays on art; or Being). Again; seemingly in a defense against Evans; Thompsons hypocritically sweeping gesture casts off discussions of the ethics of exploitation in photography (perhaps the only reference to Sontag; and others; valid critiques); as if such conversations are stale and outmoded. However; if hes seeking a sort of ontological truth; it would have behooved Thompson to engender more thinking here; not just with the thoughts of Heidegger; but those too of Levinas and Irigaray; powerful thinkers that advance important thoughts on ethical relationships to the Other and how engaging in such vigor leads to an authenticity of being. The closest Thompson gets here is in his (too brief) look at a single Winograd image; offering some undercooked ideas regarding dialectics between subject and operator; but Thompson fails here; as in many places throughout the book; to follow these thinking-threads deeper along their paths to disclosure. It would be unfair to call Thompsons book mean-spirited; of course; but the brevity-as-profundity technique is just a masked laziness; and this makes it practically just as offensive.5 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Just okBy Donald G. StantonThe author does not make his point clearly.At points he seems to go off in different directions and does not make it all the way back.