‘ART’ by Charmaine Papertalk Green and John Kinsella

Kaya everyone, welcome to #DeadlyWABookClub! Over the next three months I’ll be analysing and celebrate the writing of Aboriginal authors from Western Australia. I’ll also be sharing some essays published in the journal JASAL, to raise awareness of the big thinkers of today who are discussing and critiquing Australian literature. This is all thanks to my writer’s fellowship from ASAL/Copyright Agency - thank you! Find out more at ASAL.

ART (2022) is a stunning collaborative poetry collection by Yamaji author Charmaine Papertalk Green and non-Indigenous author John Kinsella - yet another gem from Magabala Books. The majority of the poems are reflections on the artworks of the late Shane Pickett, referencing specific pieces throughout and given titles such as ‘On the Art of Shane Pickett: A Visual Feast of Seeing’ and ‘Dazzled by Shane Pickett’s “Three Faces of the Sun” (1986)’. It is no wonder that Pickett’s art was chosen as their muse of sorts - one can’t help but be pulled into his vivid, raw paintings that is demonstrated best by the chosen cover of the novel.

If I could summarise this book in one word, it would be ALIVE.

I’ve never read a collection of poetry that jumps out at the page at me as this one does, that lives and breathes with its own voice. Perhaps it is because of its collaborative nature, that one senses the natural jumping between and sharing of dialogue between Papertalk Green and Kinsella came so comfortably and reflexively for the authors; or perhaps it is because of the way the text is so playful in its form, jumping between styles, tones and dappled throughout with imagery that makes it more than just your average poetry read.

I was particularly inspired by ‘Art Yarn' (p. 76), where Papertalk Green and Kinsella have a running conversational thread, responding to each other’s previous poem with their own. The pure magic of communal, collaborative art, that is at once art response, conversation, reflection, and finishing with an interview with Pickett’s son Trevor, makes this a very special book indeed.

Of course, beyond the form, there is the content itself, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well. Dr Jeanine Leane conveys the key theme of the collection in one sentence: ‘CPG and JK are brave enough to have the conversation that this nation has so far shied away from.’

Kinsella chooses to write about his own blindness, unknowing, sense of transience as a travelling guest on ancient Country. Papertalk Green, on the hand, stands tall with lyrical pronouncements of sovereignty and connection to her everlasting roots to her own Country:

‘I wake early to look out my kitchen window to the east

There the colours changes as do the birdsongs

Around me, and I think about my ancestors who

Would have seen the same sunrise when they woke.’

Both poets have distinct voices that offer up different perspectives on Country, yet link together in a way to demonstrate there are many common points of connection and ways of existing together in harmony, if respect can be achieved.

I would love to see more of these kinds of collaborative works between writers in future; we are stronger together, as they say, and when this phrase is viewed through an artistic lens, I wonder at the potential impact works like this could have on future readers, given the time to grow and embrace playful experimentation between diverse voices.

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Question for your next book club: What did you think Kinsella’s key message(s) were in his poems, and what were Papertalk Greens? If you put them together, do they support each other or is there conflict?

Note: If you’re interested in reading more regular book reviews for books by Aboriginal writers, I highly recommend you follow @blackfulla_bookclub on Instagram, they are fantastic!