comic by terry bag
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White Fungus Reviewed At Lumiere Reader
Reviewed by Thomasin Sleigh
THE RECENT White Fungus is a big box of words. Good words. All arranged well and clearly and in tidy lines for ease of reading. It is great to see this publication reach issue number ten given the difficulties involved in sustaining niche publications in New Zealand. Part of its charm I guess is that White Fungus isn’t that ‘niche’ and actually caters to many tastes – Issue 10 includes poetry, prose, political critique, page works, historical snippets, art criticism and a tasty little run down on the 300BC cynic Diogenes to finish. Like a Greek after dinner mint.
The first article of White Fungus is often the best. This issue starts with a sensationalist story of early zoological collecting in colonial New Zealand. It is a deft account of the intrepid amateur zoologists who trekked around New Zealand in the mid 1800s hunting for remnants of the mythical bird, ‘the moa’. The story has a pleasing arc to it, and is made all the more potent by the almost stereotypical characters described by writer Terry Bag. There is the evil scientist back in England bent on fame and fortune who lies, schemes and belittles his colleagues. To balance the scales there is also the earnest, dedicated zoologist who faithfully retains specimens sent back to him from his son tramping around the wilds of New Zealand. It’s riveting stuff, a science soap opera with interesting conflations of fact, science, colonialist ideology and mythology.
Other highlights include some pointedly grotesque page works by Judy Darragh. Common visual tropes – a black panther, a naked woman, a still life of food – have been coated by the artist in trickles of twinky paint which pool and obscure the images. I was reminded of Dan Arps’ similarly subversive posters in recent shows; suggestive takes on romantic urban signs.
Read the rest at Lumiere Reader: http://lumiere.net.nz/reader/arts.php/item/2082
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