Art & Design for Mother's Day
How to Cut an Orange by Zoë Croggon & edited by Justine Ellis, Ash Holmes & Dan Rule
Readings Carlton art and design buyer Zoë Croggon is a person of many talents. Not only does she expertly curate our art and design list, she is a celebrated artist in her own right, working across multiple forms including dance, drawing, sculpture and collage. Her new book, How to Cut an Orange, draws on each of these disciplines along with the literary, and provides a deeply evocative insight into what it is to be in the world. Croggon plays with form and presents a book that at once feels tightly choreographed, but also delightfully abstract. The collages sit alongside an essay by fellow Carlton shop staff member, and young poet Samantha Abdy, as well as a selection of poems by Alison Croggon, Zoë’s mother and acclaimed critic and author, making this work deeply personal but anchored in such a way that is universal.
Zoë's picks
Klimt Landscapes by Janis Staggs
Known primarily for his opulent portraits and so often condemned to the cruel fate of the tea towel design, this vibrant exhibition catalogue by Janis Staggs offers a different perspective on the painting of Gustav Klimt. For the last twenty years of his career Klimt devoted himself to painting ornate, exquisitely detailed landscapes of the Austrian countryside, purely for his own pleasure. Published alongside the eponymous exhibition currently on show at the Neue Galerie New York, this lavish monograph illuminates the quieter work of this colossal artist. A shimmering beauty of a book.
Modern Heritage by Cameron Bruhn
Modern Heritage is the latest offering from one of Australia’s leading architectural scholars, Cameron Bruhn. Following on from MMXX and The New Queensland House, Bruhn shifts his attention to Australian interwar houses built from the 1920s to the 1940s, which synthesise stylistic elements of Spanish Mission, Art Deco, Mediterranean, Old English, and more. Bruhn surveys twenty heritage homes imbued with warmth, character and history, asking how we respectfully accommodate a contemporary lifestyle in the legacy of these idiosyncratic architectural gems.
Cape to Bluff: A Survey of Residential Architecture from Aotearoa New Zealand by Simon Devitt, Andrea Stevens & Luke Scott
Cape to Bluff is a fresh survey of new residential architecture from Aotearoa New Zealand. This lush and comprehensive publication highlights the microclimate of Aotearoa, showcasing structures that are built in response to, and in harmony with their environment. Featuring sublime photography by Simon Devitt, essays by Andrea Stevens and design by Luke Scott, Cape to Bluff illustrates a new philosophy in architecture that is poetic, sustainable and in symbiosis with the land.
Featuring the work of thirty of Aotearoa’s leading architects, with several structures never before seen in public, Cape to Bluff presents the new frontier of Aotearoan architecture.
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot's Russia edited by Maria Alyokhina
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia is a comprehensive overview of the last decade of feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Formed in Moscow in 2011, the group have sought to expose the authoritarianism of the Russian state, shining a light on political imprisonment, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions, repeated political poisonings, invasive surveillance and dissident punishment, to name a few. Edited by Maria Alyokhina, member and cofounder of the feminist-activist performance collective, this publication captures the raw energy of Pussy Riot’s performances and the harsh realities of dissent in Putin’s Russia.
