of chance encounters, families, fighting

clans, gangs, Ümwelt, landowners, kinship,

totems, boredom, heavy metal, love, motivation, hunting, Unheimlich,

education, Thamarrurr, 4x4, Perrederr, distances,

tradition, superstition, frustration, wars, murder, blood, rainforest, dry air,

red sand & sun

of LAW & LORE

/chance encounters and

tracing cultural specificities in Wadeye, Australia

/Julie Vermeersch

2012-2013

“Two hypotheses about chance. One: all things are destined to meet each other, only chance makes sure this doesn’t happen. Two: all things are disorganised and unrelated, only chance allows them

to sometimes meet.”

Jean Boudrillard, Fatal strategies, 2008, p 224

‘Chance’ is a vague concept, a shadowzone that has proven to be of utmost importance in my perception of the outside world. A concept

that has been generally ridiculed or even neglected within the current, fast-consuming mindset as it doens’t necesarrily and directly generate

a return or visible result. However, it is exactly this fragile chain of unexpected events that might lead to certain unscripted situations and that might lead me on unforeseen not-premeditated voyages into the

unstable unknown.

Chance is a choice, for me. It is a valuable ingredient to my decisionmaking and a buildingblock in the development of my

personal grammatics and vocabularium. So, now I explicitly stated that ‘chance’ is my choice, this also implies that chance is more than

just ‘luck’. It is an always-present companion.

This book is the result of my uncontrolled wanderings into the very remote and recluse community of Wadeye, Australia. Be warned: don’t

expect an encyclopedical compendium or repertorium. This is not a travelogue, not a topology of the community, neither a sociological study nor antropological research. This is not a random gathering of snapshots nor a common portfolio nor an evergrowing, unedited

archive and no, it is not even a scenario.

So, what is this book, if it is none of the above?

Let’s start, after this negative onthology, after this definition of what it is not, to allow some space for something positive, to do a tracing

of what it might be... it is an emotive-impressionist gaze... a detailled representation of all impressions I capture, a mapping of the situations that I have met as an accidental passenger. It is that and that’s it. And,

within the graphical architecture of this book, I try to present and share my gaze (and that of my subject) with you in an intimate way.

This shadowzone, this open spot in the dark, is what its all about. It is a rhytmic motion through moments. An expression of my love for what I see, might have seen, feel, might have felt, for the world surrounding me and the gaze that reflects in mirrors, eyes or the

calm blueish water surface.

1

of chance encounters,

kinship, fighting clans, families, gangs,

landowners, boredom &

strange blue hues

2

of nature, habitats,

tolerance, love, education, Thamarrurr rangers, dry

communities, gangs &

living without time

3

of death, murder, grief,

cercles vicieux, resilience, heavy metal gangs

& those left behind

4

of sun, shadow, silhouettes,

Perrederr, dry air, camps, prison, dust, distances,

emptiness&

the hot red sand under our feet

5

of joy, survival, isolation,

difference, hunting, loneliness

& the heavy sky

6

of entrapment, desperation,

abandonment, architectures

& pale greens

(addendum)

of LAW & LORE

/Disposable Experiments

/A subject-reversed study in which the children experiment with disposable

camera’s to explore how they see themselves, their world and me; a game of distances.

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Text & images by Julie VermeerschGraphic design by Jan Mast @ LIGHTMACHINE agency

© 2012 2013

A Dream(e)scape Production