You can read the whole review – it’s a very well constructed review of the book by Sue Thomas.
For me, it is the first time I have drawn images for a book and am really pleased that Phil Smith says:
Perhaps it is not possible, nor critically productive, to clearly distinguish between life and its representations, particularly in a domain that “does not actually exist”. Indeed, that ambiguity (captured in Carolyn Black’s illustrations) may be far more important than problematical; navigable mostly by aesthetic rather than biological or technological lights, and therein there may be a problem for the book, because the aesthetics here are Romantic and this has consequences for its cultural positioning.
I’m not sure I agree that the aesthetics of the book are Romantic. My images may be – they were not intended as ‘illustrations’ but as provocations or illuminations. I hope they haven’t affected how people read the book content, which goes much deeper than the Romantic.
The image below is for Chapter 6 – Living Deliberately. The landscape is Tatton Park, the house depicted the classic image of Thoreau’s dwelling at Walden. All of the images use a hand drawn chalk drawing for the laptop and photos taken by me as the ‘nature’ that frmames the technology. They also frame each other – they are relational.
I recently saw Phil perform at b-side Resonant Terrains symposium and really enjoyed his blend of memory, future and imaginings.
Carolyn Black 