00-01 WATER

Water as a motionless realm is unimaginable – a dead, oppressive waste. Water gives life, but how does water affect life? How does it hold you? It is common, precious, and transmutable. It is the link and the obstacle. It is innate yet it must be contained in order to quench the thirst. Water is beyond a tangible resource. How do we make closer connections to it?

00-01 WATER is the first book of the PLATYPUS Essentials series. Each book will explore the 5 essentials – Water, Energy, Food, Shelter and Waste – through an unconventional research project (Queer Field Guide) and a curated book of emerging and prominent artists and writers. [thirsty] is the first Queer Field Guide located in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), a colonial settlement in the central desert that also happens to be the queer capital of Australia. Its counterpart [swallow] is a collection from talented artists and writers from across the continent expressing water as more-than-a-resource.

176 pages, softcover, 21 x 26 cm, Platypus Publication (Brisbane / Meanjin)