Remembrance

(Melbourne): Masterthief, 2009. Lyssiotis, Peter and Theo Strasser. Folio. (44)pp. One of ten copies, signed by the artists, Peter Lyssiotis and Theo Strasser. An imposing work, monumental in many senses, Remembrance matches Robert Colvin's poetry with hand-painted pages and original screenprints to underscore the consequences of actions, especially those by the military. It demands a closer look at the language and politics of "liberation," questioning who truly benefits from acts of war. Colvin's post-apocalyptic verses and Lyssiotis and Strasser's dark illustrations dispel the rosy nostalgia with which history often urges us to view itself. Those in power present outcomes as successful, consequential suffering as tragic or necessary, but Remembrance challenges what we remember and what we memorialize, asserting that losses—of life, of livelihoods, of rights—far outweigh narrow political gains. Lyssiotis is a Cypriot/Australian photographer and photomonteur who uses original and altered imagery to address issues of alienation and division. His artist's books, often produced in collaboration with Strasser, embrace the raw, painful underbelly of civilization, forcing the viewer into a discomfort with what they often take for granted. Bound in full tan cloth with the title printed on the front cover, and hand-painted endpapers by Strasser. Fine.