Produced in the form of a clam shell box, Possession - Dispossession 'began with the painted book. The text is extracts from William Bradley's journal (A Voyage to New South Wales.). Bradley was one of the officers on the first fleet under the command of Arthur Phillip, which arrived in what is now known as Sydney Harbour in January 1788. Their intention was to establish a convict colony. Bradley was involved with the surveying of the harbour. In essence this surveying, seemingly harmless, was key in the process of possession and dispossession. The box is essentially a trompe l'oeil suggesting a particular reality but revealing another' (Monica Oppen, Bibliotheca Librorum apud Artificem catalogue).
