Invited by a formerly estranged friend to write about her enigmatic new artwork for an upcoming show, an unnamed narrator makes the journey from Brisbane to Baltimore hoping to make sense of things both past and present. Following the strange logic of a Mbius strip, Thomas's debut grapples with the question of how to move through the world when one's sense of self is suddenly and fundamentally fractured. Recalling the early work of poet-novelist Paul Auster, and coupled with rare vulnerability, humour and great charm, Exhibition Text is a deeply layered investigation into the nature of self, reality, art and perception. Thomas magically balances contemporary anxiety and a deep existential curiosity to conjure moments of radiant insight and a profound, very human beauty in a debut that will quickly establish Thomas as a unique and essential voice among the emerging generation of Australian writers of experimental fiction.
Originally from Philadelphia, D. Frederick Thomas is a Brisbane-based Australian writer and artist whose work has appeared in publications such as Fence, Heavy Feather Review and Island. In 2023, Thomas's collection Work Poems was shortlisted for the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize.
D. Frederick Thomas, Exhibition Text
October 2024. 129mm x 198mm. 96pp.
ISBN 978-1-925735-73-4
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.