The Sydney Report
Hello everyone,
Today I’m writing to you from the backyard of my girlfriend’s cousin. I’m staying here while working on our next book We Were Just Little Boys, with the artist Tace Stevens.
This is a complex book - following ~40 older Indigneous men who are the last remaining survivors of Kinchela Boy’s Home - a residential school that was part of the Stolen Generation. Tace has done an excellent job of photographing all the surviving Uncles, as well as making significant recordings of the Boy’s Home (which still stands to this day).
For folks reading from overseas, the Stolen Generation is the name given to all the actions, policies and laws white Australia created to destroy Indigenous Australia. Most famously, Indigenous children were taken away from parents, moved to a different part of the country, forbidden from talking in any language other than English, beaten up constantly and taught to be white, not black.
The Uncles all talk about their experiences openly, often saying that sharing with people helps them heal.
It’s a very heavy topic, and also an important one. As a publisher, these topics are ones I feel obliged to respond to - finding ways to bring these stories to a wider audience and share how contemporary artists are working with older generations to create compelling work that continues the healing process.
So that’s the topic the next book is about, but what, exactly, am I doing here?
Well when we agreed to make the book, I pitched to Tace we could perhaps include some handwriting or art work from the Uncles. I was thinking of works by Jim Goldberg, Wendy Red Star and others - where folks that have collaborated with the photographer have the opportunity to add to the prints, add their own voice, in their own words and hand. We want to try and make sure that the book doesn’t just communicate a story, but brings the people at the heart of the story to the audience - in a very clear and personable way.
We’re also making a short film about the making of the book. We were lucky to receive some funding to make this - and a film-maker will be following us from today for the next few days - showing how we work to turn a big intense story, with a lot of community input, into a compelling book. We’re looking forward to sharing that in July :)
On Sunday I start the drive from the coast of NSW to the desert. It’s a 14h slog and I’ll do it in two parts. But from Monday next week I’m in full dingo mode - hanging out in Broken Hill, meeting Dingo advocates, farmers, ecologists and spending time along the Dingo Proof Fence. Earlier this year I made the decision to delay that book until 2026 and I’m really happy I did. I’m feeling more confident about the work and the book it will become, and am also very grateful for the extra time to make additional photographs. I can’t wait to share with you all how it went.
Since last week’s long email about money and the future I’ve had a few really good things happen:
We had some chunky sales, not just single books but a few larger sales, a few shop orders and a bunch of workshop sales.
I also started thinking about how I want the money side of the business to mature - creating a fixed operating budget and putting guardrails on the total money held by the business - I think I’ll share that next week or the week after.
I locked in as much substitute teaching as I can before I go to Japan - so that’s just, you know, literally as much as I can do.
I was able to pay off all the outstanding bills and we’ll get to the next month owning nothing. Huge win.
I talked to some of the artists we’re publishing later in the year and, worst case, one of those books gets delayed until 2026. That, more or less, reduces all the problems I was describing. I can then just focus on working and seeing existing books sell.
I also applied for a job! There was a 2 day per week education writer job going at an organisation that creates resources for autistic students, teachers and schools. It’s 100% remote, very much within my skill set and seemed like it could be a really good addition to the income pool, especially while sorting out how to sell better.
That’s it for this week!
I hope you’re all well.
Also: fuck tariffs, they are likely going to make working with people in the USA very hard. But then, everything that guy and that government does is cursed as fuck, isn’t it?