Ghost Stories: Review of Ross Gibson's The Summer Exercises

Abstract

Back 
in 
1986, 
Ross 
Gibson
 was 
interviewed 
in
 Filmnews 
by
 Adrian
 Martin 
and
Tina
 Kaufman
 about
 his
 experimental
 short
 essay
 film
 Camera
 Natura
 (1984). Accompanying
 that
 interview
 was
 a
 photo
 of
 Gibson
 ‘on
 location’
 for
 his
 film,
 wearing
 a
 hat
 not
 unlike
 the
 one
 that
 features
 on
 the
 cover
 of
 his
 new
 book
 The
 Summer 
Exercises.
 Back 
then
 I
 understood
 the 
hat
 to 
be
 an
explorer’s,
 someone 
like
 Charles
 Sturt,
 someone
 whose
 willingness
 to
 learn
 from
 his
 environment
 had
 impressed
 Gibson
 in
 fashioning
 his
 own
 history
 of
 Australian
 landscape
 imaging.
 Now
 the
 hat
 looks
 like
 a
 detective’s
 or,
 rather,
 Marcel
 Duchamp’s
 rendering
 of
 a
 detective’s
 hat: 
on 
display,
 ready 
for
 our
 re‐consideration.