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Rod Moss Rod Moss i(A78620 works by)
Born: Established: 1948 Ferntree Gully, Ferntree Gully area, Melbourne - East, Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
Heritage: Australian
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BiographyHistory

Rod Moss artist and writer, grew up in Melbourne. At the age of 20 he was dispatched to teach in the remote Mallee town of Ouyen, south of Mildura, it was his first separation from the city. It was during the 1980s that Moss had traveled to the Pilbara and to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. It was his experiences, and relationship with Indigenous remote communities that had informed his art. (Source: UQP website; Rod Moss website).

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Rod Moss is a painter and writer based in Alice Springs.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon One Thousand Cuts : Life and Art in Central Australia St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2013 6733503 2013 single work single work biography

'Thirty years ago Rod Moss made his home in the stark beauty of Australia’s Centre. Since then, his place in Alice Springs and the traditional lands of the Arrernte has been deepened by his enduring intimacy with the families of Whitegate camp on the town’s eastern fringe.'

'In this frank and powerful illustrated memoir, Moss gently uncovers the places where his own family and art intersect with the lives of those in the Whitegate mob. The closely connected Hayes, Johnson, Ryder and Neil families consider Moss one of their own and, through them, Moss shows us the majesty of the land, the necessity of story, the intensity of kin, the madness of violence, the tenderness of friendship, and the rhythm of grief.'

'One Thousand Cuts continues where Moss’s highly acclaimed first book left off – this time in pictures as much as words. Through Moss’s moving stories and his stunning paintings and photographs, we share in and celebrate his everyday life with the Whitegate mob, including their fight for a standard of living that is basic to most Australians.' (Source: Inside dustcover)

2014 shortlisted Territory Read Book of the Year Chief Minister's Book of the Year Award
y separately published work icon The Hard Light of Day : An Artist's Story of Friendships in Arrernte Country St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2010 Z1688695 2010 single work autobiography

'Two years after artist Rod Moss arrived in Alice Springs to teach painting, he met an Indigenous couple who had set up camp in the gully beside his flat. Over the next twenty-five years, his friendship with Xavier and Petrina Neil and the friendships that grew from it with the families of Whitegate, an Arrernte camp on the outskirts of town, would nourish and challenge Moss beyond his imagining.

'The Hard Light of Day offers a rare insight into the reality of life in the Centre, from the contours of the MacDonnell Ranges and the textures and sounds of Arrernte culture, to the endemic violence, alcoholism and ill-health that continue to devastate Aboriginal lives. In recalling the relationships and experiences that have shaped his life and work in Alice Springs, Moss reveals the human face behind the statistics and celebrates the enriching, transformative power of friendship.

'Illustrated with Moss's evocative paintings and photographs, The Hard Light of Day is an incredible journey into a world never shown in the mainstream media, and an artist's chronicle of the moments that have inspired him.' (From the publisher's website.)

2011 winner Prime Minister's Literary Awards Non-Fiction
2011 winner Territory Read Book of the Year Chief Minister's Book of the Year Award
Last amended 3 Dec 2013 13:52:52
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