Artist Liss Fenwick has created a photobook titled 'The Colony' by feeding a collection of historical Australian novels, described as 'settler fan fiction,' to a colony of termites. The insects consumed the books over several years, leaving behind hollowed, sculptural remains that Fenwick photographed. The resulting work documents this process of organic transformation, where the physical texts are digested and reshaped.
The project serves as a powerful metaphor for critiquing colonial narratives and authority. By allowing termites to deconstruct books that promoted myths of heroic settlement and nation-building, Fenwick highlights how these imposed histories can be undone. The work suggests alternative, non-human forms of knowledge and intelligence, contrasting imported colonial worldviews with enduring Aboriginal systems of knowing tied to the land.