1 Louisa Bufardeci, 30/06/2012, 9 °3′23.48″S 110 °19′59.83″E, from the series The sea between A and I, wool, fibreglass screen, 564 × 348mm, 2014–15 2
2 Louisa Bufardeci, 24/07/2013, 8 °6′18.98″S 108 °19′39.31″E, from the series The sea between A and I, wool, fibreglass screen, 610 × 483mm, 2014–15 2
3 Tacking with my daughter Gena (March 2020). Photo: Dan St Clair 17
4 Kay Abude, POWER, 2019, hand silkscreen on linen, rasant thread, cotton bias binding, cotton and polyester Herringbone tape—artworks performed by artists of colour and their family members on the opening night of the exhibition at Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, dimensions variable. Photo: Bryony Jackson 59
5 megan evans, still from What it’s Like to be White, video, 2018 92
6 Screenshot of megan evans’ Instagram comment (21 April 2021) 96
7 Tacking with my daughter Gena (March 2020). Photo: Dan St Clair 107
8 James R. Murphy showing a string figure, 1986. Photo: Jeff Wang 109
9 Illustrations from c.1500 of the use of knotted string for medical purposes. Quipus and Witches’ Knots: The Role of the Knot in Primitive and Ancient Cultures by Cyrus Lawrence Day, published by the University Press of Kansas © 1967. www.kansaspress.ku.edu. Part of the Kansas Open Books: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/kansasopenbooks/ 115
10 Heraklas’s “four-loop plinthios” and “The Sun Clouded Over” an Australian Aboriginal figure. Quipus and Witches’ Knots: The Role of the Knot in Primitive and Ancient Cultures by Cyrus Lawrence Day, published by the University Press of Kansas © 1967. www.kansaspress.ku.edu. Part of the Kansas Open Books: https://kansaspress.ku.edu/kansasopenbooks/ 116
11 Mulkun Wirrpanda, Minhala (Long-necked tortoise) 2013, soft-ground etching on paper, 49.3 × 49.2 cm (plate), 78.6 × 68.1 cm (irregular sheet) 123
12 Harry Smith, Installation view Harry Smith: String Figures, Cabinet, Brooklyn NY, 19 September–3 November 2012 124
13 Vera Frenkel, Rehearsal for String Games: Improvisations for Inter-City Video (Montréal-Toronto), in front of 15 Dance Lab on George St. in Toronto, 1974. Left to right: Tom Stiffler, Ellen Maidman, Julia Grant, Tom Graham, Miriam Adams, Michael Brodsky 126
14 Maureen Lander & John Fairclough, Digital String Games II, 2000 (installation view) interactive digital installation 127
15 The Crab 131
16 First position 131
17 Second step of Opening A 132
18 Apache Door 134
19 Nasser Mufti, Multispecies Cat’s Cradle, 2011 138
20 Kerrie Poliness, Blue Wall Drawing #1 (under construction), 2007, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne 140
21 Tacking to reach land upwind. Illustration by author 145
22 Sam Petersen, Wee, 2020, plasticine on existing windows, dimensions variable 151
23 Mike Parr, Cathartic action: social gestus No. 5 1977, (performance photograph), Sculpture Centre, The Rocks, Sydney, 1977. Photo: John Delacour 154
24 Renee Gladman, Prose Architectures, 2017, ink on paper 156