A watercolour unique state version of my drypoint print The Mental State/Lamb of God (2023). A unique state is a one-off art piece because the artist changes the print by applying other media such as paint or gold leaf. As with the print, the theme is the same, and I did a post about this a while ago. The colour changes the meaning for me. I uploaded this print because the colours felt unworldly, like a prayer.

I was reminded with all the stories around the Indo-Pacific and naval activities of some artworks from my 1992 solo exhibition Dualities. I was 24 and they have that graphic style from the era as I was doing graphic design back then before I discovered paint and canvas. It is the same theme, starting with dry pastel on paper in very vivid colours (1). All titled the same, Ship of Fools. This first image was actually the last incarnation. I started off with some pen and ink cross hatch drawings (3), the theme then evolved into an etching/aquatint on cotton rag (2).

In this article of Volume 9, #2, 2023 of Routledge London journal Critical Military Studies, I share my experience of using William Blake’s 1793 poem America a Prophecy as a lens to explore the mythic, subconscious and literary constructions of military interventions in the Indo-Pacific with my 2021 painting ‘Australia a Prophecy’ & a 2000 word essay.