Stephen J. Williams

Category: Recent posts

  • Letter to the Australian Human Rights Commission

    … in support of the Lesbian Action Group

    → Restore the impartiality of the AHRC (open letter and list of signatories, archived)

    page 1
    page 2
    page 3

  • 20th anniversary of the publication of Joyce Lee’s collected works

    This year is the twentieth anniversary of my publication of Joyce Lee’s It is nearly dark when I come to the Indian Ocean, her collected works 1965–2003. Lee died in 2007.

    Joyce Lee [photograph, 1993]
    Joyce Lee [photograph, 1993] by Stephen J. Williams

    I was and still am proud that this life’s work of another writer continues to be available — with the help of the National Library of Australia’s TROVE.

    —Stephen J. Williams

    View the book on TROVE

  • Protected: Thought experiment

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  • Three digital collages (20220722)

    • Women, be still while we make some adjustments (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
      Women, be still while we make some adjustments (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
    • Follow the money (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
      Follow the money (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
    • BE you (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
      BE you (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
    Women, be still while we make some adjustments (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
    Follow the money (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams
    BE you (digital collage, 20220722) Stephen J. Williams

  • 2 drawings: ‘An arrangement’ and ‘The dancing plague’ (pencil and digital collage, 20220625)

    An arrangement (pencil, 20220625) Stephen J. Williams
    An arrangement (pencil, 20220625) Stephen J. Williams
    The dancing plague (pencil and digital collage, 20220625) Stephen J. Williams
    The dancing plague (pencil and digital collage, 20220625) Stephen J. Williams

  • He won’t say what he’s thinking (pencil and charcoal, 20220619)

    He won't say what he's thinking (pencil and charcoal, 20220619) Stephen J. Williams
    He won’t say what he’s thinking (pencil and charcoal, 20220619) Stephen J. Williams

  • Ideology of the horse

    The horse moved quietly among us in the street
 The giant head of this horse did not whinny
 There were no thoughts behind its dark eyes when I looked into them
 We talked about such horses being noble creatures but what is a virtuous horse?
 It was bred to be a working animal and therefore we imagined it was like us
 The horse moved away and climbed a hill on which there was a plinth
 When it arrived there it adopted a fighting pose
 Both forelegs tore at the grey sky
 The halo of the sun shone behind the horse’s head
 Immediately, the self-sacrificing horse jumped high into the light
 It seemed to reach a very great height
 Then, I admit I felt for a moment both sickness and fear
 (I did not want to look
 But look we all did, just in a glance)
 The horse’s thick neck broke awkwardly underneath its fallen body
 What was the ideology of the horse?
 What was it thinking?!
 It was tough then to look into its dead eyes