The memoirs
and paintings that Rod Moss has produced during the last 35 years are unique in
their dramatisation of the lives of his trusting Aboriginal family and have
been critically acclaimed nationally and internationally. In his third memoir
we follow the nurturing of the curiosity and openness that has fastened him to
the luminous power of Central Australia and its First Peoples. From the
foothills of Victoria's Dandenong Ranges and his city-based art education, we
are taken to the Mallee where he first embraces the climate most conducive to
his wellbeing. He returns to the city and is invited to participate in
Melbourne's dynamic experimental small school movement. A year is spent in the
USA studying the teachings of Armenian
philosopher George Gurdjieff in a rural community ‘Shenandoah’ farm setting.
Travel widens Moss’ perceptions and continues to pique his curiosity. A trip to
a Pilbra Indigenous community opens the door on the Aboriginal world that he
will spend the rest of his life coming to terms with.
In Crossing the Great Divide, Rod Moss
shows the reader through his formative years in 1950s and 1960s Victoria, and
through young adulthood in the 1970s. He weaves his experiences together with
sensitivity and a painterly eye.
