Review of 23 Photographs: A Book of Death af Lachlan J McDougall

The leaves fall and die even this fall. But the death don’t stop there 2022. No, death sneaks in from the shadows to the literature. And I’m not talking ‘bout crimes and thrillers. No, I’m talking ‘bout philosophy and poetry and far beyond. The Thanatologist Philip de Croy had a talk in the book fair, late september, in Gothenburg, Sweden (BoKmässan i BK). And from Collective 22 fell 123 pages - A Book of Death - 23 Photographs & poems from the author Lachlan J McDougall.

I would say these stories / prophecies in McDougalls 23 Photographs: A Book of Death originates from some decades before the last journey for Aniara - the most famous poetry collection by Harry Martinson from 1956.
McDougall started with 23 photos. The pictures allure the words to came out from the shadows. Words are written in the wind, on the wind. These words didn’t just want to be words. No, they wanted to have a meaning. They wanted to visualize something beyond the horizon and become metaphysical. They became poetry, some mutated and create new brainwaves and patterns that never before have been seen. It’s about death, the death of the Western Lands, the death of our SpaceShip - the blue pearl we call earth. It’s a love letter to mutation in all its forms. There are many red lines through 23 Photographs: A Book of Death, that bind this book together. Sometimes it’s abstract. Sometimes it’s a Bloody Sunday in a cold desert with a green swamp Ghost of chaos and chance. Sometimes it’s a magic bloated sunset over an unnamed metropolitan. And aren’t there also a alchemists eyes in the warp or maybe even an angel in the burning fiery furnace of Babylon.

In the end 23 Photographs: A Book of Death, just like The Book of the Dead, gives life. Life to our imagination. So use this book as a guide. Wind back. Write your own guide. You are the director - let’s get this film moving.