Palaexpo - Roma © Antonio Politano

Our tour with Violet starts in the resort car park, a nowhere land which could be anywhere but is in fact in the heart of the Kakadu, a national park in the extreme north of Australia. In the middle of the Tropic, overflowing vegetation after the rain, crocodiles, graffiti that’s thousands of years old. We plunge inside at once. A path winds among pandanus, eucalypts and palm trees, beside a road where four-wheel drives and caravans shoot past. (the Kakadu attracts over 200 hundred thousand visitors a year). A vegetable and cultural universe, because within 300 hundred metres the guide, shifting leaves and branches, discloses the secret side of the bush. She tells us how, over the centuries, the ancient inhabitants of the place have used what nature offers. She explains the healing properties of bushes and trees. She shows us long palm leaves that can be made into hard-wearing laces or ceremonial necklaces, sugar canes that give daylong energy

A.bc In Australia, sulle tracce di Chatwin 20 anni dopo Le Vie dei Canti Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma A.bc In Australia, in Chatwin's footsteps 20 years after The Songlines Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome




	Il tour con Violet inizia nel parcheggio del resort, un non-luogo che potrebbe essere dappertutto ma è nel cuore del Kakadu, parco nazionale nell’estremo Nord dell’Australia. Tropico pieno, vegetazione debordante dopo la pioggia, coccodrilli, graffiti millenari. L’immersione avviene in un attimo. Un sentiero serpeggia tra pandanus, eucalipiti e palme, accanto alla strada dove sfrecciano fuoristrada e camper (il Kakadu richiama oltre 200 mila visitatori l’anno). Un universo vegetale e culturale, perché in 300 metri la guida aborigena, spostando foglie e rami, svela il lato segreto del bush. Racconta come gli antichi abitanti del luogo hanno usato, nei secoli, ciò che la natura offre. Spiega le proprietà curative di cespugli e alberi. Mostra lunghe foglie di palma che si trasformano in stringhe robuste o collane cerimoniali, canne da zucchero che danno energia per un giorno intero	Our tour with Violet starts in the resort car park, a nowhere land which could be anywhere but is in fact in the heart of the Kakadu, a national park in the extreme north of Australia. In the middle of the Tropic, overflowing vegetation after the rain, crocodiles, graffiti that’s thousands of years old. We plunge inside at once. A path winds among pandanus, eucalypts and palm trees, beside a road where four-wheel drives and caravans shoot past. (the Kakadu attracts over 200 hundred thousand visitors a year). A vegetable and cultural universe, because within 300 hundred metres the guide, shifting leaves and branches, discloses the secret side of the bush. She tells us how, over the centuries, the ancient inhabitants of the place have used what nature offers. She explains the healing properties of bushes and trees. She shows us long palm leaves that can be made into hard-wearing laces or ceremonial necklaces, sugar canes that give daylong energy