Review by Frank Plowright

In the early 2000s Mel Stringer has applied too late to the animation course she wanted to take, but there’s a vacancy for a fine art course in the Australian city of Brisbane, which has the benefit of being more cosmopolitan than her considerably smaller hometown of Darwin.

Both the title and the back cover blurb indicate Fart School being about Stringer’s experiences of art school, and a page count topping 200 promises she has a lot to say about her times there. One doesn’t have to dive deep in, though, to discover why there are so many pages. There’s not a detail too inconsequential for inclusion. Eight early pages are devoted to heading to Nanna’s for Christmas dinner and eating it. A third of the book has passed before induction day, during which we’ve been treated to Stringer unpacking in her new accommodation (seven pages), Brisbane scenery (five pages), walking home from the shops (six pages) and queueing up at a comic signing (four pages). Readers reaching that induction day are endowed with infinite patience and the reward is to learn it’s a false start. There are twelve pages of a dull party to work through.

Bright and colourful art rich in detail isn’t distraction enough, but just at the point when it’s legitimate to wonder if Stringer actually has anything at all to say, she turns up for her first class on page 90. It’s another false dawn. Even once the term actually begins there’s still so little to grab the attention of the average reader. Stringer’s able to spend page after page showing herself walking somewhere, while seemingly unconcerned about what happens at the destination. Perhaps that was her experience of art school, but readers are being asked to pay $18 to share the tedium.

It’s not as if there aren’t moments when more interesting themes could be expanded. There’s the pretentious student offering unsolicited advice, the neighbourhood peeping Tom, and a sideline making music, but Stringer cuts them all dead almost as soon as they’re seen. More pages of walking follow.

Real care has been taken with the production to create an attractive hardcover package, and that’s the best aspect of Fart School.