Beautiful Lies: Notes Towards a History of Australia

Beautiful Lies is a collection of satirical photo media projects by Australian artist Peter Milne.

The images in this book create allegorical, visual narratives out of the strangely rich and conflicted history of a young nation still struggling to understand itself.

The individual projects employ a wide range of visual languages, formal elements and subject matters but they all share a central concern with the possibilities for reinterpretation of historical narrative through visual allegory.

The key theme in the work is the human dynamics involved in the pursuit of power, particularly the tension between utopian idealism and the corrupting disillusionment that inevitably accompanies any successful attainment of authority.