Walter Battiss - Fook Island

Fook Island

This "island of the imagination" was a materialisation of Battiss' philosophy for which he created a map, imaginary people, plants, animals, a history as well as a set of postage stamps, currency, passports and driver's licences. He created a Fookian language with a full alphabet as well. This utopian ‘island’ was a composite of the many islands he visited – which included Zanzibar, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, the Greek Isles and the Comores – blended together in his customary imaginative fashion. In Battiss's words, "It is something that does not exist. I thought that I would take an island - the island that is inside all of us. I would turn this island into a real thing … I would give it a name".

Jani Allan's Fook Island passport, valid between 1982-1992.

Fook was a result of his fertile imagination as well as his opposition to the Conceptualist Art movement of the 1960s and 70's, in Europe and America. The movement espoused that the construction of art was confined to the 'moment' in which it was created. He believed on the contrary that all art exists in the now and this he argued to represent with Fook Island, which was always in the now and always an essential part of reality.

South Africans such as actress Janet Suzman, artist (and Battiss protégé) Norman Catherine, writer Esmé Berman and many others embraced the philosophy of Fook Island. The journalist Jani Allan interviewed Battiss in 1982 and also agreed to his request of becoming a 'resident' of the imaginary island.

Battiss' Fookian Driver's License was accepted in America and the colourful pages of his Fookian Passport has official stamps from Australia, Britain and Germany. A Fookian banknote was also exchanged at a Rome airport for $10.