A Crocodile Killed Autonomy

The Australian art world is in mourning. This week Queensland police confirmed that the backpack and some human remains found near a rudimentary campsite on the banks of the Gilbert River in far north Queensland belonged to the performance artist known as Autonomy.

All signs indicate that the forty-one-year-old woman was killed by a crocodile. Police have established that she had been living for several weeks at the water’s edge of an estuary known to be the habitat of large saltwater crocodiles. A significant quantity of crystal methamphetamine was found among her belongings.

A police spokesman said the artist’s decision to camp alone among the dangerous animals and her seeming neglect of basic precautions was foolhardy in the extreme. Autonomy’s brother, speaking on behalf of the long-estranged family, urged his sister’s admirers not to imitate her activities: they were dangerous and could easily prove fatal.

What follows is the last interview granted by Autonomy three…