The Stick Shed

During the last school holidays, I found myself in the Grampians with a few hours to spare. Having read about The Stick Shed some months earlier, I was determined to see it and set off for Murtoa. First, some facts for the curious and factually minded…

The Stick Shed (previously known as the Murtoa No. 1 Grain Store) is the only remaining emergency grain store built during World War II. Designed in mid-1941, it was completed early in 1942 after an impressively quick five-month build. The structure is 265 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 20 meters high, constructed from 560 unmilled Victorian Mountain Ash poles, four acres of concrete, and approximately 10,000 sheets of roofing iron.

I was not disappointed to have made the effort. I spent several hours wandering, framing, making images and completely lost time, as I do. Much to my dismay on returning to the main shed door, it was locked shut! I had unknowingly overstayed my welcome and was locked inside. Fortunately, after a brief panic, I remembered that I had a mobile phone and weak but sufficient internet coverage to find a phone number for the office, who were horrified to hear they’d locked me in and were still 5 minutes out from departing for the day! Yikes.

Anyway, I lived to tell the tale and highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area.

Fixation 7

I went out looking for a new wall, longer story - I won’t go into that, and found a fixation instead. I’ve explored a lot of Melbourne’s streets and laneways over my years of photography so it’s always a surprise and delight when I come across something new. In this case something old, made new, by Hilton if I recall correctly.

Omnia Art Prize

Exciting news last week with 1 Treasury Place - 8:50am being shortlisted for the Omnia Art Prize.

The exhibition opens on 19th May and runs to the 22nd May only. Be sure to go along and take in work from leading contemporary artists around Australia. All the details below.

Edge of Darkness

By the time coronavirus lockdowns first reached us in 2020 I had already be been consciously exploring the idea of isolation for several years. As you will see from previous posts (‘Isolation’ 2017’, ‘Ships in the Night, 2018’, ‘Metropolis, 2018, ‘False Warmth, 2019’) it is something I have considered through varied subject matter.

In 2020 when large sections of the population were isolating at home it provided a unique opportunity to view our urban environment in a near complete state of isolation. Coronavirus amplified the experience of isolation for a great number of people and for many left them in or on the edge of darkness.

Metropolis

As promised, I’m sharing another body of work from recent years (well, a selection of images from it). This one, Metropolis, followed on from "Ships in the Night" and was also made in 2018. It continues my ongoing exploration on the theme of isolation, a theme that has taken on a whole new meaning since I made this work. In any case, I’m not done with it!

This body of work was exhibited in 2018 at Yarra Sculpture Gallery as part of the Fresh 18 Group show. These and all of my fine art works are available in limited edition prints - get in touch via the Contact page if you’d like to know more.

Metropolis

I am drawn to cities and never tire of capturing their beauty, overt and hidden. There is a certainty in the symmetries, patterns, colours and forms that is familiar and comfortable.

The city holds great appeal for me yet I feel an imbalance.

As our cities grow and sprawl, so too does our sense of isolation and loneliness. The rural villages of connected communities have given way to vast metropolises of concrete and steel, overflowing with profoundly disconnected, lonely individuals. Disconnected from each other and from nature.

John Wardle's Ballarat GovHub

I spent a glorious day in Ballarat last month shooting John Wardle’s Ballarat Gov Hub, a new home for up to 1000 employees on the town’s ‘Civic Hall’ site. The low rise, zinc clad building has a gabled roof and mass timber structure that reference a rural shed, and can be seen from many vantage points around the town. It sits along side the library, the 1950s Civic Hall and a park, which together will become an important precinct for community, government and commercial activities in the Ballarat CBD.

Developer: Development Victoria
Architect: John Wardle Architects
Builder: Kane Constructions and Nicholson Construction joint venture
Engineer: Aecom
Landscape Architect: Aspect Studios

Here are some images from the shoot.

Nostalgia for a high school job

Back in high school, in Sydney, I worked for several years at the Hoyts Cinemas in Chatswood. I loved that job. It provided me with more or less free access to the movies of the time. Not a bad perk for a teenager that loved going to the movies. You can imagine then, the kick I got out of shooting the new home of Val Morgan, the advertising arm of Hoyts, last year. Another fabulous workplace by the clever folks at Amicus and Hot Black.

False Warmth, 2019

A few people have asked me lately where they can see the fine art series that I’ve made over the past few years. I thought I’d share some here. This series is False Warmth, which I made in 2019 over many cold winters nights in inner city Melbourne. Before Covid was a thing…

Personality facades. The masks people wear; the inauthentic versions of themselves they present to the world to hide anxieties, depressions and traumas.

Often these masks are developed in early years to protect from feelings of inadequacy, weakness or insecurity and are carried through into adulthood.

At night, when returning home, they take off their masks. Sometimes this brings relief and sometimes it makes space for the anguish and despair to rise. The safety of home can bring comfort from a cold world but it can also bring a deeper isolation, a false warmth.

No Left Turn - False Warmth, 2019

Lace - False Warmth, 2019

Through The Cracks - False Warmth, 2019

Post Box Corner - False Warmth, 2019

The Adjacent - False Warmth, 2019

Towing Service - False Warmth, 2019

Freeway home - False Warmth, 2019

Riots - False Warmth, 2019

Skeletons - False Warmth, 2019

Shamrock Store- False Warmth, 2019

Cutouts - False Warmth, 2019

Theresaville - False Warmth, 2019

Leaving - False Warmth, 2019