Home for a time
Home for a Time is a collaborative photographic project that looks at young adults living in share houses across Australia. What has been a rite of passage for young Australians over the past 50+ years is changing from a temporary, jovial experience, to a more permanent housing solution. Many young adults now face the reality that sharehouse living is their only viable option for housing as they age into their 30s and 40s.
Collaborators: Bella Porras, Drew Armitage, Jack Greer, Sahara Bailey, Rhett Kleine, Lia Ribeiro de Noronha, Nick Allison, Maeve, Anna Jourdant, Lucía Vasquez, William Bird, Brooke Manning, Terry Dowling & April Kuipers.
Story on the ABC as part of The Great Crumbling Australian Dream
I have never lived in a share house. I grew up in Malaysia, where young adults live at home with their parents until they get married. The concept of share house living has always been foreign to me, and I am particularly interested in how young adults in Australian society are building communities within this way of living. Many of the people I have spoken to and photographed don’t see themselves owning property in the future, compared to generations past who saw owning a home as being a normal part of life.
Vulture St /
Lutwyche St /
Overend St /
I have met and photographed three share houses in Brisbane. Initially, the resulting black and white images of these micro-communities did not sufficiently communicate the lived experiences that my subjects were sharing with me. I wanted to go deeper to make the work more personal, so I sent photographic prints to those shared house members who were open to collaborating by expressing themselves by marking and writing on the photographs. Later, I sent point-and-shoot cameras to people so they could contribute to the project with their diaristic imagery.
