Newcastle Wings

Newcastle is my favourite Australian city ... its vibe blends surf and arts cultures with a history of convicts and heavy industry. If I could only visit one part of the city, it would be the one of the two ocean baths, Merewether or Newcastle, both gloriously art deco. These baths, and the beach generally, pervade Newcastle ... the salt air and dazzling light are everywhere, in the graffiti-decorated walls of the east end, the op shops of Mayfield and the cafe strip on Darby St.

My friend Kerry Mountford-Baylor took me to her home town last April, where we spent a week lugging handbags full of plastic cameras all over the city. I experimented with running each film through three cameras in an attempt to capture Newcastle's diverse layers. 

Even though I shot random subjects, it was amazing to see what themes emerged and how objects layered over each other to create patterns and meaning. This is my favourite photograph, which blends angel statues in Sandgate cemetery with graffiti in the east end.

I can't wait to return to Newcastle and continue this experiment!

 "Wings" (click to view a bigger version)

 Detail

Detail