Hidden Places Hidden Lives (2014)
A collaborative social documentary project with and for residents of Supported Residential Facilities
Hidden Places Hidden Lives was a 2014 community photography project that examined life in Supported Residential Facilities (SRF). The objective was to create an archive of photographs that could be used to raise awareness of ageing, with particular reference to the institutional experience of people in SRFs. The exhibition works were a collaboration between four experienced community photographers and 12 SRF residents: Anthony Bradshaw, Marcus Brownlow, Sharon Bushell, Debbie Byrne, Trevor Clough, David Hackett, Peter Henley, Nick Herbert, Jennifer Hofmann, Leanne McPhee, Sue Michael, Marcus Modra, John Mukavec, Gary Nash, Jansen Parker and Julie Smart.
The project was led by the Seniors Information Service in partnership with the Cities of Port Adelaide Enfield, Holdfast Bay and Unley. Funding was provided through the 2013 Positive Ageing Grants. The exhibition was generously supported by the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and was an event of the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival 2014.
Exhibition notes by Robert McFarlane
Australian society is, regrettably, more under-examined than observed deeply via a critical vision. Documenting how we live as a nation tends to be motivated primarily by social crises; to be explored only after events become sufficiently sensational to warrant attention by the news media.
Day to day life is frequently considered neither newsworthy, nor important enough to attract acts of objective, timeless, poetic witness, in either word or image. But it is just this area of human life that has drawn some of the world's greatest photographers to create memorable, universal imagery. French master Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) spent a lifetime proving that daily life should never be considered trivial. The rugged calligraphy of body movement found in imagery created by Brazil's Sebastiao Salgado (1944- ) eloquently shows how the most menial, arduous acts of labour can be photographed with fidelity and poignancy.
The four artists of Hidden Places Hidden Lives - Marcus Brownlow, Jennifer Hofmann, Leanne McPhee and Sue Michael - all clearly demonstrate these values in their documenting of daily life among people living in supported environments. They also reflect the wisdom in choosing artists not necessarily known primarily for conventional photojournalistic skills. And in a unique variation on documentary orthodoxy, these four artists gave simple digital cameras, identical to those they had deliberately chosen to use, to the residents who were then invited, after basic instruction, to contribute their observations to the project.
Hidden Places Hidden Lives was conceived with this refreshing democracy of vision in mind - four skilled artists from diverse backgrounds - social welfare, painting, alternative photographic processes, photo-collage and the lens - photographing subjects who in turn made pictures eloquently exploring their own lives. And all photographers used the same, basic "point and shoot" digital Nikon cameras. The last, and perhaps most ambitious aspect of this visual democracy was to present the final selection within a totally integrated display that didn't differentiate between pictures taken by either artists or residents. Together they fashioned a moving collage depicting urban human life in the early 21st century.
These photographs were clearly designed not to simply impress, but instead to capture deeply honest emotions expressed by each subject. In every sense, photographs taken by the four artists and the residents fashion a lively conversation with humanity - a dialogue proving no human activity can be considered trivial if observed deeply enough. Whether it is the subtle visual pleasure a cat creates while imperiously ignoring a caring human companion, or the knowing glance a woman gives acknowledging the limits of her domestic world, pictures in Hidden Places Hidden Lives address nothing more important than the collective humanity we all share. In achieving this, it is inevitable that both serenity and sadness also emerge from the faces of this rarely examined Australian community. Eyes either radiate the joy in simply being alive, or in some cases barely concealed, painful journeys that have led to life lived in these protective, supported settings. There is also fellowship and contentment to be discovered amidst the casual Surrealism sometimes encountered in these environments. One man is photographed resting quietly against a masonry wall on which images of birds in flight allude to freedoms found elsewhere in Nature.
Hidden Places Hidden Lives is a timeless visual essay that transcends conventional artistic ambition, and creates, in each photograph, a tiny elegy to everyday life as lived in 21st century Australia.
- Robert McFarlane, 2014.
