Snippets of Suburbia
“The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.”
Susan Sontag
Its home to many. It’s dystopia for a few. It’s a transitional space a timely place. Not quite the Australian dream,less white picket fence more shared circumstance. The act of hanging out the washing or hosing down the car becomes a community ritual. Every Thursday the streets are lined with bins, their owners eagerly watching at the window waiting to bring them in.
The suburb illuminated during golden hour reflecting off each perfectly white roof. The wide streets with no shade, houses built to look the same. A Hilux parked on every drive, where flora and fauna used to thrive. Nothing is ever enough as native species are forced to make room for us.
Life moves slowly but the builders work fast with new houses appearing daily. A 40-minute ride to the nearest town often feels like your back in lockdown. As the noise of dogs barking and songs of bird’s fade. The sun slips away with only one thing to say, just another day in suburbia, I wonder how long you’ll stay.
Vicinity : Intersection of worlds
Façade : First impressions
Abode : The essense of everyday
Snippets of Suburbia
Photographic portfolio
Louise Daisy Mannion
Australia 2024
Snippets of Suburbia is a series of photographs that explore the liminal space that is neither rural nor urban and showcase snippets of suburban life through the eyes of someone living it. In the quiet streets of suburbia, you are forced to look at your surroundings closely, to observe the ordinary and the different aspects that make up suburban life.
Vicinity: The intersection of worlds showcases human made elements imposing on nature and the environment. Deforestation, increased car use, and loss of biodiversity are all at play due to the growth of suburbia. Although Louise finds refuge in her suburban rental, she is passionate for protecting the natural world and these issues do not go unnoticed.
Façade: First impressions explore Louise’s love for geometric shapes and lines within photography as she captures the essence of suburban perception. The exterior appearance of the identical homes on cookie-cutter streets is often a façade for the uniquely different lives within.
Abode: The essence of everyday is a warming look into snippets of the suburban home. Using light and shadow Louise displays the emotion and depth that is found within the details of the daily routine. Louise invites viewers to reflect on their own domestic rhythm and how gratitude filled moments can be found without leaving the house. Each photograph represents the comfort of a suburban home and how lucky some of us are to have a safe peaceful place to reside.
Quotes:
Sontag, S. (1990). On photography (1st Anchor Books ed). Anchor Books.
Louise Daisy
Susan Sontag
Mannion
“To collect photographs is to collect the world.”
Louise is a London born photographer based on the Sunshine Coast. As a contemporary artist Louise works within still life and urban-suburban landscape photography to capture the beauty of everyday objects and the environments that surround us. She uses light, shadow and geometric shapes to create her compositions producing memorable visual narratives. As a new resident in suburbia this series of photographs captures Louise’s feelings and everyday moments of suburban living. Louise’s appreciation for the mundane allows her to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary and capture the charm of familiar scenes that often go unnoticed. Louise’s work reminds viewers to pause and observe the aesthetic details and social dynamics that make up suburbia. Snippets of Suburbia allows you to take a walk around the neighbourhood and reveals the quiet nuances of everyday life in suburbia.
© Louise Daisy Mannion. 2024. All rights reserved.