I only made a few portraits of people in the city of Adelaide during the 1980s. One place was Valentino’s Restaurant in Gays Arcade, off Adelaide Arcade, near Twin Street. My sister used to work there as a waitress whilst she … Read More
The late 198os and early 1990s in Adelaide was a period after the 1980s property boom and during ‘the recession we had to have’. I was living alone and working long hours tutoring and cleaning (early morning and evening) in … Read More
The deregulatory financial reforms of the Hawke/Keating government from 1983 that saw the globalisation of the Australian economy helped to advance the speculative boom that occurred in the late 1980s. In Adelaide, insurance companies, superannuation funds and government financial institutions … Read More
As the social relationships between people were becoming increasingly mediated by images, and the symbols of consumption such as cars, neon signs, and shops became ever more seductive and signs of social status and personal identity, the process of deindustrialisation continued … Read More
One way the boredom and dissatisfactions from living in Adelaide could be relieved was through gestures of rebellion and revolt. Another was through hanging out in the shopping precincts, arcades and going shopping in Rundle Mall. Leisure time, freedom, and … Read More
One of the most striking characteristics of Adelaide’s CBD in the 1980s was the empty streets outside of the weekday’s 9-5 working hours. During the weekend the streets were more or less empty, and apart from the tumbleweeds in Rundle … Read More
The Australian photographic context or reference point for the street work in the Bowden project is probably the Candid Camera: Australian Photography 1950s-1970s exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia in 2010. This was curated by Julie Robinson, the Art Gallery’s Senior Curator … Read More
These are the girls being left behind by the process of deindustrialization that started in the 1970s in South Australia.The process of deindustrialization took place behind the recessions in the mid-1970s, the early 1980s and the early 1990s that destroyed much of … Read More
Another image from my wandering the streets in Bowden, Adelaide. On this occasion the picture was made with a Leica M4. The picture is an unfashionable form of documentary photography, made when South Australia’s industrial decline was underway. Australian photographic history … Read More
I’m currently going through my archives and see what is there. I spent all yesterday scanning selected negatives from this series. This picture of the two children at 78 Gibson St was a part of the Bowden series, which was done … Read More