Sacred Heart church, Oakleigh
2009
Inkjet on watercolour paper
70 x 52 centimeters
Warrigal Road is a long straight arterial route that cuts through Melbourne starting at the beach and ending in the eastern suburbs. I never cared much for it and my first memories of it was its featureless character and the pollution caused by the usually heavy traffic, particularly in the suburb of Oakleigh where this scene is located. The only enduring positive memory of the area was the Sacred Heart church whose architectural qualities I always found pleasing, and coming from an appointment one day I stopped to take some photos with the view of incorporating it into a print.
The prominent inclusion of a car into the composition seemed logical because of my association of the area with traffic and the young woman was added as a reminder of the changing demographics of those suburbs from southern European to Asian.