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I regard
the only serious goals
in life as to learn to
love other people and
acquire knowledge. Whatever
we have done with our
lives makes us what we
are when we die. And everything
- absolutely everything
- counts.
During the first ten years
of this new century I
intend to do my best to
document what is happening
with everyday Australia.
The first stage of this
documentation became my
'Fringe Dwellers' series
of images which came from
time spent working and
living on the streets
of inner-city Melbourne.
This series reflects the
daily complexities that
characterise modern inner-city
living in Australia. My
focus was on Fitzroy,
Collingwood, and Carlton
- the social and artistic
heart of Melbourne.
It was here that I came
across the varied faces
of the street; young professionals,
musicians and poets. There
were also the faces of
the socially disadvantaged;
the unemployed, the homeless,
young and single mothers,
and aboriginals.
The aim of these images
is to try and show that
in their unity, alienation
and diversity, they all
belong.
After the experience of
inner-city Melbourne I
headed towards the Outback
of North Western N.S.W.
Here I spent three and
a half years documenting
the effects of drought
and globalisation on small
rural communities.
To my mind the only way
to build a body of work
that truly represents
these people is to live
and work with them on
a daily basis.
A selection of these Outback
images have since been
collected by the National
Library of Australia and
these images are now part
of their digital collection
»
click
here for an example
From the Outback of North-West
NSW I have recently shifted
my focus to the very different
atmosphere of the tree-lined
streets of Canberra.
Here I discovered and
started to document another
different hidden world
of counter-cultures. In
Canberra this documentation
involved exploring the
'other' side of the nation's
capital; prostitution,
drug use and the club
scene - including stripping.
I am now planning the
next leg of my decade-long
journey which is to work
throughout Western Australia
and record the boom that
is taking place there
today.
Darren Clark - August
2006
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