This photo from Garry Trinh’s “Welcome Home” series has won this year’s Sydney Life Prize. And I’ll bet it puts some noses out of joint.
Let’s face it, Sydney thinks it’s pretty bloody special sometimes. Loud, self-centred, self-indulgent, self-opinionated and narcissistic. So I’m always happy to see imagery which reminds us that everything’s not always as pretty as it seems.
That’s why I liked it when the City of Sydney selected ’Pong’s Anywhere Chairs project, and why I like this photo winning the $10,000 prizemoney and public viewing by half a million people — even though it presents a Sydney that isn’t as glossy as the one you’ll see in the Shoot the Chef competition or as “clever” (too clever?) as the winning photo there.
As one of the judges, Sandy Edwards, says, “The image reminds us that real estate is of high value in Sydney, yet this family home in western Sydney is uninviting.”
Sydney Life finalists are on show in Hyde Park North until 22 October, part of the Art & About festival. Thanks to Billy Law for the pointer.
Clarification. The City of Sydney didn’t selected me to be in the project. Metro Screen, the facilitator, did. In fact, the Project Manager told me that when the film was being shown to them he thought they wouldn’t like it because of the obvious reason. But he said they liked it. There you go!
This image humbly screams with its concept. Is the City saying that they tolerate the cynical voice as long as it doesn’t shout like Mike Moore or John Pilger?
PS: Anywhere Chairs page doesn’t work at the moment. It’s quite embarrassing when someone points to it. See it from YouTube or QuickTime movie
@’Pong: I dunno what happened to your embedded video there. I’d just remove it from the page and paste it back in from scratch.
“The image reminds us that real estate is of high value in Sydney, yet this family home in western Sydney is uninviting.â€
Wow – can I be an art judge too by repeating the obvious?
I don’t particularly get the obsession of real estate, but yes, it is generally quite banal.