Capturing Suburbia
Matthew Dunne, Rachel Morley, Ammar Yonis
A conversation about the importance of self-representation, and how increasing access to the tools of photography is re-shaping perceptions of suburbia.
Photographic artists from the Suburban Views exhibition – Rachel Morley and Ammar Yonis – join photographer and bookmaker Matthew Dunne (Tall Poppy Press) to discuss how their practices respond to their experiences and environment.
Artists
Matthew Dunne
Matthew Dunne is a photographer, artist and bookmaker whose work addresses the environmental destruction of Australia, often unpicking colonial legacies that remain in the present. He uses photography as a starting point to build publications and installations, combining research, archival photographs, sound recordings and site-specific use of space. Dunne has a wide range of exhibiting experience, has published several books of his work and has had projects featured in the Washington Post, the Guardian, Fisheye Magazine, Photo Collective and The Heavy Collective. Since 2018, Dunne has written extensively about photography and photographers. He co-founded This on That, was the editor of Tending to the Garden, is a contributing author to C4 Journal and has written pieces for Australian Geographic, Photo Collective, Photo Access, and many artists. In 2021, he founded Tall Poppy Press, a publishing imprint committed to showcasing emerging Australian photography. Through Tall Poppy Press, he also teaches a range of workshops and collaborates with artists.
Rachel Morley
Rachel Morley is a Tarneit-based artist and arts worker. Her practice explores relationships to place and the construction of memory through photography and photo collage. Drawing on her personal experience of insecure housing, recent works reflect class tensions and politics through representations of the house/home and suburb/hometown. Morley has presented solo exhibitions at Analogue Academy (2022) and The Annex (2023). Her work Housing should not be for profit was shortlisted for the 2023 Wyndham Art Prize.
Ammar Yonis
Ammar Yonis is a Harari-Australian artist based in Melbourne’s west. His work blends fiction with his own realities to explore narratives often marginalised. His photography was awarded the Local Acquisition Prize runner-up at the Footscray Art Prize and won the Capturing Culture Competition at the Immigration Museum.