I have been itching to explore Marrickville ever since a regular follower of 52 Suburbs suggested it.
I've been before, many times, but only to visit friends at their homes. Never once have I walked down
the main street, only ever driving through it, impatient to get to where I was going. So when I hopped
out of my car this week with a reason - an excuse - to stick my nose in to churches, homes and people's
faces I felt as if I was visiting an entirely new suburb ...
Part 1: Chockful of churches
the church with the blue light atop, St Brigids
Spiro and his beads
that light
St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Father
time for reflection
feed the soul (Lien Hoa Buddhist Temple)
Part 2: Little Greece, Vietnam and Germany
from the continent all the way to China
neighbours (cake shop and the deli)
you wouldn't want to be a vegetarian
the secret to longevity? (Chinese herbs :: Vietnamese couple in their late 80's)
Concordia, the German Club
Part 3: Good sports
the Marrickville Bowling Club
ladies of the lawn
how's your aim?
Newtown Jets legend (Frank Farrell :: Henson Park where the Jets still play rugby league)
different religions
Part 4: The changing face of Marrickville
taking the bull by the horns - the old butchers shop, now architect office (Mackenzie Pronk)
house (to be) and garden (model by Mackenzie Pronk)
fantasy versus reality (model by Mackenzie Pronk)
stick 'em up!
i see bananas in your winged dragon
fresh face
i wondered if he changed his hat when he goes back to work at the building site
Part 5: Reversing our consuming ways
it's all very serious (mannequins from Reverse Garbage)
it's all very serious (mannequins from Reverse Garbage)
before and after (frames from Reverse Garbage)
in the pink (elastic from Reverse Garbage)
Part 6: Random otherness
i'm a fan
orange flowers
soft and spiky
these could come in handy
Beauty... Marrickville seems to have a little of everything. A mix of industrial, residential and
commercial. People from all over the planet. A great big old river. Churches of every description.
A couple of social clubs and a place you can save a mannequin or a piano from the scrap heap. Not
to mention some of the finest examples of chipped ceramic tiles and rusty garden gates 52Suburbs
has seen so far. No wonder everyone from Newtown is moving there.
Other news...
The 52 Suburbs Corner Shop is open! As you'll see I'm starting small. I hope you can grab a moment
and go and check it out - if you have any questions or comments please email me, I'd love to hear
from you. See you next week.
Posts
26 comments:
I love the plane - I remember its early morning drone so well when I lived there - and the Ladies sign.
Great project. Beautiful shots.
Love it! Have always loved living here & I never want to leave!
Fantastic.
Love your photos.
Especially the fish photo and the old vietnamese fella.
I'm curious - what do you tell the people to get them to pose for you?
Hi freefalling
Thank you. I approach someone I want to take a pic of by briefly explaining what I'm doing and would they mind if I took their photo. I often also have a quick chat with them which I love - random encounters with people from different worlds. In the case of the gorgeous old Vietnamese couple it was tricky as they didn't speak much english but we managed to communicate with a few words and lots of smiles.
Louise
Amazing. You have such an eye for patterns.
Love time for reflection, different religions, i'm a fan, orange flowers, i see bananas in your winged dragon, the tea pot and the Ladies sign in the glass.
This is a fantastic photo essay. I quite like the suburb, had a friend who lived close by, and it's a great part of Sydney.
How long does it take you to collect all these photos?
Love it. Love it. Always.
Thanks everyone - I love it that you love it!
katiecrackernuts (great name!) - in answer to your question, how long does it take to collect the photos - well, I usually make three visits to a suburb and spend around 3 hours each time. Sometimes longer depending on my week.
Louise
what a beautiful idea for a blog!!! and i love the very first photo of this post - gorgeous
congrats on the shop opening can't wait for larger prints to be available!
LOVING what you are doing here!
i started & finished 'project 365'
and now doing '52weeks' with a diff theme every wk (but im so so so behind...
i would love to do this project but i just dont have enough time boooo :(
Happy to see you back ! And I feel overwhelmed to see and discover a new suburb again !
Like the pics of the little models. Congrats for the shop opening !
We've just moved to Marrickville - so it's such a pleasue to see it on 52 suburbs. I'm inspried to do an aweful lot more exploration! Thank you for this project...
Thanks all for the support.
Kate - So glad I could provide some inspiration. If you see Spiro around say hi from me. He's good for old Greek wisdom...
Louise
thankyou for making my lovely lovely suburb look like the coffee table photo book I always knew it could be. I've lived here off and on for 3 years and still have yet to explore all the nooks and crannies. Job well done.
I think Different Religions is a great pic, I'm faithful to the image on the left.........Which means I must point out that the Jets play at Henson Park not Marrickville Oval.
Regards
Jets Fan
Beautiful pictures!
Living in London you have made me so homesick.
My brother and his girlfriend have just bought a house in Marrickville and I am so pleased for them. Even more so now!!
Truly wonderful.
Jets Fan
Oops! Thanks for that, will change it.
Louise
I saw you at reverse garbage! There was a lady with a profi camera and you looked at me and i looked at you, and then we moved on... Oh if only I'd known. Been following your series from the start and love it.
Mirabelle
How funny, wish I'd known too.
Louise
Love the photos. I lived in Marrickville for ten years, after moving out of Newtown because it was getting too expensive. Now Marrickville has been 'discovered', have had to move again. I will miss a lot of places - for those lucky enough to live there check out South Marrickville - the public golf course, and the Cook River foreshore all the way to Tempe - beautiful walks, and fantastic if you have a dog, as I did. They love it too. The Greek Orthodox churches are beautiful, both large (Livingstone Rd) and small.
Bec - Didn't see the battle angel - I was so taken with the etched glass and tiled floors of the Town Hall that I missed it.
Cath - Agree, the walks and the churches are special. Hope your present suburb doesn't get discovered!
Louise
Wonderful Louise. You've done my home town proud! I've been living here 18 years and am rusted on to the place. The shopkeepers here are lovely people, and I particularly like your 'neighbours' photo of the guy from Lamia deli and the lady from the Marrickville Road cakeshop a few doors down from Lamia.
Jamie
I was wondering if you'd seen the post - I remembered that was your hood. I've got a handful of friends who live there and they are wedded to the place too. And yes, those two shop keepers seem like fun.
Glad you approve!
Louise
this is so awesome!! i'm moving to marrickville next week, this has made me so much more excited to go exploring!! thankyou! x x
These are beautiful photos, which made me very homesick for my old suburb! Thank you.
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