Dear Neighbour

Wendy Catling, Untitled, 2021, pigment print

Since 2021, Wendy Catling has captured photographs and collected texts that reflect subtle undercurrents of life in Ringwood, her home suburb in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia, through a period when the impact of social, technological and environmental factors continue to challenge the collective psyche.

“The project began with a fascination for disquieting signs of collective anxiety: cryptic street and bumper stickers, persistent electioneering and religious materials in my mailbox, unpredictable neighbourly disputes, a mysteriously placed car tyre, and homes shrouded in protective barriers. I joined social media community groups and discovered poetic and poignant detachment from IRL communion.

Guided by an expanded documentary process of portraying ideas through photographs and collected documents, and a non-linear narrative, Dear Neighbour is a personal search for belonging and community. It’s an exploration of the intricate language of the suburban environment I call home and the strangers who coexist alongside me. A visual and textual search for genuine community. Bringing our tensions and contradictions to the fore, I ask: Who is my neighbour? What does ‘a sense of community’ look like in the twenty-first century?”

Exhibition launch

Join us to celebrate the combined launch of Dear Neighbour and Drawing with Algorithms.

• Date: Thursday 16 November
• Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm
• Venue: Maroondah Federation Estate, 32 Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood

RSVP online

When

Location

Maroondah Federation Estate Gallery, 32A Greenwood Avenue, Ringwood, 3134, View map