Linda Wachtel

“The common thread in the series is how important home is to all of us. When we open that door it actually is a sanctuary. Every person has an interesting story to share” …Linda Wachtel 2017

Australian photographer Lind Wachtel was commissioned by the Council to create a series of photographs of local residents in their domestic environments for Council’s art collection. The works were featured in the Council curated exhibition Home staged at Council’s Gallery from 3 March to 2 April 2017. Linda Wachtel is an Australian photographic artist based in Melbourne whose works are represented in private and public gallery collections in Australia.  Her practice extends across photographic genres, with a particular interest in both portraiture and the psychological space of constructed environments.

Stories from the Interior 2017, investigates the narrative potential of home, and the private worlds of the people who inhabit the domestic spaces in contemporary suburbia. Opening the private domain to the public, her compelling portraits convey the diverse personal stories of people’s lives in our community, memories and the notion of home as a contemporary lived experience.

The viewer is invited into the environments of some of our local residents, examining their living situations, décor, family relationships, routines of leisure, cultural concerns, collecting passions, spiritual practices, and the rituals performed within daily life. Wachtel skilfully articulates the narratives embedded in the diverse domestic architecture and history of our community, spanning generations from young children, to older residents at home or in Aged Care facilities. The photographs offer a remarkable insight into the generally unseen aspects of other people’s lives, the personal objects that surround them, the psychology of her subjects, and the intimate character or architectural features of their home.

#Meet the Artist Video

Selected works from Stories from the Interior 2017