Regional Futures: Artists in Volatile Landscapes
Casula Powerhouse Art Centre
24 June - 24 September 2023

Places we call home, 2023
hand cut paper, acrylic block, printed poem
10 x 2 x 1500cm

Over the past three years regional areas have seen an influx of new residents ‘escaping’ metropolitan centres. Quarterly migration flows average 15 per cent higher than two years before the pandemic. Demand for housing has risen and our streetscapes are changing with new developments, contemporary houses, shiny facilities. Town planners and a miscellany of builders will influence the aesthetic of the regional future but it is the spirit of the people that must be preserved through this period of growth.

Here, a line of delicate hand cut houses map submissions and conversations examining the impact of the built environment on individual and collective experiences of community. With the inclusion of real estate listings, this evolution of the regional streetscape from 1880 to 2021, presents the complex emotions of “home” against a contemporary backdrop of development and affordability crisis.

The project is an initiative of the NSW Regional Arts Network under the banner of ‘Regional Futures’ and is funded by Create NSW.