CABRAMATTA: A Moment in Time by Markus Andersen
The project
Cabramatta is not your typical Australian suburb. If you took a stroll through the streets of this south western Sydney hub you may feel like you are in southeast Asia. However, the suburb of Cabramatta is emblematic of modern Australia – urban, busy,and brimming with multicultural activity.
In December 2014, Markus Andersen was contacted by Fairfield City Council to photograph the memorial erected by the local community to honour the victims of the Lindt Café siege. “I was charmed by the vibrancy of the suburb,” Andersen says. “I offered to document and give my personal vision of a suburb that has struggled with its public image since the 1990s where crime was the predominant image in the media of Cabramatta.”
From Lunar New Year 2015 until Lunar New Year 2016, Andersen’s goal was to explore, experience, and respond to the cultural and visual particularities of the area – with no preconceived ideas. Over the period of a single year, he captured a melting pot of cultures in a distinctive street/documentary photography style with a focus on colour and intense light. The raw, sometimes playful images show the uniquely diverse and human side of Cabramatta, seizing moments of beauty in everyday life.
“In this series on the suburb of Cabramatta I have photographed the scents and sounds, vivid shades and intricate patterns, local people lost in thought, subjects looking away or looking directly at the camera with pride,” he says. "The photographs reveal the enchanting essence of a suburb that rarely divulges itself to the greater Australian populace.”
Andersen says that at the heart of the body of work is to focus a lens on the suburb and acknowledge its significant importance within the Australian nation. “In a time of global upheaval and intolerance, Cabramatta is a glowing example to the global community of the positive value of multiculturalism and the gifts it can bring to all,” he says.
The book
Published by T&G Publishing CABRAMATTA: A Moment in Time, the print run is limited to 1,000 copies, with the first 250 signed by Andersen, including a signed print.
About Markus Andersen
Born in Sydney, Markus Andersen has a passion for revealing truths and creating unexpected narratives through photography. The Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, encapsulated in this book, has been his latest project.
Andersen has held solo and collaborative exhibitions in New York, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul, Sydney and the United Kingdom, and his work is represented in private and institutional collections around the world. His first book, Rage Against The Light, was released by T&G Publishing in late 2015.