Very Gold Coast

This body of work is composed of images of the Gold Coast gathered in 2007. I have tried to express with a camera what I can only hint at with words through observing, interpreting and capturing the visual world of the Gold Coast. I seek to draw attention to the artificiality, kitsch and loneliness ever present but rarely noticed because of its assumed normality. My goal as a photographer is not to entertain with pretty pictures but to capture what is accepted as normal and expose it for what it really is. The Gold Coast is infamous for its tacky tourist trade and almost soulless existence but images rarely show this.

Instead we are saturated with pictures of gorgeous beaches lined up with tanned bikini girls and the famous Surfer's skyline. We expect to see surf, sand and sun and most images deliver this expectation. The purpose of this body of work is to give the viewer an unexpected insight into the Gold Coast rarely shown. A view of a fast, developing city ripe with contradictions, superficiality and a disregard for commonsense.

Click the photo to view the images.