Photography exhibition explores the complex life of the inner-city park

An exhibition of images by New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based photographer Christine McFetridge draws attention to the role of inner-city parks in community life through the day-to-day documentation of the residents that inhabit them.

Currently exhibiting at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP), Citizens of the Park presents a multi-faceted portrait of Richmond’s Citizens Park, a large green space and public oval in Melbourne’s inner east. The exhibition, which comprises a selection of some 40 photographs accompanied by hand-written text on the gallery walls, is the culmination of a one-year project that saw artist McFetridge placed as photographer-in-residence at the Richmond site.

Commissioned by the CCP with assistance from the City of Yarra, the project which ran from March last year to February of this year, was inspired by CCP director Naomi Cass’s personal experiences of visiting Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn, New York.

“I noticed that at different times of the day, completely different communities entered [Fort Greene] park and engaged with it, almost like clockwork. The physicality of the park remained the same, but its character changed throughout the day according to which community of like-minded inhabitants arrived. I thought it would be amazing to have someone reflecting on, commenting on and engaging with this life of a park,” says Cass.

McFetridge, who has a long-standing interest in exploring how people engage with place, was invited to participate. “I’m interested in understanding how people have empathy, both for the people around them and the place they inhabit,” says McFetridge, who has worked on projects with both Creative Gippsland and Wyndham City that investigated similar themes connecting people and place.

Citizens Park, as the focus of the work, has a long public history and is known for its neighbouring market – one of Melbourne’s oldest – established in the early 1870s. “We decided on Citizens Park because it’s really a park that’s quite contested by members of the community – and quite publicly contested,” says Cass. “The people who love and care for the park have different views about its use and how to actually care for it. What constitutes the fitting use of a park changes according to what you see as the benefit [it provides], and what you’re seeking.”

Cass was also interested in exploring the parallels between parks and galleries as public spaces. “[Inner-city parks] are really critical to people’s sense of engagement and belonging in the city,” Cass says. “Parks and public galleries are also both spaces that you can enter for free – you’re not being treated as a political subject or an economic subject. You’re just a human being enjoying both spaces – and both are endangered spaces.”

The photographs displayed in the show are a mix of wider views of the park along with more intimate portraits of the people who frequent the space at all hours of the day – early morning exercisers, afternoon picnickers, dog walkers and a wide variety of local residents. “[The gallery] is small and [the photographs are laid out spatially] so you can stand in the space and get a sense of the park, and look around,” explains McFetridge.

While McFetridge has gathered hundreds of photos and interviews over the residency period, she acknowledges the work, and exhibition, can reflect only a limited experience of the site. “What I have observed and been witness to during this time, with and without a camera, reflects a very specific experience of Citizens Park and [cannot] fully convey the complex history, politics and relationships present,” she writes in the exhibition’s catalogue. “It does, however, aim to provide a document of empathic encounters with people and place.”

Citizens of the Park runs to 6 May 2018 at Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne. Entry to the exhibition is free.

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