Sunspot

Sunspot documents a coming-of-age narrative taken shape through street photography. The fragmented subjects and pockets of shadows explore visions of identity, anxiety, and a desire for reconnection.

'Four seasons in one day
Lying in the depths of your imagination
Worlds above and worlds below
The sun shines on the black clouds hanging over the domain'

- Crowded House, Four Seasons in One Day, 1991

Sunspot is a photographic project created over four years in the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, documenting a personal coming-of-age narrative shaped by uncertainty, anxiety, and disconnection. Emerging from the aftermath of Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns, the work reflects the emotional experience of navigating early adulthood and an unclear future within a contemporary city. Through deep shadows, high contrast, and fragmented figures, the photographs visually express inner states of isolation while also signalling a desire for reconnection.

Sitting within the tradition of street photography, this stylistic choice allowed for both the means of observing the external world while quietly revealing an internal one. Like the shifting moods described in Crowded House’s Four Seasons in One Day, the images capture the instability of modern urban life, where light and darkness coexist within the same place. The city becomes both a setting and mirror: crowded yet isolating, familiar while also estranging. Through this visual language, Sunspot explores modern disconnection and the tension between withdrawal and engagement. Sunspot positions street photography as a tool for introspection, connection, and the search for one’s place within the contemporary metropolis.

The title Sunspot operates as both a visual and metaphorical anchor referring to moments of harsh sunlight present within the images, the physical sign of aging, and the search for one’s own “place in the sun.” Exploring identity, self-expression and feelings of detachment and connection, Sunspot aims to resonate with other young adults finding their footing. Ultimately offering the possibility of positive growth, creative action and connection amid the uncertainty of youth.