Life Obsolete

Life Obsolete, 2010

MoreArt Festival, Fawkner Train Station, Fawkner

Collaboration with Susie Zarris.

 

Life Obsolete is an installation located in the disused customer service office at Fawkner train station, in Melbourne. Fawkner is a northern suburb of Melbourne, located 12km from the CBD. After the Second World War, many migrants settled in the northern suburbs.

 

This installation focuses on a narrative of migration, through the exploration of nostalgia and personal objects. Through the customer service window of the train station there is every migrant’s story; personal objects represent both the new and old exploring the connection with heritage. With family left behind in the homeland, objects bridge the connection yet remain eerily motionless, like relics. 

 

Life Obsolete explores the intimacy of the space, which provides a distinct personality despite the notable human absence in the room. The private realm becomes public as the viewer witnesses the towering stack of luggage cases, aging railway memorabilia, numerous clocks ticking and the warm glow of old lamps. A phone rings unanswered, and the radio softly murmurs the local Greek radio station. 

 

The elasticity of time, traces of identity and the story of migration aim to provide a narrative to interplay with the social dynamics of the migrant story.