Neighbourhood Tales

Selina Ou is known for her large-scale colour photographs of people at work, at home, and in their local environment.

Neighbourhood Tales is a series of suburban narrative photographs exploring themes of the human condition, identity, and the legacy of the Great Australian Dream.

The landscapes feature two young children exploring their local environment and the social norms that surround them. Through multiple perspectives of the child, the parent and the viewer, Ou tells stories of everyday suburban existence—people trying to build a better life, and children navigating their way through daydreams, social aspirations and popular culture.

Ultimately, Neighbourhood Tales seeks to capture small, familiar moments of nostalgia, loneliness, anxiety, curiosity, imagination, fear, intimacy, boredom and frustration that make every day challenging and interesting.