Community memories on the walls

Residents of Pyrmont and Ultimo will be able to see their homes and community through the lenses of the neighbours.

More than 100 personal pictures of the peninsula will be on display at Friday’s opening of Our Neighbourhood, Our Friends.

The exhibition, showing in the Harris Centre, Quarry Green and other sites in the future, gathers photographs from over 50 local photographers who have extracted their personal take on their home and its surroundings.

Charlie Crone, a resident of Bulwara Street for decades said the exhibition would give him a chance to show his long dialogue with the area.

“I thought I would give a bit of history,” he said.

His photographs show before and after shots of personally significant areas of the peninsula, some of them with him in it.

“As you can see from my physique a lot has changed.”

Mr Crone said one of the stories he hoped to tell was the greening of Sydney.

“The only tree around here was the one outside the church on Quarry Street and it was fenced off with barbed wire. . . Then the independents came in and greened Sydney,” he said.

“I entered into the exhibition to show a place that time forgot.”

A spokesperson for the community project said this year’s aim was to get as many different people as possible to participate.

“Our fifty plus photographers include homeless, very old, very young, and physically or mentally handicapped people. The project loaned cameras to those who didn’t have one.”

The second priority was to locate identities for the two suburbs: “We wanted to show others how we see ourselves, our Pyrmont Ultimo neighbourhood – and each other.”

Ultimo resident Kate Jones snapped photos of an old typewriter lying around her neighbourhood .

“I found QWERTY on the side of the road behind the big apartment block next to our flat. She was sitting there all forlorn and bright yellow and I couldn’t resist,” she said.

“I feel like Ultimo is overlooked or misunderstood a bit and I wanted to capture the Ultimo that I know. The place that is super close to everywhere, peaceful and safe, full of interesting things, fabulous cafes and great people!”

The exhibition is in its second year running and at later dates the photos will be shown at the Wentworth Park Games, the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, The Powerhouse Museum and other community venues.