Sirius - Katherine Lu

“My maternal grandmother arrived in Australia to look after me a few years after I was born. When I was in primary school, she moved into social housing in Redfern and maintained an incredibly independent life right up until her last days. Even at an old age, she caught the bus to Chinatown to do her groceries and was able to walk around her neighbourhood to stay physically active. My cousin and I would stay with her on weekends to keep her company and she would let us talk into the night even if it kept her awake.

I’ve always considered social housing as just ‘housing’. My grandmother’s home.

In 2014 the government announced that it would sell Sirius and turn this valuable piece of land into luxury apartments. What was initially a safe haven for our city’s most vulnerable was being taken away and sold as a home for those on the opposite end of the economic spectrum. The city debated whether the building had any worth existing, whether it had architectural value, whether it was beautiful or ugly.

Beneath it all, the question really was: who gets to feel secure in a place they call home?”

 10% of this print sale goes to the Women & Girls Emergency Centre (WAGEC)

IMAGE © KATHERINE LU