On Parramatta Road documents and preserves Australia’s first highway, a stretch perpetually threatened by change. It is a field study of life on a road considered dead, across car yards, brothels, bed shops and around 20 suburbs of greater Sydney.
Together, they form a living museum of greater Sydney: its affluence, issues and heritage.
The artist says: “I aim to restore a sense of journey to a road better known for daily transit. Part documentary photography and part road trip, my series preserves today’s road for future reference and encourages a deepened experience of everyday life.”
Lyndal Irons is a Sydney-based photographer focused on local reportage. In 2013 she was chosen as one of the top four Australian photographers under 30 in the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA). Her work has been exhibited at the Australian Centre for Photography, Elizabeth Street Gallery, as a finalist in the Sydney Life Photographic Competition (2011, 2012) and at the State Library of NSW where it is held in collection. Lyndal was also a finalist for the 2015 Bowness Prize from the Monash Gallery of Art.
As recipient of the 2015 Pool Grant, Lyndal has been supported and mentored by the artists of The Pool Collective. The Pool Grant is an initiative that provides one year of mentorship and $10,000 to an emerging artist for the fulfilment of their own personal photographic series. The recipient of the 2016 Pool Grant will be announced on opening night of On Parramatta Road by special guest judge Jess Scully, director of Vivid Ideas and curator of TedxSydney and Junket.
