The Land Of Oz

In 2007, having no real sense of direction or purpose, I left my job and followed my partner to Australia, where I lived for 18 months.

Despite being in beautiful surroundings, I felt intensely isolated and lonely and longed to return home.

As the months passed, my mental health deteriorated, eventually leading to hospitalisation and a (mis)diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. Years later, I was diagnosed as autistic, with comorbid ADHD.

The digital photos I took in Australia were stored on my partner’s laptop, but one day, in an attempt to free up space for music, all my images were accidentally deleted.

Land of Oz is a record of the images that survived—Polaroids I took during that period—a quiet attempt to find stability and make sense of my surroundings in a place and time that felt profoundly uncertain.

Taken mostly from the balcony of my apartment and the warehouse where I worked, the photos offer few clues to where I am in the world.