I'm fascinated by both the shabby and dirty back lanes and alley ways of Melbourne, and the way that their urban decay undercuts the glossy cosmopolitan image of a city on the make. So I find myself exploring and trying to map this complex labyrinth with a Leica whenever I'm in the city.

Gary Sauer-Thompson, laneway, Lonesdale Street, Melbourne, 2007

What we have is the fragmentation of a culture---a fragmentation that Simon Sellars describes on his Sleepy Brain blog in terms of 'distorted cultural mirrors sharding mainline nationalism into fragments.' A lovely phrase.

Gary Sauer-Thompson, Lonesdale Street, Melbourne, 2007

From these urban “non-places”, with their different kind of people, the hegemonic consumer media culture of late capitalism promises us a buzzing, vibrant hub of opportunity, fun and frivolity that will satisfy our sexual desires.

Gary Sauer-Thompson, coke smile , Melbourne, 2007

You have a sense these back lanes that the consumer culture is saying that late capitalism is the end of history- or to put it another way the serpent’s tail of consumerism wins:

Gary Sauer-Thompson, bodies, Melbourne, 2007

It's bleak I know. But it is the labyrinth of the lanes that enable us to find our way out.

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