Marco Polo Motel at Parramatta Road, three storeys of grey brick columns frame open balconies with decorative breezeblock.

01 Parramatta RoadSydney2016 - 2018

ISO 1008sf/9.058mm

Series · 27 prints

Parramatta Road

Photographed 2016 - 2018
Frames 27
Camera NIKON D750 · NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Active mixed-use commercial corridor; subject to 30-year NSW urban transformation strategy
Opened 1811
Specs 23 km corridor · Australia's oldest highway · Broadway to Granville
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Parramatta Road follows a much older route, used for thousands of years by the Wangal, Wallumedegal, Burramattagal, and Cadigal peoples before colonial adoption around 1789 to 1791. Today it is one of Sydney's main thoroughfares: 23 km of heavy traffic, with used car dealers at the Parramatta end ("Auto Alley") and a mix of historic shopfronts, new apartment blocks, and WestConnex demolition at the eastern end. The series moves between streetscape and individual buildings - 107 Parramatta Road in Annandale (an 1890s Victorian Filigree shopfront with original living quarters above accessible only by ladder), the Marco Polo Motel at Summer Hill, the Olympia Milk Bar in Stanmore, Mario's Meat Market, and shopfronts whose ground floors have been busy for a century while the rooms above have been empty for fifty years.

03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not reissued once they sell through.

Olympia Milk Bar at Parramatta Road, a two-storey brick facade at 190 Parramatta Road, stripped back to raw brickwork.
Olympia Milk Bar
Sharpro Industries at Parramatta Road, white block lettering runs across the upper brickwork.
Sharpro Industries
Marco Polo Motel at Parramatta Road, three storeys of grey brick columns frame open balconies with decorative breezeblock.
Marco Polo Motel
Hey Hey Kebab at Parramatta Road, blue neon spells out HEY HEY KEBAB across the fascia.
Hey Hey Kebab
Olympia Salon at Parramatta Road, gold lettering on glass reads "Olympia Salon" across the top panes.
Olympia Salon
Briscoe Motors at Parramatta Road, a white rendered Art Deco façade sits square to the street.
Briscoe Motors
Arnotts Famous Biscuits at Parramatta Road, the Arnott's sign on the railway bridge has been there long enough that most.
Arnotts Famous Biscuits
Marios Meat Market at Parramatta Road, a two-storey Victorian-era shopfront at 209 Parramatta Road, painted pale blue.
Marios Meat Market
Midnight Star at Parramatta Road, a two-storey Art Deco facade rises above a deep awning, its rendered panels framed.
Midnight Star
William Wallbank and Sons at Parramatta Road, the name is still up there, picked out in white letters across the full width.
William Wallbank and Sons
Westgate Post Office at Parramatta Road, brown brick facade on Parramatta Road, lit warm against a black sky.
Westgate Post Office
Trolley at Parramatta Road, a Woolworths trolley sits abandoned on the brick-paved footpath beneath a heavy concrete awning.
Trolley
Eiger Swiss Restaurant at Parramatta Road, a two-storey Victorian-era shopfront sits flush with the footpath on Parramatta.
Eiger Swiss Restaurant
Public Weigh Bridge at Parramatta Road, 78 Parramatta Road, Lidcombe.
Public Weigh Bridge
Passer By at Parramatta Road, a two-storey brick building sits hard against Parramatta Road.
Passer By
10 Dollar Look at Parramatta Road, a mannequin stands behind plate glass in a closed shopfront on Parramatta Road.
10 Dollar Look
Heavy West Easy East at Parramatta Road, late afternoon light falls hard across the brick pavement under a laundry awning.
Heavy West Easy East
Happy 203 at Parramatta Road, a two-storey shopfront at 203 Parramatta Road, painted white over old brickwork.
Happy 203
Yeah at Parramatta Road, a two-storey interwar shopfront at number 69 Parramatta Road.
Yeah
Fast Food Equipment at Parramatta Road, a two-storey Victorian commercial terrace at 538-540 Parramatta Road.
Fast Food Equipment
167 at Parramatta Road, a two-storey commercial building sits hard against Parramatta Road.
167
Laundry at Parramatta Road, something about its stark frontage, the faded lettering, and the complete absence of visible.
Laundry
Curtain Fabric Factory Outlet at Parramatta Road, the phone number is still on the sign.
Curtain Fabric Factory Outlet
Confectionery Warehouse at Parramatta Road, the tags go all the way to the roofline, which means someone made the effort.
Confectionery Warehouse
187 at Parramatta Road, a two-storey commercial building sits hard against Parramatta Road.
187
133 at Parramatta Road, a recessed doorway at 133A Parramatta Road.
133
68 at Parramatta Road, a two-storey shopfront sits vacant on Parramatta Road.
68
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

06 PRESS

In the press

Leaving a secure job to work as an artist, trying to manage inconsistent income and tempering the self-doubt and self-criticism that came with it has been one of the most difficult things I've done.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

Holding a solo exhibition in one of the spaces I've photographed would also be a dream, particularly at a site with a strong community connection - so the images can be enjoyed by the people who made it matter.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

I'm not trying to make out like I'm some kind of mysterious urbex badass. Lost Collective isn't about me. It's about the places I shoot and even more about the connection that the people have to the sites.

Broadsheet

Brett Patman·2016

lostcollective.com

On the LC archive.

See press coverage →
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