Bargo Motor Inn

Green-painted brick and corrugated iron run along the front of the Bargo Motor Inn. Two doors sit side by side under a narrow awning. Room 4 on the right, its door pale green, a timber bench beside it. The left door catches a wall-mounted lamp, yellow light pooling across the painted panels. Dark curtains hang behind louvred windows. Terracotta pavers run the length of the walkway. Below the awning, the asphalt carpark is empty. A faded yellow 2 marks a parking bay near the camera. The light is hard and sodium-coloured. The room number is the brightest thing in the frame.

Bargo is on the southern run of Hotel Motel 101, on the Hume Highway between Sydney and the Southern Highlands. The series photographed 102 traditional motor inns across three runs out of Sydney over 2018, all in the hours when there were no cars and no guests on the walkways. The inclusion criterion was the traditional Australian motor inn typology: drive-thru reception, parking in front of the rooms, low rise. Chain motels were skipped. Roughly 120 properties were visited; 102 were photographed. The remainder were skipped because the lighting was wrong, or there was a car parked in the frame, or someone was at the door.