The Sum of the Parts

For Warren Kirk, a portrait is a sum of all the parts: a person, their living space and their possessions. His is a continually roving eye, always searching for subjects as he drives around Melbourne, Australia, and beyond. His images begin with conversations, usually in the street. He is attracted to idiosyncratic uses of colour, displays of cherished objects, and the evidential detritus of long lives. Many of Kirk's subjects re-appear in his images at different moments of time. Over thirty years, Kirk has created an archive of the changing face of Australia.