Stephen Haley: Australian Suburbia Transformed into Apartment City

The subject of this article is Stephen Haley, an Australian visual artist recognised for his exploration of the house and the built environment. Haley’s creative production reflects the changing architectural face of The City of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from a city once surrounded by suburbia to one dominated by the growth of apartments. I discuss the artist’s origins in suburban Melbourne, followed by his university years, international travel and the emergence of his house images from 1994 to 2007 that symbolise a consumer-driven Australian international metropolis. I conclude by arguing that Haley’s pivotal work, Vanishing Point, 2007, declares the end of the myth of the historical tradition of Australian home ownership: a detached house on a quarter-acre block. It is this challenging appraisal of suburbia as international atelier zone that establishes Haley’s artwork as pioneering within the context of house and home.