Faces of Wyndham portrait exhibition is arriving in Docklands

A major community portrait exhibition is now featuring at Melbourne's World Trade Centre in Docklands.

From February 19 to March 3, guests can discover and learn the unique stories of the people of Wyndham through a series of photographic portraits.

The visual artist and photographer behind the project, Faces of Wyndham, is David Mullins. His new artistic work is entirely self-funded and has been carefully developed and curated over six years.

The exhibition invites attendees to pause, reflect and engage with not only the faces that they encounter, but most importantly, their lived experiences that go unseen.

The exhibition brings together 100 photographic portraits and short stories of people who live, work, volunteer and raise families across Wyndham – one of Australia’s most culturally diverse communities.

The idea for the project first came to Mullins in 2019. He noticed that the City of Wyndham was developing fast and housed residents from across the globe, including migrants, elders and young people. With no visual record that captured the contribution of this population, Mullins decided to formulate an archive for future generations to look back on.

The photographer’s intentions were to document the individual and rich lives of the people of Wyndham, ensuring that their journeys and experiences were told truthfully without stereotypes or assumptions.

To tell their stories, Mullin spent roughly ten hours of work on each studio portrait. He took his time with each participant of the project, hearing what they had to say about their unique lives. Through hard work and persistence, a 100-portrait project was successfully completed, resulting in a powerful visual record of the Wyndham community’s diverse culture.

The project has been developed as a long-form documentary record of a contemporary Australian community, and this exhibition represents the largest public presentation of the work to date.

Faces of Wyndham offers an opportunity to discover real people whose stories may be underrepresented and lost in society. In doing so, the exhibition highlights the importance of visibility and representation within Australian communities.

An opening event for the exhibition will be held on February 21 from 2pm to 4pm.

The exhibition is a free public event and will be held at the World Trade Centre Melbourne, Level M, 18-38 Siddeley St, Docklands.