HOME TRUTHS | POSTCARDS PROJECT Public Arts Project | Partners: City of Melbourne + StreetSmart Australia (2025)
Brief: “HOME TRUTHS: Postcards from the Heart of Melbourne” will feature handwritten messages exploring the idea of home – and what it means to survive without one – from people who have done exactly that.
A collection of oversized postcards will appear on street posters around the CBD in late 2025. Addressed to “Dear Melbourne”, the postcards will be written by people who are, or have been, homeless.
Launching personal messages into the public realm, HOME TRUTHS will invite passers-by to pause, reflect, and imagine: Is “home” just about shelter, or is it something more? When our safety and security come under threat, how can we feel “at home” in the world? Set adrift from home, where would you turn? How would you survive?
Braving the elements, the postcard messages will speak out on their writers’ behalf – enlivening the streets, sparking moments of connection between strangers, amplifying unheard voices at the heart of our city. All contributing writers will be paid. HOME TRUTHS is supported by grants from StreetSmart Australia and the City of Melbourne. Exhibition date: Late 2025. Stay tuned for details!
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BIG THINKERS | MELBOURNE ZERO
Public Education Campaign
Client: Launch Housing (2023-2025)
Brief: Write, edit, and curate content for Big Thinkers, a series of online articles and conversations exploring homelessness from different perspectives. Project aims: Build community support for ending homelessness; challenge myths and stigma, showcase evidence-based solutions, drive positive change, and promote public engagement with the Melbourne Zero campaign to end rough sleeping. Responsibilities: Manage content creation, frame story topics and angles, conduct research, recruit and brief guest authors, commission and edit all incoming content. Interview Australian and international experts, including people with lived experience of homelessness, and write up interviews in conversational format.
Stories written by Hatch Insight: What’s So Funny About Homelessness? | How to Avoid Becoming Homeless | Street Art With Heart: Adnate | Courage Under Fire: Veteran Jody Letts | Unreal Estate: Welcome to #ShitRentals | Housing First: Finland’s Success Story | Animal Bonds and Homelessness | The Homeless Persons Union | Talking to Kids About Homelessness | Art of Survival: Charmain Tracey | What’s Driving Homelessness in US Cities? | What Can Councils Do About Homelessness? | Can Cash Payments Help Solve Homelessness?
Stories commissioned and edited by Hatch Insight (written by invited guest authors): Homeless On Country (prize-winning author Claire G. Coleman) | Hostile Architecture (bioethicist Dr Evie Kendal) | Rental Wrongs (author and speaker Rachel Kurzyp) | Homelessness Affects Everyone… Yes, Even You (journalist Jane Gilmour) | Solving Homelessness Will Save Australia Billions (Emma Dawson, CEO, Per Capita) | Beyond Scapegoating: Tackling the Housing Crisis Together (Aleem Ali, CEO, Welcoming Australia) | How Housing is Widening the Gap Between Rich and Poor (Peter Mares, author and researcher) | Renters’ Rights (Jennifer Beverage, CEO, Tenants Victoria) | Making Homelessness History (David Pearson, Churchill Fellow) | Housing Abundance (Jonathan O’Brien, YIMBY Melbourne).
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WEATHERING THE STORM REPORT
Client: Incolink (2023)
Brief: Conduct research and produce an in-depth report investigating how the Victorian building and construction industry dealt with Covid-19. Project aims: Assess the industry’s response to the pandemic, including health and safety protocols, workforce education, industry vaccination and testing programs, strategic communications, alliance-building, and collaborations with government. Document challenges, success factors, and lessons learned; compile a detailed narrative timeline spanning the first two years of the pandemic; make actionable recommendations. Responsibilities: Manage project, design research methodology, analyse data, interview 17 industry stakeholders (union heads, industry association CEOs, senior government advisors, construction company managers), integrate economic modelling (conducted by ACIL Allen), write and edit 80-page report.
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RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN
Client: Master Builders Victoria (2022)
Brief: Co-develop and ghostwrite MBV’s first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), in collaboration with Aboriginal consultancy Kaptify (Director: Adam Magennis). Project aims: Develop a set of actions MBV will take to advance the cause of reconciliation, including both organisation-wide changes and strategies to drive change across the broader building and construction sector. Responsibilities: Manage project timelines and set targets; research best practices and provide advice on actions and deliverables; consult with First Nations organisations, under Adam’s guidance; facilitate input from CEO, executive leadership, and Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee; explore potential partnerships; develop outline for Industry Education Initiative to improve cultural heritage management in the construction sector; liaise with Reconciliation Australia; ghostwrite and edit RAP document.
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PLACEMAKING FOR COMMUNITIES
Client: City of Greater Geelong (2024)
Brief: Research project exploring the social benefits of high-quality public spaces. Paper title: “Public Space in the Shadow of COVID-19: Placemaking for Spatial Justice in Geelong’s ‘Disadvantaged’ Neighbourhoods.” Published in: Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Sustainability. Abstract: Drawing on interviews with community service workers in Geelong, we explored how COVID-19 affected people living in “disadvantaged” suburbs, with a focus on the role of public spaces in community life. We found that having low-quality public spaces increased pandemic stressors for these residents, and that community-driven placemaking offers a remedy for public space shortfalls. Considering how placemaking can reinforce or challenge inequalities, we present a Framework to support more “spatially just” placemaking, aiming to increase social goods and reduce social harms.
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VITAL COMMUNITIES PROJECT REPORT
Client: City of Greater Geelong (2020-2021)
Brief: Conduct research and deliver major report exploring strategies to improve quality of life for communities living in Geelong’s disadvantaged suburbs. Collaborative project, working with senior academics from Deakin University’s HOME Research Centre. Responsibilities: Contribute to research design, conduct interviews, analyse data, write case studies, co-author report, co-develop actionable recommendations. Pitch project plan to client, co-facilitate workshop to present key findings, edit and format 300-page final report. (Collaborators: Professor Richard Tucker, Professor Louise Johnson, Associate Professor Fiona Andrews, Dr Danielle Hitch, Dr Jian Liang, Associate Professor Lukar Thornton).
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WE ARE HERE | Non-Fiction Book
Client: Affirm Press (2019)
Book Title: We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place and Belonging (Affirm Press). A world-first collection of true stories written by people who have experienced homelessness. Role: Project lead, managing editor. Responsibilities: Conceive and manage project, secure partnerships and funding, deliver writing workshops, recruit and brief contributors, commission all content, manage budget, edit all text, select images, give media interviews, host public events (The Wheeler Centre, Docklands Library, Word4Word National Nonfiction Festival, Multicultural Hub).
Project partners: Affirm Press, Launch Housing, StreetSmart, Council to Homeless Persons, Roomers Magazine, The Big Issue, City of Melbourne, Deakin University. Project website > We Are Here
