Folio: Zhan Teh

‘Photograph your own backyard’ they say. So that’s what I did – or rather, my adopted backyard. Since emigrating to Australia, I have called many corners of Brisbane home. But for the past 10 years or so, I have found myself settled near West End, Brisbane. In this folio, I would like to showcase photographs from Ode to Boundary, a West End based photo project. Below is a small statement about the project.

West End, Brisbane is changing. For generations, it has been home to working families, migrant kitchens, expressive artists and the occasional activists. Today new towers are rising, rents increase, and familiar shopfronts go dark one at a time. It is not clear who belongs here tomorrow.

The beating heart of West End is Boundary Street – a strip of shopfronts that carried the neighbourhood’s little comedies, drama and life. Spend enough time walking here and the street begins to speak. It speaks of locals and migrants who brought it to life. Of its uncertain future. Of former residents that left and drifted back, often to heal – as if spiritually bounded.

These photographs represent my conversations with Boundary Street.

Zhan Teh is Malaysia born and currently based in Brisbane, Australia. Zhan is driven by his passion for social documentary photography and personal storytelling. The way he sees the world is best conveyed through the lens of a camera.

Selected documentary work of his are archived at the State Library of Queensland.

All photos are scans of 4×5 negatives.

All subjects are shot within less than 1 kilometre radius from the retail strip on Boundary Street.