This 2006-2008 project was framed in the context of the renovation, that icon of suburban Australian lifestyle. The impetus for constructing this particular installation stemmed from the rooms in which my own childhood was spent: rooms in houses from the late 19^th century, always in various states of disrepair, reconstruction or renovation. Many years later I began to wonder why her parents held such nostalgic attachment to old places – nostalgia even more curious as both were raised in ‘new’ homes built by their parents.

Memories of that search for the ‘authenticity’ and ’history’ of a fixer-upper have prompted an affectionate examination of the DIY renovation. Changing Rooms creates a nostalgic and decorative space using a domestic discard which is rarely associated with these concepts. The challenge is to subvert the assumptions we make about the ‘authenticity’ of the decorative elements which make up the ornate patterning. The intention of the work lies purely at that liminal threshold, the point of change where the viewer interprets more or differently than at first glance.